[toolfreak]

I have a 1 year old mixed breed and a 3 month mixed breed. I recently got the puppy to help with the 1 year olds activty level. They get along great until food or treats are involved. The old dog gets aggressive with the puppy when ever she is even near him when dog food or treats are around.

The older dog is not aggressive towards humans with food at all. You can pick his bowl up, you can pet him on his face - all of that. It's when the puppy is in within viewing distance of him. I'm not quite sure if it might be her as well with aggression. But, once again, she is not aggressive with humans either or with her brother that a family member has.

The older male dog has been fixed to try to reduce some of the aggression and forcefullness that something he has with the puppy. And it has helped with his hyper-activity and he has become much more gentle with humans, not that he wasn't before.

I could see myself feeding them seperatly, but with treats that's when it gets difficult. She needs to be trained so she can be a healthy dog when she gets older. I'm just worried that I could be setting them up for much more worse behavior problems in the future.

If anyone has any advice on how to address this issue with the least stress on my two puppies, I'd be more than happy.

Thanks in advance.

[opokki]

Can you describe in detail what you mean by aggressive? How is the older dog reacting exactly? What is the puppies reaction when the other dog acts this way?

I would definately feed them separately if you think fights might break out at feeding time.

As far as treats go.....
Practice obedience with each dog separately first and then together. Reliable obedience comes in very handy, especially in multi-dog households. Teach each of them to sit patiently and politely in order to get a treat everytime you offer one. Rude, pushy, or aggressive behavior should cause the instigator to lose out on getting a treat.

It took lots of practice but my dogs sit quietly side by side waiting to get a treat and never try to grab from one another because whenever they did, they lost the opportunity to get a treat. In addition, I have worked so hard on obedience that I can put Natalie in a sit-stay and drop treats on the floor next to her while Sebastian eats them and she will not budge. I accomplished this by heavily rewarding her for not moving and making sure she did not get the treats that I dropped on the floor if she broke her stay.

You might be interested in checking out Patricia McConnells booklet and/or DVD "Feeling Outnumbered?". This is an excellent resource for peacefully managing multi-dog households.

Best of luck!

[toolfreak]

The aggressive behavior goes as far as the oldest dog growling and grabbing her on the back of her neck. The puppies starts screaming, with her tail tucked - once she's had an accident in the floor because she was so scared.

I know that he would never injure her. It's not in his nature. But he does think that he's top dog, and she's not one of the submissive type dogs. She's just as strong willed as he seems to be.

At times, I think I even hear the puppy growling when there is food involved.

It's just going to take a great deal of patience on my part as the mediater, which I was fully prepared to do.

Thanks so far.