Why is my younger dog suddenly aggressive towards my older dog indoors?

I hate to hear that about Cooper. Canine aggression is a complex behavior as it can stem from dominance, possessiveness, fear, anxiety , resource guarding or a combination. Pets can also shift around within the pack hierarchy. Being overly aggressive may be a sign that Cooper is uncomfortable in his current pack role. Unless you are very familiar with reading canine body language and training, I recommend to work with a professional trainer. Familiarizing yourself with canine body language and dog training can help you to recognize what your pet is trying to say before a bite happens. You can find many books written on the topic. One thing you can do at home is to give Cooper (and all the dogs would benefit as well), lots of exercise, routine and structure. A physically tired dog typically has less behavioral issues. Dogs also tend to thrive in a controlled environment. This can be a tough situation. You may want to separate the dogs any time you are not home to avoid injuries. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Puppies can sometimes be A LOT for senior dogs and it can take some time for them to get use to one another. If there were any food, treats, toys or special people near by Buddy could have just been acting protective over these. Also, with Buddy being older, if they puppy is always playing, jumping on him, or nipping at him, he may have been just trying to tell the puppy to leave him alone or trying to set some boundaries. Also, if he is arthritic and he knows the puppy jumping on him hurts, he could have reacted to prevent this. I would continue to keep them separate until you know they can be left alone together. I would definitely feed them separately as well. I would be sure you are still spending plenty of alone time with Buddy as he may be feeling frustrated that his home life has changed with the new addition. I would continue to have short but frequent times of them being together. You could also start Buddy on an anti-anxiety chew like composure or composure pro and get him a calming collar like sentry or adaptil. If these don't help, talk to your vet about anti-anxiety medicine like fluoxetine or trazadone. I hope this helps!

Hello, sorry to hear about Jackson. I am concerned this behavior could lead to more severe results. I would recommend not leaving them unsupervised in the same room to hopefully prevent this from happening. It is likely that your other dogs are being triggered by something Jackson is doing that they do not agree with. This could include moving too closely to the food bowl or water bowl, a special toy or area at home all of which could be a sign of territorial aggression. Here are some more tips on how to reduce the incidence of aggression between your dogs. Ultimately if this does not work, you may need to seek a professional behavior consultation to obtain further recommendations. ntroduction Aggression is a common problem faced by many dog owners. It is commonly misunderstood to be based in dominance. In actuality, there are various reasons that dogs can react aggressively. Most commonly these acts are based in fear or anxiety. This handout, will attempt to help you differentiate whether your dog’s aggression is based in dominance or another stimulus, like fear or possession. However it is not meant to replace visits and discussions with your veterinarian. Common types of aggression • Fear aggression: Many commonplace human behaviors are threatening gestures to dogs, but their reactions are often times very subtle and easily missed by most people. Anything that can cause your dog to feel distressed or uneasy can illicit an aggressive reaction. Such things include: sustained eye contact, pressure over the top of the head, lifting the dog, bending over the top of a dog, certain force-based training techniques, or trying to take something of high value away from the dog. • Territorial aggression: Dogs can react aggressively when a person comes into an area that it regards as its home. There is often a basis of anxiety in dogs that have territorial aggression. • Possessive aggression: When aggression is directed toward a person that the dog views is approaching something of high value (food, toys, family members). • Redirected aggression: When the dog is frustrated by the inability to reach an object or person that elicits its aggression and instead acts aggressively toward a person that is within reach. • Dominance aggression: True dominance aggression is very rare. Most often aggressive acts are based out of another type of motivation. Usually what is assumed to be dominance aggression is actually based out of fear or anxiety. What is your dog’s motivation for its aggression? It is important to watch the body posture of your dog during a time of aggression to determine the underlying emotional state of the dog causing the aggression. Here are some examples of what to look for: Fearful or submissive postures • Avoiding eye contact • Lowered head and tail • T ense body posture • Ears to the side, back or down • Horizontal lip retraction • Licking lips • Yawning • Crouched body posture • Moving slowly or freezing • Submissive urination Dominant postures • Sustained eye contact • Ears erect and forward • Vertical lip retraction • Forward-leaning body posture

