has anyone else's young female turned into uber Alpha female?

[winginit66]

Hi everyone,

Olivia turned 1 several months ago. She seems to be turning into the Alpha female of our pack. She doesn't display much aggression to either Gidget or Wilson (her brother) but with our other dog Maggie, who is a Cairn terrier, she is becoming too aggressive for my liking.

There is no food aggression. They are all fed at the same time, in our kitchen and all behave like perfect little angels. Maggie and Gidget's food is put down first, and the puppies (well, I think they will always be the puppies to us...) wait patiently by their spots for their bowls to be put down.

Where I see the problem is if someone comes to our door. It can be someone who comes to our house frequently or a stranger. If we are home and the dogs are out, they of course flock to the door to see who it is. With the usual barking, etc. That is when Olivia and Maggie go at it and have to be separated. I mean, they are seriously going at each other!!! So far (knock, knock, knock) the only blood shed has been one of my fingers that got in the way. We have tried to diffuse the situation by picking either one or the other of the up and holding them until the initial chaos is over. I have also tried to hold Olivia's face and very sternly tell her NO when she has been pulled off Maggie.

Suggestions? Soft-mesh muzzle for her? If we know someone is coming over, we can go ahead and put her up. Then my husband wants to put Wilson up with her, and I'm like - Why??? He's not the problem! So then we're off on that tangent...

I haven't dealt with a female with these issues before, so any advice / suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

 

[mhuinker]

Bummer...... hopefully it's just a phase, but definitely something that needs to be nipped (no pun intended) in the bud asap. Good luck and hopefully she can learn to get along peacefully with Maggie without a muzzle or anything.

 

[Squishy Walnuts]

I too hope it's just a phase but I would suggest not picking Olivia up as it may frustrate her further. Although Wally is hard to calm down I trained him to settle down a bit by leashing him and making him sit in a stay position until I release him when someone's at the door. Of course it's hard to know the exact time someone would be coming by so my husband would stand outside knock on the door while I tried to train him.

I never had this issue of my dogs fighting at the door though so my advice might not work with an alpha situation. Good luck!!

 

[Cbrugs]

I like the idea of putting her on a leash and making her sit and stay. Since you don't always know when someone is going to knock on the door, maybe just keep the leash nearby so when she comes running over you can put it on her.

 

[Jakeyjake]

Are you clear who is starting it? Sometimes looks can be deceiving and I know terriers can be very territorial. Could Maggie be giving Gidget the stink eye and then Gidget reacts? I like the idea [MENTION=902]Squishy Walnuts[/MENTION] mentioned about some training and having someone knock at the door to try and get it under control. Dogs fighting with each other sucks and I hope you can figure out a solution. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[2bullymama]

Banks, my Bulldog was like this... it was just her world and we had to adjust to her liking --- yea, right :stinkeye: we had to work very hard with her to keep her from attacking other dogs in the house. We used the leash and also stressed sit/stay constantly.

I also suggest placing her last in the feeding line... make all the pups eat while she waits and then feed her. We do this in our house , each pup eats alone while the other(s) wait. They have their own bowls and each is left and theirs placed then they are called over to the bowl.

Now, with 4 babies in the house, it could be trying.. also, when she does this , I would not pick up, but what I would do is submit them, roll to side with a firm NO

 

[Tgirl]

I would work on both of their sit and stay commands. Do it various places with various distractions. Start small and once they are reliable, build on it a little at a time. Any time you know someone is coming, have a leash on both and make sure you are prepared correct them if they don't stay.

 

[Fosta Mama]

Possibly, this is called redirected aggression. Olivia turns on Maggie (or vice versa) when the object of their excitement/aggression can not be reached (person ringing the doorbell).

Keeping them calm when the bell rings, or when strange dogs walk by on the sidewalk, or whatever the trigger is, is necessary. You've gotten some good advice already. Good luck with the training!