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How do I get these dogs to get along?
I have two dogs, a GSD and a lab, and my girlfriend has a glorified rodent of a Spitz. All of them are males, albeit with the literal OOM size difference, it's hard to believe they're the same species.
My GSD is reactive to other dogs, both as a consequence of his breed, and because he's used to seeing hostile strays who have no compunctions about barking or ganging up on him.
My lab is, well, a lab, so he would hurt flies and mice, but that's about it. He'll bark at street dogs, but he won't pick a fight.
Her dog is about as harmless as one can get, though you wouldn't know it from how he mouths off to others. He gets along fine in his dog creche.
She can't afford a creche every single time she comes over to my place, so she usually brings her dog along, to be kept on top of a wide cupboard where he can stay safe from the gnashing teeth of mine.
We've tried our best to socialize him with my dogs, but to little avail. The moment he comes down to ground level, they do their best to get him, or at least my GSD does. The lab is content to bark or growl, if her dog gets close.
I'm sure my GSD would absolutely masticate him, and even a nip would be dangerous given his tiny size.
We've been trying for months, offering treats to my dogs while we bring hers down, and rewarding them when they don't bark. It just doesn't work, or hasn't after a lot of trying. The moment her dog gets a bit of misplaced confidence, he starts barking back, which resets all the progress.
I've tried scolding and yelling, feeding all the dogs at the same time, some weird ultrasonic training tool, and yet I'm at an impasse. I just want them to get along, or at the very least not go for each other's throat. Any advice would be appreciated.
Honestly, it sounds like a classic case of tiny dog syndrome. Take with a big pinch of salt because I've never owned a dog, but I've read that you often get problems with tiny dogs who are indulged because they're cute and they take that as proof that they're top of the pecking order. The fact that you scold your dogs for trying to hurt him only adds to this.
Ideally, what you want is to make him realise that he's a tiny dog. It sounds like your lab is harmless, so perhaps you could let him interact with the spitz without the GSD present. The Spitz can wear himself out, realise he isn't taken seriously, and maybe calm down a bit. Then maybe you can reintroduce the GSD at a later date.
Obedience training for the spitz might also help.
https://holidaybarn.com/blog/small-dog-syndrome/
https://www.purina.com.au/dogs/behaviour/small-dog-syndrome
My girlfriend absolutely spoils him, so while I suspect you're right, it would be a bad idea to voice it haha.
When the lab and the Spitz are left together, they keep their distance unless someone forces them closer, at which point the lab starts growling and barking, and the Spitz either shuts up or starts barking back if he's being coddled safely. In more neutral settings, before the barking starts, the lab will happily sniff the Spitz without barking first.
I'll give your advice a whirl! Thanks.
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Have you tried taking them to a neutral location and tiring them both out? Sometimes the problem is that introducing them at one home or another sets off an intruder / defender dynamic where one dog feels the need to protect its territory.
Take the dogs camping and run them around separately. Let them both sit by the fire once they're too exhausted to fight.
Honestly not a bad idea, I think it might help defuse the tensions!
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Does the shepherd like, sit/stay?
If not, you should probably train him to anyways -- once this is done (or if he already does) then making him do that (and rewarding him) while the small dog does stuff in the general area should get him bored of the thing fairly fast.
He does so, but only inconsistently if food isn't involved. Given that he's always on a leash outdoors, I've never had a strict need for that, but I'm sure it would be useful.
I've tried having him sit with the bribe of treats while the little dog runs around, but the moment they're gone and he notices it, the cycle resets.
Oh yeah, don't be afraid to sock it to him with the treats -- this can be a significant proportion of his daily calories and it's fine!
If he's used to chasing, it will probably take a while to get him into the habit of not doing it -- so the time commitment is significant, but I don't think there's a shortcut. (other than turning them all loose and letting the chips fall where they may; higher risk there though!)
Clicker training seems gimmicky if you haven't tried it, but I've found it pretty helpful at building this kind of response faster. Low barrier to entry, the clickers are like 2 bucks and you are giving him treats anyways.
Thanks for the advice! I'll try and see if I can make some more headway.
If you try the clicker thing, Karen Pryor is kind of the mother of it -- I don't love her specific dog-training books so much, but there's one about general use of the clicker for behaviour modification in animals that's a good read; I think it's this one: https://www.amazon.com/Karen-Pryor-Behavior/dp/0962401714/
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For training our dog (a lab/pointer mix) not to bark at or attack our cats when we first got it, we first put the dog in a fold-up portable kennel in living room and then let the cats roam the room freely while we were elsewhere for a bit (1-2 hours at a time usually). After a few days of this, she mostly stopped barking at them and largely ignored them unless they showed interest in her, and they became comfortable being around her. After that, it was a gradual process of closely supervised interactions between them where we showered all of them with attention. Any time she'd bark or lunge at them though, she'd get immediately smacked firmly but not hard on the nozzle and locked up in the kennel for a time out while we kept playing with the cats. After a few weeks doing this and a steady reduction in aggression, we deemed it safe enough to let her be around them unsupervised and now (5+ years later) they're cuddle buddies. I don't know if this would work for small dogs though.
Her dog has often spent the better part of a day up on the cupboard or wardrobe, with my dogs roaming freely at the bottom. Even if they stop barking at him when he's quietly dwelling on top, any attempt to bring him down or take him elsewhere just causes mayhem.
Given the sizes of my dogs, I don't think I can really safely keep them at the same level, at least not without a cage which I don't have.
One aspect of this is that dogs are very territorial. You need to show the bigger dogs that the smaller one is free to roam what they consider their territory. Letting them roam while the smaller one is isolated reinforces that this is not the case. Also, accept that there will be mayhem until the desired pecking order is established.
I'd recommend getting a foldable one for each, but locking them in a separate room (eg, the bathroom) while letting the small dog roam might also work.
We've found an immediate firm (but gentle, just enough to get the dog's attention) smack on the nozzle or butt and isolation is much more reliable than any of these.
I'll try the keeping them cooped up while the little one runs free a go, shame I have to keep him under close watch, he's not house trained in the least.
Thanks for the help!
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