Getting Along
I'm not sure if this started when the puppy came home, or when I shaved Panda, it was around the same time. Panda is driving everyone crazy. LOL Tucker is well behaved when he is with either Dancer, or Sky, or both. Panda is well behaved with Dancer, not as much with Sky, and completely off the wall with Tucker. Dancer and Sky are always well behaved with or without each other. At first I thought it was because Tucker is a puppy, she's just happy to play, however, even Tucker is fed up with her. Panda just seems at first to want to play, roughly, and non stop, with the puppy. She bounces around and pounces on him, mouths his ear, neck, whole head basically. I can't leave them alone together for even an instant though, because she just does not stop. She gets her jaws around his throat, pins him down and doesn't let him up. She's not the least bit careful around him. Dancer and Sky seem to know he is a baby, so they play gently, are careful not to step on him, and keep him in line. If he gets too bouncy, they walk away from him, and he seems to understand they have had enough and will lay down quietly beside them. With Panda that just does not happen. At first I thought she was jealous, or maybe trying to be dominant, and that may be true, but it just doesn't seem like it to me. Another thought I had was that maybe it's just that she is still a puppy, and is happy to have a puppy to play with, but she is a year and a half old and while she may have the brain of a puppy at times, this is not normal behaviour for her. I've been given a couple suggestions, such as when supervising their play, tell her no when she gets too rough. That doesn't work. She's normally such a good girl, so laid back, calm, sweet, but when she gets going at Tucker, it's like she's not aware of anyone else in the room. She doesn't listen at all. So for now I have been keeping Tucker in my office with me, with the gate between him and the kitchen. This way either Dancer or Sky can come and spend time with me, and the other can keep Panda company, and then I'll change it so that Tucker is in the kitchen and Panda is spending time with the rest of the household. Panda and Tucker even go at each other through the gate though... a lot... it doesn't sound like she's being mean, just overly excited and cannot seem to calm down with him. The current arrangement can't work forever though, I need for these two to get along and settle down with each other. Any and all suggestions are welcome.... |
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| I think Panda sees the newbie in the family "Tucker" as some kind of threat.Her behavior towards tucker is almost to the point of trying to eliminate this new nusence from HER house. I am no behavioral expert , but it makes me double think about the new puppie I will be buying , next summer I have a deposit for a new puppie. I wanted another female sheepie, but me Bella is extremely spoiled and very domiinent. I suspect that my Bella will behave towards a new addition to the family much like your Panda.
I'm sure with all the experience on this forum someone will have specifics as to how to change, or modify Panda's behavior towards Tucker. |
Willowsprite wrote: At first I thought it was because Tucker is a puppy, she's just happy to play, however, even Tucker is fed up with her. Panda just seems at first to want to play, roughly, and non stop, with the puppy. She bounces around and pounces on him, mouths his ear, neck, whole head basically. I can't leave them alone together for even an instant though, because she just does not stop. She gets her jaws around his throat, pins him down and doesn't let him up. She's not the least bit careful around him. Another thought I had was that maybe it's just that she is still a puppy, and is happy to have a puppy to play with, but she is a year and a half old and while she may have the brain of a puppy at times, this is not normal behaviour for her. I would put my bets on this thought. My Bosley is overwelming at times, too, and when I read some of my older posts he was always after Dixie, too. I don't allow too much rough-houseing inside. When they get rambucious they go outside. Crates maintain sanity. I used my gates, too, to keep Bosley away from Dixie when she was so sick and needed her strength to heal. I would not allow the gate fighting, either. Put something in front of the gate if you have to , in order to stop this from occuring. A couple of suggestions I would through out is to get Panda more excercise. Get her tired, so she will have less energy to play for so long. I don't mean long walks but throwing the ball, get her a play buddy who will wrestle with her and get her tired out. And do NOT correct or punish Panda for this. If she gets into trouble for enjoying her new playmate she will associate him with her getting into trouble, and then you have a worse problem as she will not wnat him around at all. She doesn't know what "too rough" means, so when it looks like it will escalate it is time to separate, on a happy tone. Good luck. |
| Yes, the more exercise thing is why I got her the coat and boots... LOL She is one of those dogs who really needs her time to run around, and since her haircut that hasn't been possible for as long as she is used to.
Today is mild, muddy though, but mild, so hopefully a good long run around the yard will help. |
| This sounds just like Yuki when she gets around a young dog. She is a relatively calm dog, but the second she's left to play with a dog LESS dominant than herself, she TOWERS over the opportunity. She will try pulling the dog by the collar, pounce like a lunatic, and many other things to initiate play. No matter how much or how loud you yell at her to calm down or stop, she doesn't hear you. Her mission is "dog. play. make dog notice me. play." I wonder if this behavior is like Pandas. |
| Harry and Panda are the same age so I have always paid special attention to her. I am almost positive it is the puppy playing thing. Sort of like kids she is at that awkward stage of not quite a puppy and definitely not a grown up. So she lacks the maturity to know to be gentle with Tucker and they do get crazed like Leanne said when they want to play - with a one track mind - "must play". But I do agree with Nicole about correcting her so she doesn't associate Tucker with getting in trouble. We tell Harry "gentle" and then praise him when he modifys his behavior. We have been doing this from the beginning because he is the PLAY HO (if you know what I mean) and he does listen. It is just that he needs to be reminded often.
