3yr old becoming aggressive to 6yr old, help!

[Toluca Pups]

Hi,
I have a yorkie girl that will be 3 in March 2014 and a 6 year old yorkie girl who just turned 6.
My 3 year old is becoming aggressive all of the sudden and has bitten the 6 year old in the ear. My 6 year old is shaking a lot now and is afraid of her little sister. They have never had any problems before. Not sure what to do or why this this is happening.
Both have been spayed early on.
The 3 year old is a bit smaller.
We have always been very careful about equal attention, treats, food, etc.
The older one has always been a bit put out because we brought the 3 year old home. We've had both since they were about 12 weeks old.

So sad for my 6 year old.

Thank you for any advice or knowledge as to why this is happening.

Mom to Fiddy & Truffle

[Patti]

My 6 year old has become a bit aggressive with my 8 1/2 year old. She only snaps at her if she is laying by me and Cali tries to come by me. When she does this I stop her and then say be nice give your sister a kiss. She then will kiss her but sometimes she will turn around and snap at her again. Now when she is laying by me and Cali approaches, I keep a hand on Roxie and let Cali approach and pet them both at the same time. Cali isn't bothered at all by it. She never fights back and it never stops her from coming over. This has been a more recent problem but we are working on it. Roxie has become very attached to me and this seems to be the reason. Hopefully others will have some good ideas for you.

[Toluca Pups]

Thanks for telling me. Glad I am not the only one!
I really appreciate it it.

[ChibiLuv]

do they eat out of the same bowl? Maybe try separate bowls also standing there and making sure they know which bowl is theirs

[ritapatt]

Abby (2 1/2) started this a while ago with Ziva (5) we have tried lots of things but can't quite tell what sets Abby off. Luckily Abby never bites- just jumps Ziva and roughs her up. Ziva has begun to avoid her...recently I have started to grab Abby (she is always on top, and does not bite) and put her in her old puppy expen until she calms down.)

[yorkietalkjilly]

To me, it sounds as if your 3 year old thinks she, not you, is leader of the pack and can discipline other pack members at will. You need to remind her of who the real leader is by possibly instituting one of the good Nothing In Life Is Free programs where she must perform a command for you in order to eat, drink, play with her ball, go outside or jump up on the couch or go to bed for a couple of weeks. Make a game of it, keeping it fun yet firm but it will very shortly get the message across that Mom and not she is taking control.

Desensitize her to your playing with the older girl and showing her that you alone decide what the older dog can do and she's not in control. But, you need to make her have very pleasant and wonderful associations with all of that and you can use the wonder of treats to do it. Put her in the crate and sit right down beside it and play with the older dog, tossing the crated little wannabe pack leader seething through the bars a luscious treat(boiled, warm chicken works great - or turkey hotdog pieces) every time you begin to interact with the older dog or the older girl moves around much. This will show her who is in control and make her in time come to love those play sessions. Keep the sessions to one to two minutes several times a day or at least 2 - 3 times daily and immediately let her outside to run off her tension once the session is over. In time, leash the little bossy girl and put her in a down stay a few feet away as you play with the older girl, tossing treats over to the younger one as you play.

In time, allow her to move closer to both of you as you play. Should she growl or stand up or approach, tell her "No" and get up, lead her back to her place and stand there over her until she lies back down again. Matter-of-factly tell her "Stay" and go sit down and resume the play session, letting the little miscreant know you are watching her and pointing at her if she begins to alert too much. Again, if she does step out of line and begin to growl or stand up during your play session, stand up and gently reprove her but stand her down until she lies back down - and here's the important part - do it EVERY single time she tries to take over. In time, she will learn you brook no part of her horning in on these sessions right now. Once she can lie there and allow you to play with the other girl without growling and acts playful and eager to get in on the game, with soft eyes and no tension and not aggressive, she can happily join in.

