# At the end of my rope with older female...



## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

I thought I had a good grasp of dog dominance and behavior, but apparently I have missed something. When my boyfriend and I got a house together 8 months ago, I brought along my 1 year old male GSD Rocky, and he brought his 11 year old female GSD Missy. We thought having a male and a female wouldn't be much of a problem - wrong! Rocky is NOT an alpha dog. He is extremely happy go lucky, LOVES meeting new people, but is still very much a puppy and HIGH energy. He had/has exhibited some dog aggression in the past but it's usually only on leash, and he has been pretty easily corrected, other than that he is quite the sweetheart. Missy started life out as my boyfriend's sister-in-law's dog. She did NOT give her a good life. She was banished to the back porch, not socialized well with people or other animals, and rarely given much affection. My boyfriend offered to take her from them 6 years ago, and she's been with him ever since. He loves her with every thread of his being, and she is his shadow - 100% devoted to him. For 6 years it was just the two of them, now she's sharing a home with me, my dog, and my cat, and she's not adjusting well.

Rocky was a bit aggressive with her at first, but quickly eased up and has happily accepted his role as omega with her. He prances around the backyard happily sniffing the grass or playing with his ball, but Missy CONSTANTLY goes after him growling and snapping. Rocky reacts to this by immediately lying down and showing his belly - tail tucked and ears back in submission. He yelps and cries and she CONTINUES to go after him with NO provocation! In the 8 months we have lived together Rocky has only fought back 2 or 3 times, and when he does, he can cause her damage. She is 11 years old and has weak joints...she cannot stand up to him when they truly fight. Their most recent altercation happened last night in the backyard, she went for him with tenacity and would not stop even when he submitted. He got fed up and attacked her back - my boyfriend pulled them apart, and luckily no blood was shed.

We can usually stop her with a stern "No" when we see her heading towards him, and then praise her when she does not attack him, but it happens so often that we can't always catch it. I just do not understand why she feels the need to continually reinforce her role over him when he is submitting to her freely??? I'm afraid that one of these days Rocky is really going to lay into her when he's had enough. 

Any ideas as to why she's acting like this??? She is NOT aggressive toward me or boyfriend, but she does growl at and chase the cat as well...she treats him really the same way she does Rocky, but thankfullly the cat is much faster and she can't ever catch him.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

She's 11 years old and she's adjusting, once again, to a major change. I would keep them separated to play outside and leashed or separated in the house. Crate and rotate. Accept the fact that they probably never will get along and deal with it for the time she has left with you.

It's not a great solution but it will keep her safe from injury and keep Rocky safe from developing dog aggression. Eventually, he will start attacking first in an attempt of "I'll get you before you get me". I know this from experience when my 1 1/2 yr old female went from being happy go lucky to dog aggressive due to a foster attacking her.


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## goatdude (Mar 3, 2009)

yea, I'd keep them apart. One's too old and set in her ways and you don't want to mess up the young dog for life either. Sounds like they are not happy with each other at all so don't make them more miserable by forcing the issue. My GSD and Pom don't get along either (the Poms 10) so they just lead separate lives and are much happier.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Just noticed in your sig that you have a 4 yr old GSD also. Where is she at? How does she get along with the 11 year old?


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## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

Jax, I had a 5 year old GSD, Shelby, up until 8 months ago when I moved in with my boyfriend. I was living with my Mom and she wanted me to leave Shelby with her, which worked out because I really didn't want to try 2 females together. My Mom just lives 20 minutes away so I still see my Shelby all the time. She was dominant over Rocky as well, but not nearly as aggressive as Missy. I still take Rocky to my Mom's to visit and he and Shelby get along fine together. 

She's good for my Mom...my Dad passed away just 3 years ago, so she really enjoys Shelby's company.


