We have 6 dogs and they all get along pretty well with one exception - Our English Setter (Harry) continually bullies our Golden Retriever (Stan), to the extent that Stan has scars all over his nose where Harry has pinned him to the ground. Stan couldn’t be more submissive – he’s only 8 months old and lies on his back if Harry so much as looks at him. Does anyone know why Harry might behave this way and what we might do to stop it? Harry was fully grown when he was introduced to the 4 dogs we had at the time. Stan was still a puppy. Harry is not the pack leader but is very much ‘number 2’ in the order.

Has Harry always acted this way towards Stan or is this something that started recently? Are these the only males in the house? Are any or all of the dogs spayed/neutered?

I have a question. How do you get a 6 week old puppy to stop being aggresive. My dad has a 6 week old Husky Shepherd mix and she growls at us quiet often. I hear you are supose to shake them by the back of there neck and tell them no, just as there mothers would. I am not sure how we could stop this. I have a 14 month old daughter that spends alot of time with her grandparents and we can't let her around an aggressive dog. Please help me with this.

Harry (aggressor), was 'done' about 3 months ago, Stan is being kept for breeding - so he is still 'ala testiclie'. Stan is much bigger than Harry but that does not seem to enter the equation!
This week we introduced Stan's inteneded partner (Cydney), a Golden Ret.puppy to the pack, which went well at first until she got within alpha dog - Boatswain's meal time exclusion zone and promptly nearly got her head bitten off; luckily only slight damage but a bit of a shock for her! Do you think we will have problems while ever we have fixed and unfixed dogs together? Al the others except Stan and Cydney are fixed.

Originally Posted by GermanShepherdLover

I have a question. How do you get a 6 week old puppy to stop being aggresive. My dad has a 6 week old Husky Shepherd mix and she growls at us quiet often. I hear you are supose to shake them by the back of there neck and tell them no, just as there mothers would. I am not sure how we could stop this. I have a 14 month old daughter that spends alot of time with her grandparents and we can't let her around an aggressive dog. Please help me with this.

Do NOT shake a 6wk old puppy...this can cause neurological problems. Mother dogs do not do this.
Are you positive the puppy is being aggressive and not playing? If so, I strongly suggest having the puppy evaluated by a behaviorist as soon as possible before the problem escalates.

Originally Posted by DaveMargetts

Harry (aggressor), was 'done' about 3 months ago, Stan is being kept for breeding - so he is still 'ala testiclie'. Stan is much bigger than Harry but that does not seem to enter the equation!
This week we introduced Stan's inteneded partner (Cydney), a Golden Ret.puppy to the pack, which went well at first until she got within alpha dog - Boatswain's meal time exclusion zone and promptly nearly got her head bitten off; luckily only slight damage but a bit of a shock for her! Do you think we will have problems while ever we have fixed and unfixed dogs together? Al the others except Stan and Cydney are fixed.

IMO, Harry's behavior is quite abnormal. I don't think its an issue of status since, by the sound of it (correct me if I'm wrong), Stan gives pacifying signals and Harry ignores them.

How long has Harry acted this way towards Stan?

I ended up with my Toy Poodle because of a situation similar to yours. He was neutered shortly after his previous owners introduced a male puppy into the household. The puppy was not neutered and the dogs got along fine until the puppy reached maturity. At that time the Poodle seemed to suddenly despise the other dog and would constantly go after him, ignoring all pacifying signals. The other dog was terrified of him despite the fact that he was 65 lbs and the Poodle was only 6 1/2lbs. The Poodle would even try to prevent him from rentering the house after coming in from outside. It got so bad they rehomed the Poodle and that is how I ended up with him. He is great with my female and fine with my mother's neutered male so I can't help but think this might have been related to the other dog being intact. I could be wrong but that is my theory.

How old is Cydney? Did Boatswain actually hurt her or did he only scare her?

Harry's behavior is very strange. He has obviously established dominance, he should have stopped fighting. This sounds like he is just being mean. If he doesn't stop you might have to find him another home. As far as Boatswain goes, did he actually attack her, or did he just growl and show his teeth. She might have just startled him or he perceived her as trying to take his food.

Thank you all for getting back to me. I am beginning to think that I have been showing too much affection towards our new puppy (Cydney) in front of the other dogs. After all they have no affection for her as a puppy how ever sweet we may thing she is. To them she is just another dog that needs to learn the pecking order. Unfortunately we have two dogs (Boatswain and Harry) that were resuce dogs so we have no way of knowing what they were subjected to prior to being with us and they can be quite aggressive.
Does anyone know the best way to remove aggressive behaviour from dogs?

You might be interested in checking out Patricia McConnell's booklet and/or DVD "Feeling Outnumbered?".