Hello, sorry to hear about your pups. It sounds like your younger one has some possessive aggression towards your older dog. Even if the biting isn't harmful now, it is a sign of potential aggression which can eventually escalate to something more serious. It sounds like this is triggered by you, treats and toys. There may be other things that can also trigger this behavior such as their food, a certain couch, bed, etc... This may be a difficult behavior to modify, but here are some facts and hints about aggression and how to manage it. Hope this helps and best of luck. Introduction Aggression is a common problem faced by many dog owners. It is commonly misunderstood to be based in dominance. In actuality, there are various reasons that dogs can react aggressively. Most commonly these acts are based in fear or anxiety. This handout, will attempt to help you differentiate whether your dog’s aggression is based in dominance or another stimulus, like fear or possession. However it is not meant to replace visits and discussions with your veterinarian. Common types of aggression • Fear aggression: Many commonplace human behaviors are threatening gestures to dogs, but their reactions are often times very subtle and easily missed by most people. Anything that can cause your dog to feel distressed or uneasy can illicit an aggressive reaction. Such things include: sustained eye contact, pressure over the top of the head, lifting the dog, bending over the top of a dog, certain force-based training techniques, or trying to take something of high value away from the dog. • Territorial aggression: Dogs can react aggressively when a person comes into an area that it regards as its home. There is often a basis of anxiety in dogs that have territorial aggression. • Possessive aggression: When aggression is directed toward a person that the dog views is approaching something of high value (food, toys, family members). • Redirected aggression: When the dog is frustrated by the inability to reach an object or person that elicits its aggression and instead acts aggressively toward a person that is within reach. • Dominance aggression: True dominance aggression is very rare. Most often aggressive acts are based out of another type of motivation. Usually what is assumed to be dominance aggression is actually based out of fear or anxiety. What is your dog’s motivation for its aggression? It is important to watch the body posture of your dog during a time of aggression to determine the underlying emotional state of the dog causing the aggression. Here are some examples of what to look for: Fearful or submissive postures • Avoiding eye contact • Lowered head and tail • T ense body posture • Ears to the side, back or down • Horizontal lip retraction • Licking lips • Yawning • Crouched body posture • Moving slowly or freezing • Submissive urination Dominant postures • Sustained eye contact • Ears erect and forward • Vertical lip retraction • Forward-leaning body posture

It is probably a territorial/hormonal problem which could be resolved eventually by spaying her. Try to observe them and see when that happen and try to avoid the situation ( for example over food = feed them separately and so on).

Ruby is probably trying to become top dog as she senses that Annabelle is getting older. I would separate them to eat, and monitor them more in the yard. This can be an isolated incident or it may become serious. I reprimand Ruby if she is acting aggressive, hopefully when she is just starting. I find competing for toys and food makes this behavior worse so eliminating those things to fight about should help. Also make sure you pay attention to both. If Ruby seems aggressive I separate them and put Ruby in a crate until she calms down. While this is natural behavior it can be bad so please protect Annabelle. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Annabelle and Ruby.

Hi there, sorry to hear of your situation. It sounds a lot like Dakota had become very anxious and most likely dead aggressive due to a bad experience that she had before. This is actually quite common, escpeically amongst several female animals. My best advice if you are a guest here is to completely separate your pet from the others for the duration of the stay-for the safety of all pets involved. Most issues like this require lengthy training and re-programming to decrease fear and anxiety in your pet. She is also older and will likely take longer. Depending on the length of your stay-it will probably not be possible to do the necessary re-training whilst you are there. There are medications to lessen anxiety for a short time-but would require a visit to your local vet for an exam and likely blood work to make sure they medications would be safe for Dakota to take. If this persists and you are interested in a behavior consult, please let me know and I'd be happy to help if and when you have the time.