Not happy with pecking order

[slpsmile]

My puppy has been pooping on my other dog's bed. She is 12 months and my other dog is 3. We have been very careful to maintain the pack heirarchy with not letting her come/go first feeding him first etc. Why is she pooping on his bed outside. I removed the offending bed and now they sleep or at least stand/sit on the same bed. The dominant dog is very anxious and barks at any noise. She is very quiet.

[KOPcaroline]

Hey slpsmile,

Just a few quick questions to help myself out :P

How long has your younger dog been pooping on the other dogs bed? Is it a recent development? Are there any other signs of fighting for dominance, why do you think your younger dog is vying for top dog position?

Is the younger dog in good health otherwise, no recent injuries or anything?

Does your older dog always bark at noises, or has that just started since the pooping in bed?

Sorry, just trying to get a grip on the situation before I give any ideas on it :P Thanks very much!

[slpsmile]

The puppy has been pooping in the adult 3year old dog's bed outside only for 3-4 days. I think she is trying to challenge him since every time I look outside I see her on his bed and she takes his bones. I don't know when the pooping is taking place but it seeems to be later in the day. I finally go fed up and took the 2nd cot out of the dog run and now there is only one. She has not pooped on this bed but she has been pooping beside it on the concrete walk-way. After removing the other bed, now I see both dogs on one cot or him on the cot and her (the puppy) on the sidewalk or walking around. They do seem to wrestle when I take them out of the dog run at the end of the day and growl at each other while running around the yard. The older dog has always barked at noises and gardeners, neighbors, animals, etc. I should mention that the younger dog is in great health she is 1 year old but the older dog was recently in a very serious and tragic accident. He tore his inner thigh and groin open on our previous fence/gate that he squeezed through. He had 2 seperate surgeries and was confined to his crate/small space for around 3 weeks with just brief out door periods and he had a cone during this time. We did not allow any contact with the dogs during this time except to let them be on opposite sides of the gate to the dog run.

[Kate Jacobz]

Hi slpsmile,

Once you permitted them to have contact did you build up this contact gradually or did you totally remove all barriers instantly?

Problems can be created by not introducing dogs to each other in small doses. The primary dog can become very jealous and insecure and this can cause alpha dog issues which lead to additional problems. Not unlike those you are faced with.

Spending time with each dog on an individual basis playing games and training them may help. Taking each dog for a walk without the other one may also help - when the problem resolves itself you can then start taking them for walks and playing with them together. You should exercise your dogs on a daily basis as they need to be mentally stimulated and exercised.

You might also want to consider teaching your dogs the "quiet" and "speak" commands. This can be very rewarding for you.

[kjd]

slpsmile,

I think it is interesting that the older dog, now that there is only one bed, is the one you see on the bed. Older dogs will sometimes let puppies have their bones. If he isn't bothered by it, it probably isn't a dominance issue.

When they are running around growling at one another, does it sound real or more like playing? Dogs, like boys, can play fight in a very realistic manner. When they mean it, there is blood. Again, this doesn't sound like a dominance issue.

Pooping in an inappropriate place seems to be the problem. Are you sure it is the puppy? Is it possible the older dog, during confinement, forgot where to go?

kjd