In a multi-dog household, it’s important that all dogs have confidence and be comfortable. I’m sharing my biggest tips for intentional household harmony.
In the episode you'll hear:
- When I realized that comfort and confidence for all dogs is vital.
- How to be present to what your dogs are telling you.
- The CSI of a multi-dog home.
- How I prevent resource guarding before it starts.
- The guidelines and house rules that set everyone up for success.
I am constantly updating our rescue adoption handbook with links to your videocasts. Thank you, as always, for the awesome work you do.
Great podcast with tons of information and training techniques I will use in my two dog household. I have an 8 year old Malamute who I very gentle and always kind to other dogs. I adopted a 14 month old Border Collie 2 months ago, and wow have things changed – some for the better and others for the worse. The new boy loves my older girl, but he gets in her face and tugging at her neck far too much for her comfort and mine. So I am continuously trying to redirect the young guy so my girl can relax. This podcast really helped me understand the behaviors/interactions between the two and what/when I need to interfere or ways to do it.
I have a real issue going on now I have a multi dog household we moved a year ago into town now with neighbors really close! They are not handling well with barking and caring on! We have a lot more company coming by and the barking is horrible escalated and now they are ganging up on my deaf mini Aussie and beating her up it’s the 3 toy Aussies! She is petrified of those little dogs and have to keep her separate! Even when I am right there! Can you help?
Can you do an episode where you talk about: (1) When rehoming needs to be a real conversation/decision and (2) The road to recovery after a fight/scuffle or how to re-integrate/rehab after fights/scuffles.
We’ve been managing a semi-aggressive and semi-adore household for 4 years now.
There have been a few scary incidents, a few bite incidents, and a few punctures.
We have three rescues: two litter mates (5 years old) and our first rescue (6 years old)
Wow….what an eye opener…I have 3 small dogs a senior maltese an older yorkie a 1 and half year old maltese then I was given a pomsky who is a lot bigger and plays too rough with the young maltese the senior maltese growls and nips at the pomsky and the yorkie freezes up and runs from her…I asked the vet and a trainer about this and they said they’d work it out…the pomsky and the little maltese love each other but again the pomsky is too rough….because of safety reasons I started separating them and supervising because I know the pomsky will hurt the little maltese unintentionally….and I want the other 2 to tolerate the pomsky…I just hope its not too late for me to try this and have harmony within the house…thank you
I have a 12 week old Border Collie, a 2yr old BC and a 2yr old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. The 2y BC and the the 2 yr old Corgi grew up together. Now I got this 12 week old BC. My 2 old BC loves the 12 week BC, but when they are playing, the Corgi jumps in and attacks the puppy BC. I have to yell to break it up because he really attacks him. My puppy is getting scared of him. Other times, when it is just the puppy and the Corgi, they play fine together. It seems to me like the Corgi does not like to see the two BC’s playing without him. What do I do? Also, how much time, per day, should I allow any of them to play together without losing that bound with me? Thank you.
Thanks, this was really interesting and helpful. My female 3 year old mini poodle mix is my dog, we do everything, (agility, classes, hiking, going to my job) together. Our other dog is a 10 year old female terrier mix that my husband brought home 5 years ago. She is sweet, but too reactive to go anywhere or do much with. She would be much happier in a one dog one person household but I’m never going to win that argument. I think my poodle stealth aggravates the terrier until the terrier loses it. Poodle tries to guard me as a resource, I learned from the pod cast that the body checking she does to the terrier isn’t good either. I’ve been trying to to do Homeschool the Dog with each of them separately. When I work with the terrier, she is engaged and interested (working on confidence) but now she thinks she should compete with the poodle more aggressively. Last night I released the poodle who was in a down while I trained the terrier. She immediately hip checked the terrier and the terrier went after her. Had to break up a dog fight, which is awful. That hasn’t happened in a really long time. If I stop working with the terrier, I think the poodle might see that as a win in her column, but not sure. It’s definitely worse since I’ve been sharing the resource of me more.
Love your podcasts!! I just listened to your multi dog household episode. I have three Aussies and a Border Collie. I work very hard to maintain calm sharing household. BUT my Aussie puppy boy is 12 months old now and he and my 3 yo. BC were BFF for months. The minute I brought him home at 12 weeks he ran and sat beside her. Sasha BC still adores him -Fergus, but at about 4 months he started running fast and slamming her, biting and nipping whenever she ran outside. She is quite intense outside of course. I thought she would nip this in the bud as my Aussies girls did, but she did not ask him to stop. I am not willing to let this continue as it is not safe for either of them. He is very soft and can be stopped with “leave it”, a recall or “no biting” when I am there, but it is not sustained. As a matter of fact now he will run fast toward her, stop without slamming, look at me and then run back to me for his treat. BUT the minute I am not right there or the next walk around the yard he chases bites and slams her. Is there an episode where you talk about how to stop this kind of behavior in a young dog? He is very good a making up his own game!
Excellent podcast, particularly how you interfere. My Cattledog wants to constantly herd my Jack Russell, which she hates. I like the idea of rewarding him for not herding rather than always redirecting when he does.
Very helpful. I have a new male border collie puppy and my 7 year old female border collie. The puppy definitely sends my older girl into the aggregate stage, and she has a place to escape where he can’t get to her. The problem is, she has to go there frequently because he doesn’t get her signals that she has had enough. I feel badly that she is escaping all the time and want the puppy to learn better dog manners. My older girl is somewhat shy and easily intimidated, so she does not really correct or let the puppy know she doesn’t like playing anymore.
5 Stars easy
A great podcast, I am used to a multi dog household & am constantly evaluating & managing to ensure a happy equilibrium is maintained for the dogs & me! I am in need of help though & this podcast & hearing Susan’s analyse is really inspiring.
5 ⭐️‘S easily……
I have only one dog as I have realized that I am not able to provide for more than one, time wise and money wise. I love agility though and I love H360. My dog is 8,5 yo and I am thinking to get another dog later on so I can continue with H360.
I am in between two options: to do that once my dog has passed away or get a puppy when my dog is older (like 12 yo) and requires more rest. I dont know though how to agree the puppy needs (exercise, frequent walks and play time, higher energy) with the lower energy of my old dog who would require more rest and maybe piece of mind.
How do you make those two opposite situations work together? Maybe a podcast about that?
I have never had more than one dog.
Really great podcast. This will help in my struggle with a young dog that is not fitting in well in the 3 dog household
Very interesting podcast. I understant what kind of behaviour you do not accept. Maybe you have some more tips how to improve the relationship od dogs? Except of reinforcing them when they spent time together calmly. Maybe even some dedicated games?
very helpful. As our rescue has got braver the relationship balance between our three dogs has changed. This podcast has given me some direction on where and how to proceed