Here is where you have to act as a true pack leader - watch the pack of two play and interact. Watch them closely. The pack leader is ALWAYS watching his pack members for signs of aggression, watching if one is trying to take over pack discipline, focusing in too intently, eyes and ears honing in on activity they disagree with by other pack members, growling, standing up and/or walking toward other members in a focused state and the alpha leader steps in and backs his followers stepping out of line down, even runs them off if they are too obstreperous. A true pack leader sets the rules and is always enforcing them albeit gently at first with merely a steely look, with a growl or bared teeth if necessary and very, very, very, very rarely with a bite on the haunches or withers as punishment. We as humans can kind of mimic those alpha dog actions.

Learn the signs of your little aggressive girl just before she attacks and watch for those and when you see her watching the older girl too closely, begin to prick her ears, eyes intent, tense her body, take a step toward the other girl - you say "No", give her a hard look and point at her, stand up if you must and even walk over to her and use your legs and feet to walk into her as you continue to bore her eyes with yours and back her off. She will know it is time to back down and even leave the room if she must. But you just have to watch them for those signs of attempts to take over leadership and the body language of your little attacker will be the dead give-away and allow you to intervene ahead of time.

Here's what begins to happen: Your pack-leader-wannabe will soon begin to get the idea that you are taking back your leadership role, you are always going to intervene and back her down and show her that you can decide who does what when, who plays with whom and when and she will begin to not like being disciplined herself with the back-down, give way and then get with the new program of avoiding trying to be pack leader. Why? Because dogs don't want to be pack leader if they don't have to - they just want to be dogs and eat and play and poop and sleep and be protected. But, if no one is running the show really, the more alpha type dog - the more natural leader - will start to try to take over and tell one and all what to do and when to do it. A little training and watching and a lot of intervening from you will stop all of that in time but don't despair - it will take a few months to get where you want to be.

Another essential - begin a home obedience program and work with her 5 mins. a day x2 daily just taking her through basic steps of obedience for praise and a treat. Keep it upbeat, loving, fun for her and show her how proud of her you are and always treat her for getting it right and she will in time learn to do exactly what you say and it will carry over to the rest of her life in that when you tell her to "stop" when she's outside running, she will stop and stay there until you release her verbally or come pick her up. A simple look of disapproval will stop misbehavior, things like that are the great result of working with and training your dog to LEARN to listen to and always do what you request. It's a great thing to do for a dog - they simply adore working with you and learning how proud you are of them as they work and learn and become the pet you've always wanted - happy and still feisty and well-behaved and not bossy of sister.

Try these things and see how they work for you. Without a lot of history or seeing the dogs interact, it's hard to truly know what is going on but from the sound of it, only some gentle and loving training in whose the boss is all that's called for. But stopping it now before a worse injury occurs is absolutely vital. Just be patient but firm and consistent.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I forgot to mention that the reason and thinking behind crating your aggressive girl while you play with the other one is to slowly, over time allow the aggressor to come to learn that the other dog has your permission to play and interact and do whatever she wants without any input from the wannabe pack leader at all. Seeing the other dog playing and doing all kinds of things while the attacker is safely caged will desensitize her to the other dog's antics, even those she might disagree with and in the past possibly attacked over. The treats will hasten the process and associate all of the other dog's activities and actions with getting great treats and help her to come to grips with these sessions much faster.

Keep her crated until she's able to lie down and just watching the two of you play and is all the while getting her treats throughout the play sessions without focusing in on or reacting to anything the two of you are doing - just her treats. It is not her place to have any opinion about what you two or the other dog is up to as long as you are pack leader and she will come around to accept that you call all of the shots, make all of the decisions and carry out any discipline and love that arrangement as it works well for her, too and takes all the pressure off.

Once she is quiet, calm and accepting of the play sessions in her crate, you can then work with her outside the crate and on the leash a ways across the room from you and her sister and then ever closer, then, eventually, she can play, too, once she's lost her attitude and wants to be just another pack member with sis.