He may not be dog friendly and be acting out of fear. First thing I do when I see this behavior is to do a controlled butt sniff. Hold Fegan and allow all your other dogs to sniff his butt, while you hold him and prevent him from biting. Then, while holding him still, allow him to sniff their butts, I know this sounds weird, but it is how dogs meet and greet each other. Sometimes doing this will break the tension and solve the problem all together.
If he only attacks when he's close to you, he may be protecting you. You may need to get more Alpha with him, let him know you are boss and have control of the situation. Watch him closely because you want to catch him right before he reacts. Sometimes they will freeze or tense up and/or stare the second before attacking. That is when you need to get his attention by doing 'Ah Ah', or anything that will cause him to refocus on you. Warning: If you do a touch to refocus, sometimes their reaction will be to bite, as he will be focused on the other dogs thinking to bite them, and you draw that energy to you instead of them. So vocal interuptions may be safest.
If he's next to you on the couch, refocus him and then place him gently on the floor. This is not a 'time-out', this is letting him know that his behavior will not be tolerated by you. When this behavior happens on a couch or a bed, this is the area they are defending. By putting them on the floor, you change what they are perceiving to be 'their' territory.
My male Yorkie has to sleep on the floor, in his bed, bc he cannot stop defending the bed. The others do fine, and I am working with him to change that, but for safety's sake, he sleeps on the floor. At times, he even defends the entire bedroom! (only if he wakes out of a sound sleep) Everyone has learned to keep their distance at night! |