Sorry to hear you are having this problem again. When Peek a Boo was doing this, the only way I found to begin to stop him was before he made contact with his intended victim. It usually occured in my bed, when he and anyone else was there too. Once he made contact, he was in another zone and wouldn't respond to me at all.
Part is resource guarding, and the other part was that I was not being Alpha enough and he felt the need to control situations. When I began doing the controlling, his aggressiveness subsided almost completely.
I put everyone on the bed and waited for him to react. I noticed he would stare at his intended victim and freeze, just seconds before he launched his little body to attack. Well, he launched and I grabbed him out of midair, told him 'No' and placed him back on his pillow. We did this a few times till he figured out that I really was one step ahead of him, now I only have to glare at him to get his full attention.
Maybe instead of ignoring Sadie when you come in the door, try making her 'sit' and then reward her, or tell her to go get a toy and interact with her positively. It sounds like she's frustrated and is using Bentley to get her frustrations out.
I found out also with Peek a Boo that his attacks would increase in frequency whenever he wants more attention from me and doesn't get it. I figured this out by accident, as telling him 'No' had no effect, so one day I just did the opposite and picked him up and held him and gave him some undeserved loving. His attacks stopped completely, until he felt neglected again. So now I make a point of giving him some extra attention, above and beyond our normal day to day interactions.
Hope some of this helps you... |