Someone help please? :(

[Karyan]

As some of you may know, my two Cairn Terriers parented 4 puppies (Wallace, Angus, Pepper, and Alvin). They are about 3 months old now. Recently they have become extremely aggressive with each other but mostly with my puppy, Alvin. I don't know what it is about him but they pick on him the most. And to say that they "pick" on him is an understatement. When these dogs attack they mean to kill. They have attacked my Alvin to the point that he bled on several occasions. One time they terrified him so much that he lost control of his bowels. :( All three of them will gang up on him at once for NO reason. He will walk up to them just as sweet as can be and all of a sudden one will go for his throat, then another will attack his backside, and then the other will go for his belly. Its horrible. It makes me break into tears when I see the look of terror he gets on his face and when I hear him yelping at the top of his lungs. Luckily, my sister took Wallace to live with her. But now we're still left with Angus and Pepper, the two most aggressive ones. I keep telling my dad that we need to get rid of Angus and Pepper before they get big enough to really kill Alvin. But he seems to think that he can train them to not attack him. I have a strong feeling that he won't be able to. Anyway, I can't convince him to get rid of those dogs. So does anyone have any tips on how I can get them to coexist without killing Alvin? I already know why they do this. I just want to know how to make it stop before I lose my little baby. :(

[Shanti]

All males? With one female in the house? Survival of the fittest!!
Neuter asap. My JR had tiny balls at 4 months and was neutered at 4 months. The instinct comes before the balls drop. Testosterone is flowing. And spay mom so no heat cycle brings out the aggression. Males still have sexual desire when neutered and around a bitch in heat and can still mount so that's worth fighting for, between male and male.

You are dealing with instinct, coming of age, and pecking order.
That's a tough one to train out. But start with making a human the alpha dog. That human should stop and separate when ever there is a scuffle. Also feed the lowest ranking one first making the others wait in turn. That helps reinforce that they are not top dogs. Top dogs always eat first! Never feed them first. They should learn to lay and wait their turn. Patients in a dog is a must.

Divide each with their own safe place. Their own corner with blanket, kennel, anything where each dogs has their own space that they do not share. Then when one is not being nice, 'you (the dog) go to your corner and time out.' That's also where each keeps his own toys and chew objects.

Persistence is number one. If the human doesn't move quick and catch bad behavior and time the dog out, you took 2 steps back.

Use leashes if necessary. You can let them walk about dragging a light weight leash to make it easy to quick separate a squabble and keep control on the offending dog, with out using hands as restraining tools.
That's does help with the dog not trying to bite you because its pissed at the other dog and your in its way.

There's more but that's a start as my brain went blank. As more ideas come I'll post.
Others should have ideas too.
Try whatever you feel best for your dogs.


But do keep in mind the ranking of dogs. One has to be allowed tops and someone is on the bottom. Your their Alpha dog, show them that and assign ranks. Alvin's second to you. They need to know their alpha leader picked Alvin. Go potty too by rank. Make them wait turns before going out the door. Alvin always goes out first, then after Alvin passes the door, the next in rank goes and so on.

These type of methods is how I keep harmony with a female JR mix not spayed, a JR mix male neutered, a female spayed pit bull and a neutered Beagle mix. My 2 JR mixes are old, very old. I have them as alpha, next is the 1 yr old beagle, and the pit-bull is always last. I feed in rank turns. The pit-bull is 4 yrs old and knows to lay there and patiently wait turn while everyone else eats. She, being a pit and the biggest dog could kick ass if she wanted, but she knows her alpha humans put her on the bottom. She has growled at the other dogs and she is immediately grounded to her corner. All we have to do now is point to her corner and she knows she was a bad girl. Head goes down and she mopes as she goes time out.
Our Beagle is new. Had him for a month only. Pitts often don't take to new dogs, especially grown up dogs. She excepted him as soon as we showed her he is ours. But she wont allow anyone else's dogs around here unless me or my SO are right there ordering her to be nice.
Dogs understand what 'belongs' to their alpha human.

Good luck. Hope more ideas come along.

[Cindlady2]

Well, you put that better than I probably could have. Thanks Shanti!