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## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

best to keep them apart when outside, for some reason everything changes going outside, my oldest male and 4 year female get along wonderful in the house and going places together, let them 2 in the back yard, and the older male wants to attack the female, so i diffuse the situation by giving the male a frisbee to play with and everything is fine


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

So it is just the two. I would keep them separated. Eventually, Rocky will get tired of being beat on and do serious damage. When you are relaxing in the living room, keep them on leashes. Is it possible that she is resource guarding her guy and doesn't want Rocky around him? How did they get along prior to living together?

Have you read the book Fiesty Fido? That might be of help to you.


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## Betty (Aug 11, 2002)

She's 11. She probably has a lot more aches and pains then her hips and you got a young hyper pup. 

She's achy and grouchy, just don't let them out at the same time and let her enjoy the remainder of her days in relative peace.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Thank you Betty! That is what I was trying to say but didn't come out quite right!


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## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

We did keep them seperated for the first month or so that we were in the house. Missy has been out of a crate for many years now though, so when we put her up we usually put her in our bedroom - Rocky is still crated. When we have these fights break out we have talked about seperating them again, it just stinks that that may be our only option. My boyfriend has been kind of stubborn about this and I think he only wants to do that again as a last resort. Jax, I do think you are on to something with the resource guarding. I have seen many devoted GSD's, but she is beyond comparison. She does NOT leave my boyfriend's side - ever. I think she is very jealous of all the sharing she has to do now. She will sometimes go after the cat when he's laying on my boyfriend's lap, and the dogs interact together fine in the backyard when they're out there alone, they've never fought when it has been just the two of them - only when we're outside with them.


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## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

I have thought of that myself Betty...I'm sure a lot of it is her age, and the aches and pains that come with it. I would understand it more though if Rocky was constantly jumping on her and bothering her, but he leaves her alone. He's doesn't pester her to play with him at all...he really keeps to himself.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

That sounds like resource guarding to me!! She's had her world rocked and now has to share it. It's knocked her security and confidence. 

Try this...when the cat is in his lap, start giving her chicken. Hopefully, she will start viewing this all as a good thing. It worked for my boss with his puppy.

Second, I know it's hard to separate the dogs and it doesn't seem fair but it's really not fair to Missy if she gets seriously injured and it's not fair to Rocky to create a fear aggression in him.

So, start by separating them and start working on the resource guarding. It will not be fixed overnight so be patient and keep them safe in the meantime.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

And do you walk them? Start taking them for walks, on leash. They should be able to be together without fighting if they are both busy looking around while walking. If they start to fight, then move apart so she can't reach him. Tell her Leave It, so she knows what she is doing is not ok. But keep her going forward (maybe in a heel) to engage her brain.


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## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

That's a good idea with the chicken...I will give that a shot. We haven't been walking them much lately...been spending the evenings landscaping and gardening, but it's something I've been talking about getting back into (for my health as well), so I think we'll be doing that too. My boyfriend was just a little concerned about Missy in the humidity (she's all black) and her back legs going out on her. I'm sure we can take her on short walks every evening though when it gets cooler...Rocky can go for much longer.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Short walks! 5-10 minutes. Your goal is to get them comfortable with each other. Start with him walking her. Once she is comfortable with Rocky, then switch and you walk her (so she's taken back out of her comfort zone and she sees him walking Rocky). At that point, you might expect problems. Jax doesn't like it when I'm walking another dog. 

You should start taking her for short walks and working with her a bit so she views you as one of hers also. 

Just make sure all situations between the two are controlled and that she can NOT get to him or the cat. She will build confidence every time she makes contact and the fact that is accomplishing what she wants to do. Kind of like when you tell Rocky to sit, he doesn't and you let him get away with it.


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## sju279 (Dec 18, 2008)

Good advice...we'll try it! Thanks Jax!


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## rickaz80 (Feb 24, 2008)

I agree with the walks, but I would start with 15 minutes. and work up to an hour or more. Get them tired and to the point where taking a break and a drink is more important than working on each other. Don't stop and give up, this will work with time. Everyday if you can. They will grow to love the walks if they don't already, and you may get to the point where one person can walk the two of them.


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