Getting Tired of Milo's Aggression

[rannmiller]

So of course, my smallest dog is my biggest trouble-maker. On the 4th of July he went after Penny and wasn't going to let up so my mom and I managed to kick them apart and he ran after her again so I grabbed him by the tail, he flipped around to bite me, but i anticipated it so I moved my hand fast enough to scruff him and pin him to the ground across the room where he promptly peed all over himself and me and made no more attempt to get up or move. I held him there for about a minute or two, made sure he was calm, let him back up, and put him in my room away from everyone else for a time out for several hours.

This is the first time he's ever gone after Penny and ever started a fight like that, he's usually just a snarky jerk who snaps/growls at other dogs when he feels overwhelmed by them. Or just when he feels like it. I just chalked it up to him being stressed by all of the festivities of the weekend.

Well ever since then, he's been more snarky with Peyton (he was always kinda of snarky with her before but much worse now) and I keep finding scratches from him nipping her all over her beautiful face and she's getting scars from it and it's really starting to piss me off

I just started separating them during the day when I'm not here to supervise so he gets to stay inside the house while Penny and Peyton can have the garage conversion and backyard to themselves. But he's so fast that even when I'm home, he can get her in less than a second if I'm not on top of him all the time so now I'm thinking about getting him a muzzle for when they are together so he can't even have the chance of hurting her anymore.

I'm hoping that after a while of him not being able to go after her, I'll be able to wean him off of the muzzle and they'll be able to peacefully coexist again.

I've also knocked him down several pegs on the doggie totem poll at my house so he's on the very bottom:

1. He gets fed last every single time no matter what I'm feeding them, from meals to treats to recreational bones.

2. He's not allowed on any furniture anymore (obviously not enforced when I'm not home, which kinda sucks but I think it gets the point across when everyone else is and he isn't when I'm there to love on them).

3. He used to get to walk ahead of everyone else on walks/runs, now I make sure to keep him at the back of the pack.

4. If he makes any sort of aggressive/dominant move towards any of my pets, I put him in time out.

5. I praise him when he is being a good, nice boy and leaving poor Peyton alone.

I really love this dog but I'm getting so frustrated with him. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm open to it!

[TokenAndSeth]

Is Milo DA?

Was he fed/given treats/first out/in the door first (after you of course) before all of this? I don't know your dogs but is it possible that the hierarchy of your pack is changing? If so that could explain the increased aggression.

[DaneMama]

^^^ My thoughts exactly.

I want to know more about what instigated the issue on the 4th in the first place...? If you know that would be helpful. How old is Milo?

I can definitely seeing him getting more cranky with the other dogs if he's lost all of his status in the family because that contrary to natural pack order. When we bring a foster dog into our house they are at the bottom of the power scale, just because they are the newcomer into the house and not based on their personality. Why? Because if we bring a new dog into the pack and automatically make him/her leader, it would throw off the balance of our pack even more. We reinforce our dogs' places even if the dog we get is more dominant.

Milo will not make the connection of taking all of his usual rights away with needing to "mellow out" his aggression. If anything it will just make it worse. I would re-establish his place in the pack because that will make him more confident and hopefully mellow him out more. Did this behavior (snipping and biting) start up with Peyton in the beginning when you first got her or just recently? It might be his way of telling you that he's jealous of the new puppy...?

[rannmiller]

Milo is a little over 3 years old and he was always just second to Penny in the pack.

On the 4th, my mom brought Peyton's brother with her and they were playing in the living room totally away from Milo and Penny who were in the kitchen. At that point it was just my mom, my bf, and myself in the house at the time.

I had just walked into the kitchen after changing into heels and a skirt (yes, the perfect outfit for kicking two fighting dogs apart, I know ) my mom was standing in the door of the kitchen and I was standing in the middle of the kitchen. Milo was by me, Penny was by her. There was no food anywhere nearby and the dogs had all been fed that morning, hours prior to the event. Penny took one step towards me to get out of my mom's way and Milo flew at her snarling and biting so Penny fought back (she can hold her own very well for being almost 9 years old).

Before that, Milo had always been sort of snarky with other dogs, he would do the growl and snap thing at them if they were infringing on his attention time with people or if they got too annoying for him and wouldn't leave him alone. But that is more of a dog park or in outside or new locations behavior. He's almost always just fine with other dogs in the home so long as they're well behaved. When I adopted him, he'd been living in a dog daycare for over a month, so he obviously had no issue with dogs then/there.

Knowing this, I have always made sure that Peyton didn't bug him too much since she is an obnoxious puppy and she's gotten very good at knowing her boundaries with him. She never gets in his face or bites at him or anything. He even enjoys licking her face all the time! But sometimes, for some reason, he just snaps and gets her with his stupid teeth and she bleeds and scabs and scars from it which is totally unfair to her.

I had no problem with Peyton being bottom dog, she had no problem with it either! She accepted her place happily and has made no attempts to change it, Penny humps her on a fairly regular basis just to remind her as well

But I do have a problem with Milo thinking he needs to spontaneously eat her face in order to keep her at the bottom. I don't want to reinforce that, and if him staying in second dog position makes him think that's acceptable behavior then he can just lose that position and lose that attitude as well.

[TokenAndSeth]

I don't know if this will help at all but here is what I would do in that situation.

In my house I am the alpha bitch, period. I decide who eats, when they eat, who humps who, when they can play and what they can play with. We follow NILF religiously!

Perhaps Milo needs a reminder of just who is really in charge in your home, which is YOU

*ETA*
I wonder how much of having another male in the house had to do with Milo's behavior?

[CorgiPaws]

*ETA*
I wonder how much of having another male in the house had to do with Milo's behavior?

Peyton is a female.

[xxshaelxx]

Peyton is a female.

lol. They were talking about Rachel's mum's pup. ;)

[rannmiller]

well it may have had something to do with his aggression towards Penny (though as I said before, he was in the other room with peyton, nowhere near him). And he (Adonis, my mom's dog) hasn't been here since the incident and it's his post-incident snarkiness that has me the most concerned. Besides, Adonis is a super submissive puppy so I don't know how much influence he had.

[rannmiller]

My trainer/the president of the rescue I got Milo from in the first place says my pack was probably changing that night and Milo was trying to take top dog position and I should try making him top dog for a week and see if things get better. Guess I'll try that and see if it helps.

[geneseeker66]

Have you considered having Milo's thyroid checked? I have heard that if a dogs thyroid levels are off they can become aggressive. Just a thought. Lori