I would just like to add that the rank has to put all the humans in the top. The one who is with the dogs the most will be Alpha but they must know the rules apply to all humans. Everyone must be instructed as to what to do so as there is never conflicting instructions. Alvin should be kept close to one of the humans as much as possible. Make sure they all get attention, but do it also in rank. Don't feel too bad about making the other dogs feel rejected, once order is established everyone will feel much better and happier. This is a natural thing for dogs, all you are doing is asserting your Alpha status in the pack.

[adazakura]

If all else fails hun u might have to seperate alvin, which would break his heart being shut up in a room on his own, but safer

Shanti's right about what to do

neuter them

puppies and kittens normally play fight and sqeeuls tell them theyre going too far, its how they learn. The fact that we alvins being taken further is not good....

feel for you hun

let us know how it goes

xx

[Anubis]

There is something you need to take into consideration. IF Alvin does not have the personality to be a dominating dog.. the whole scenario of making him top dog will not work! He also has to be able to stand up to them if they challenge him.. which, since he is low dog on the totem pole.. they already know they can take him out.

Granted YOU may want him to be top dog.. but it is really going to be hard for a submissive dog to step into that role if he is afraid of a challenge. I have been through this with dobermans.. and cattledogs. If Alvin is not leadership material.. the other dogs will tear him up when your back is turned.. regardless of what you want. So you need to step back and really evaluate him to see if he can handle it. If he is overly submissive to the other dogs and can not get over that.. then you will be fighting a losing battle trying to make it happen.

[Shanti]

Aniubis we disagree!! I guess it happens but maybe its not actually disagree, but just different experiences. :)
It can work, I have seen it work in other peoples dogs too. It also may not work in all situations. Dogs, and their amount of accepting and changing is as variable as humans are.
So from my perspective, trying may provide good results or it may fail.
Trying something is better than doing nothing at all. :)

Being prepared for it not working I would say is a factor that a person should be aware of. :)

[Anubis]

Aniubis we disagree!! I guess it happens but maybe its not actually disagree, but just different experiences. :)
It can work, I have seen it work in other peoples dogs too. It also may not work in all situations. Dogs, and their amount of accepting and changing is as variable as humans are.
So from my perspective, trying may provide good results or it may fail.
Trying something is better than doing nothing at all. :)

Being prepared for it not working I would say is a factor that a person should be aware of. :)

I never said it wouldn't work.. BUT the dog's personality has to be taken into consideration.. a dog who just does not have a dominant personality will never be leader of the pack because he or she will always be submissive to the others.. now if the dog WANTS to be top dog.. but never had the chance.. then yeah with the owners interference it will work just fine. That's why I said they would need to evaluate Alvin's personality to see if he has what it takes to accept the role of dominant dog

[Shanti]

I never said it wouldn't work.. BUT the dog's personality has to be taken into consideration.. a dog who just does not have a dominant personality will never be leader of the pack because he or she will always be submissive to the others.. now if the dog WANTS to be top dog.. but never had the chance.. then yeah with the owners interference it will work just fine. That's why I said they would need to evaluate Alvin's personality to see if he has what it takes to accept the role of dominant dog
Gotchya!! :)

[Old Witch]

What Shanti said! Good, good, good advice!

[person of shadow]

I too had a problem sorta like this, but not as bad....IF it was then my little doggies would be dead.

I had a 3 year old great dane(she is at the bottom of the pole), and got 2 chihuahua puppies. I made sure she new they where higher than her.It's not that they are more important but smaller and if she was higher and decided to show dominance then she could kill them. I tried alot of what Shanti said and it worked. Then came a new puppy 3 years later, I tired to make it where he was just above my GD, but it didn't work he took position above his father one of the other chihuahua's, but above all I made it that my Female chihuahua was dominant dog under me so that she could get attention, because she is a very submissive dog to me and all humans, but I made it that she was above the others so she wouldn't be coworing and submissive to the others. For if she had then I think the others could have killed her.

I think this might be what you need to do with Alvin, try lots of the things that Shanti said, for that is what I did to get this outcome....I hope it works for you as it did me.