She is just a baby herself with a lot of changes going on in her life. Good luck. |
| Good luck - I hope some of the suggestions above work for you! It should get interesting in about 3 months, especially as he's a big boy! |
| It's sort of interesting that the other dogs don't seem to correct Panda when Panda is too rough with the new puppy. I've watched my older dog correct either/both puppy whenever he felt they were being too rough with each other or with people. At first Archie was very protective of Sophie, but as Sophie's dominant nature became more apparent, he became more even handed and developed a better relationship with Sherman. Sherman is low man on the totem pole and it often seems like in their play, it's pick on Sherman day, but Archie definitely stops things if Sherman withdraws or if he thinks Sophie is being too obnoxious.
On the other hand, at my house we're struggling with brother/sister agression---well, to be honest, sister agressive with brother issues. They are 9 months old now. Sherman's much bigger--78 lbs to Sophie's 63 at their last vet check. Sophie would rule the world, given the chance. She has accepted humans as superior to her, and she knows Archie will put her in her place, but if she gets upset about anything, she goes after Sherman. Example: she picks up something she shouldn't have on a walk. I tell her to drop it (gentle, firm voice). She does, first time. Then, 3 seconds later is snarling at Sherman who did nothing at all. It's getting worse, not better. Archie doesn't really intervene here. I correct her behavior but it's not helping. Both puppies have been altered. Teenage blues or do I have the makings of an agressive dog here? Note: I've never seen her be agressive with any other dog of any age. |
| She sounds alot like Maggie in terms of energy level and exercise needs. Is there a doggie daycare you could take her to once or twice a week to help burn off her excess energy? |
| Where are Dancer and Sky while this is happening? What are they doing? I've noticed at our house, if Bear is very excited, even if Clyde doesn't want to play, Clyde will do things to quietly instigate Bear's excited behavior, like maybe touching one of Bear's toys or acting like he's going over to his food bowl-- anything to keep Bear all riled up but kind of be "out of the mix." Then there are other times when he's obviously instigating. I used to blame Bear but I realize now that it's Clyde that is constantly fueling the fire. Just a thought, as sometimes the problem isn't with the one you think it is! |
Valerie wrote: She sounds alot like Maggie in terms of energy level and exercise needs. Is there a doggie daycare you could take her to once or twice a week to help burn off her excess energy?
She practically lives in a doggie daycare LOL 3 other dogs to play with, a huge fenced in area to burn off steam, tons of attention at all times... as a group and one on one... I don't think I could pay someone to do more... The thing is, she is not a hyper dog, in fact she has always been so laid back and downright lazy we used to think something was wrong with her 
She is still her normal self at all other times, just not during any interaction with Tucker. |
| I think it is just that they are both puppies & Panda doesn't know her size. I think it will be better when he gets a little bigger but I would definitely expect much rough-housing to be going on in your household! |
| Will the other dogs tolerate her acting that way?
The owner of this dog I'm watching says Shep is so rambunctious and plays hard with ALL dogs. ...and to be careful because he will also nip. My two won't tolerate this dog. If he initiates play by bouncing up and down (he has in other visits here), my dogs will bark and say "get off ..you rat!" Since then, it's like having a statue of a dog here. Doesn't do a thing outside of shake and whine when it's time to go for walks or eat.
So... my point is, maybe Panda found someone that lets her play rough? and to her, she's just being excited and not "Too much?" |
Willowsprite wrote: She practically lives in a doggie daycare LOL
3 other dogs to play with, a huge fenced in area to burn off steam, tons of attention at all times... I got the impression from your prior post that she is not that playful with Dancer or Sky and that none of them really like playing with her. Some other dogs might enjoy her bouncy rambunctiousness. . . |
Well, Sky and Panda used to be best buddies, both enjoyed rough-housing, however Sky doesn't want to play so rough right now, for good reason  so that could be part of it too, her older playmate is more delicate now, so pounce on the puppy!
Dancer plays with Sky, and gently plays with the puppy, but she has never been interested in playing with Panda. They can lay or sit side by side, share food and water bowls etc.. but Dancer just doesn't ant to play with her. LOL |
| That's a hard one stacey in a multiple dog home, really what is needed is one of the older girls to put her in her place. I was lucky as that has always happened with the older ones, they learn off them and made the pack order in the house great.
Who is the Alpha of the house? That is the one Panda needs to be with more and hopefully she will get annoying enough to be put in her place by one of the older girls. Tucker is still a real baby at the moment and panda is still a pupper too, hopefully when he grows more he will be able to establish an order with her and maybe eventually put her in her place. That will probably happen with a bit of maturity especially being a dog and a bitch. Hang in there and hopefully over the next few months an order in the house will be established, meanwhile keep them seperate and don't have her barking at him through the gate, that is only going to teach tucker that behaviour too. Bring them together on leads and supervise, never outside together off lead, that way you have controll of the behaviour and the amount of play together and they can still bond without any roughness. |
lisaoes wrote: Who is the Alpha of the house? That is the one Panda needs to be with more and hopefully she will get annoying enough to be put in her place by one of the older girls.
Dancer is definitely the alpha dog in the house... and when Panda is with her, Panda is very well behaved. |
| I don't have much to add, but I will say that when Walter was 1 and a half it was HELL. So it might be something she will grow out of. good luck! |
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