Sofa Grumpiness Options

[Bellasmamma]

One of my three (Davey) has started being grumpy about the sofa (I think the pack dynamic is still settling after losing Jess) He will give a warning growl and then will progress to teeth and nipping if another dog gets too close or walks past. He has also started bullying a bit when there are kongs or high value treats about - he will finish his first and then stand over the others and take what they have. Kiz and Cyril are both very non confrontational and will give up whatever they have, but it's not nice.

I'm managing and separating them when there are high value goodies about, and that's fine - they all get treats and space to enjoy them. I've removed anything high value from their shared rooms.

With the sofa, he tends not to be bothered about what the others are doing when he's on a dog bed, so I'm carrying treats and calling him off the sofa and rewarding him for going to a bed. I'm hoping to set up a situation where dog bed = rewards and fun, sofa = nothing.

The last thing this house needs now is tension or friction between the greyhounds. They've all lived together for a few years without problems. Having Jess here was like being hit by a whirlwind for 11 months and we're all recovering. Any thoughts on what I can do to diffuse tension and encourage them all to rub along happily again?

We are doing lots of walking together - outside the house, Davey is quite nervy and gets his confidence from being alongside the others. At home, he seems to be throwing his weight about a bit and I'm concerned.

[amber]

My Oscar used to guard my bed from Petra. This only happened when I was in my bed, Oscar had jumped on and then P came along wanting to get on. He used to really snark at her (Petra is my Princess who always sleeps on the bed with me).

It's a bit different from the sofa thing, but if that happened, I straight away got up off the bed and left the room, which usually took the wind out of his sails.

Obviously I wouldn't want to have to do that during the night when asleep, so mostly Oscar was not allowed to sleep with us on the bed at night (he had his own bed which he was quite happy with) and if he did come up on the bed at all, Petra had to go up first.

I think in your case I would try to teach him both on and off cues for the sofa, so he only gets on when you invite him to and he gets off straight away when asked, which sounds like what you're doing.

I would also be tightening up on his general manners, as well as reinforcing any good manners and behaviours that he does show around the other two dogs.

ETA I did start doing the on/off cue with Oscar but stopped because I realised that him jumping on and off the bed repeatedly wasn't good for his arthritis, so you'd need to think about his joints before doing too much of that.

This post has been edited by amber: 29th Feb 2012, 9:35 pm

[Lindsay]

You may find investing in Pat McConnell's little booklet about dogs all living together is very useful as it gives a few exercises to do - I can't quite recall the name of it, but it's only cheap

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/feeling-outnumbered

I am pretty sure you can get it from Amazon or maybe Postive Animal Solutions (from Lynda on here).

I think it will help



Lindsay
x

[Bellasmamma]

Thanks Lindsay - I've downloaded it for my Kindle and will have a read today

[kittypimms]

Frankdog guards the sofa from Dinodog. Dinodog ignores Frankdog and clambers on anyway. The benefits of being deaf

(This isn't helpful BTW, sorry about that! )