ruthless Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Our foster Amstaff, Trixie, is quite dominant and pushy. We're fine about keeping her in line and correcting any bad behaviour. However, see keeps pissing on top of all the other dogs wee and pooh. I know it's because she's trying to mask their smell cause she believes it's her territory, but how do we stop it? Or do we need to stop it? They're all separated when we're not home, so it only happens when there's someone here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiesrule Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Unless it is causing problems is there a need to stop it? It is normal pack structure and she is saying she is boss of the others, the only time I would really be worried is if she is pissing on YOU or YOUR stuff... then you should stop her from doing that. When we own a few dogs at once we need to allow them their own pack structure within themselves or fights will happen, just as long as we are Alpha of all. If you interfere too much in their struggling for who is higher, that is when problems start. You could look up on the internet about body language and pack structure to help learn about what is happening with your kids... very interesting stuff. You have to also note who is higher and treat them accordingly, even if they are not your favourite. I would be really interested in hearing other points of view on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 Isn't there another school of thought that says you shouldn't allow dominance at all? No humping, no favouritism, no alpha dog, no feeding one dog first, etc. We're the pack leaders and they're all below us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*Shell*~ Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 (edited) From what I've heard, dogs naturally only have 1 pack leader because otherwise it creates fights between the leaders (fortunately if your whole family is their "pack leader" then they seem to respond to that too) - everyone else is equal below them. Personally I would use the approach of getting 2 people to walk all the dogs with your dogs being walked up front and your foster behind them (with no pulling on the leash). Everytime you see the dog marking over the other dogs business I would correct the behaviour (personally i use a 3 finger poke in the neck, just hard enough to redirect their attention, but no where near hard enough to hurt) and reinforce that the foster in not above but equal to everyone else. I would also feed the other dogs before you feed the foster, and make the foster stand a distance away while the others eat, not to say that the other dogs are your favourites, but it'll show the foster that you're definitely in charge and that you decide when it eats! I hope this helps! This is what we did with my (formerly dominant aggressive) husky and while he's not completely submissive all the time, he's no longer aggressive and in our house, he's totally submissive both with us and other dogs (when he used to want to eat them)! ETA: I'm one of those people that thinks any form of dominance shouldn't be allowed. Apparently dominance escalates if left unchecked (I can see this happening with a friend's dog atm ) and with such a strong breed like the Amstaff you can never be too careful (especially when people have such misconceptions about them being agressive)! Btw, she's just beautiful! Is that colour a common one? I don't think i've ever seen an Amstaff quite that shade of brindle before! Edited May 12, 2008 by ~*Shell*~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 From what I've heard, dogs naturally only have 1 pack leader because otherwise it creates fights between the leaders (fortunately if your whole family is their "pack leader" then they seem to respond to that too) - everyone else is equal below them. Personally I would use the approach of getting 2 people to walk all the dogs with your dogs being walked up front and your foster behind them (with no pulling on the leash). Everytime you see the dog marking over the other dogs business I would correct the behaviour (personally i use a 3 finger poke in the neck, just hard enough to redirect their attention, but no where near hard enough to hurt) and reinforce that the foster in not above but equal to everyone else. I would also feed the other dogs before you feed the foster, and make the foster stand a distance away while the others eat, not to say that the other dogs are your favourites, but it'll show the foster that you're definitely in charge and that you decide when it eats! I walk all four of them, no alternative really, OH leaves for work very early. Trixie walks behind us all naturally anyway. She's a bit like Angel in that she's a bit scared of the great outdoors. The marking happens in our back garden, not when we're out. That's why I find it hard to correct. We practice the TOT, so they all sit and wait for their dinner and only eat when we say ok. I hope this helps! This is what we did with my (formerly dominant aggressive) husky and while he's not completely submissive all the time, he's no longer aggressive and in our house, he's totally submissive both with us and other dogs (when he used to want to eat them)!ETA: I'm one of those people that thinks any form of dominance shouldn't be allowed. Apparently dominance escalates if left unchecked (I can see this happening with a friend's dog atm ) and with such a strong breed like the Amstaff you can never be too careful (especially when people have such misconceptions about them being agressive)! Btw, she's just beautiful! Is that colour a common one? I don't think i've ever seen an Amstaff quite that shade of brindle before! Maybe with certain breeds it works to let them work out their own pack structure, but I think with bull breeds they need a strong leader. I'm a Cesar fan too ;) I've never seen a blue brindle Amstaff before, but that's not to say it's a rare colour. She's gorgeous and snuggly. I'm growing very fond of her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreySpace Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 Our foster Amstaff, Trixie, is quite dominant and pushy. We're fine about keeping her in line and correcting any bad behaviour. However, see keeps pissing on top of all the other dogs wee and pooh. I know it's because she's trying to mask their smell cause she believes it's her territory, but how do we stop it? Or do we need to stop it? They're all separated when we're not home, so it only happens when there's someone here. Just be grateful she doesn't do it to food. We have one charmer here who likes to pee in the bowl when he's finished. Nothing like washing up bowls full of pee first thing in the morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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