# Teach to not fight back against other family dog.?



## Ginstervr6 (Aug 25, 2014)

Long shot here.. Is there anyway to teach our 2 year old female to not fight back against our other family dog.? But not affect how she deals with other dogs.. Like if a random dog was to attack her or something.. 

Our other family dog is just a little bigger than our gsd's head lol.. But our other dog was here before our gsd haha..


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Short answer. Yes. Teach your other dog not to be a jerk and attack your GSD. This is not acceptable and not ok. It's not cute, funny, or "the way it is". 

Neither dog should be allowed to bully the other, no matter who is bigger or was there first.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

My GSD doesn't retaliate against my snarky 14 year old shih tzu. However, I don't let my little dog bark and snarl either. If he won't desist, he gets removed to the other room. Since he's ancient and set in his ways, it has translated into his living mostly in the master bedroom suite.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

I agree with the others, don't let one dog no matter which dog it is bully the other. Step in and seperate and lay clear boundaries on what is acceptable behaviour and what isn't.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

​You have to correct the small dog. Every time you allow the small dog to lash out, and correct the large dog for retaliating…you’re teaching the small dog that it’s more powerful and that no matter what it does, it will get the big dog in trouble. You’re not being fair, and dogs don’t like that very much. If you keep doing this, eventually, when the larger dog is older and a little more mature, she’s going to do something you’re really not going to like. You probably won’t have time to correct her in that situation.

I had this situation with a family dog. A little Westie that would growl/snap at my GSD. We of course wouldn’t allow the GSD to react. But…the main focus was on correcting the westie for growling. It was teaching him that as long as the GSD is being friendly…if you growl at him, you’ll get corrected. We also showed him that we wouldn’t allow the GSD to harass him in ways he didn’t like. Eventually, the dog figured out to just ignore the GSD, let him say “hello” and then they go their separate ways and basically don’t even interact.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

I wish corrections had worked for my guy. He absolutely would not get over having Varik in his proximity. No amount of corrections changed his mind at all. He would even follow Varik and me to the door as we headed outside to play, barking. We could even hear him barking while outside! He's mostly deaf and partially blind so I just made the decision to keep them separated. Varik likes him just fine ... I just wish I could say the same about Rai Li.


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## Ginstervr6 (Aug 25, 2014)

I do not punish or tell our gsd that she's in the wrong.. The main problem with the other dog is he is 15-16 years old. He is mostly blind and deaf.. That's why I figured it was a lost cause trying to correct his actions..


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Then crate and rotate. This allowed interaction will cause your GSD to become dog aggressive. Been there, Done that. Still paying the consequences of a wacky, aggressive, foster dog 6 years later with my GSD.

Do NOT allow this other dog to continue to attack. Separate or correct.


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