Lady may feel threatened by Marley, and is reacting defensively (the best defense is a good offense). Lady could feel the need to protect a resource, such as her territory/space, her toys, her food, or even just the attention she gets from you. Or Lady may just feel that Marely plays too rough, and is afraid of being hurt, particularly if Marley has already pounced on her, or if Lady suffers from something like arthritis (though I doubt this is the case if the attacks occur even when Marley isn't even in the same room).
Before you can know the proper way to address the problem you need to identify the reason for WHY Lady is reacting this way. That would ideally involve working with a canine behaviorist (not just a trainer).
But some basic things to work on...number one, some separation for safety. Ideally, this would mean no unsupervised interactions between the dogs. The only time they see each other is when you have control of them, at least at first. If this just isn't possible, you may need to keep Lady leashed, or get a basket muzzle (a muzzle that doesn't restrict her breathing or drinking...such as you see Greyhounds wear when they race)when the two dogs are allowed to be free-roaming in the house if you think things could escalate.
Two, when Lady does go on the attack, immediately remove her from the room, into a "time-out" area. This doesn't need to be a crate, but should be an area where there really isn't much fun for her, and she is isolated. This will teach her that showing aggression to Marley removes any reward for the behavior.
Third, starting on-leash, get Lady within site of Marley, but at a distance that she doesn't aggress. Reward calm, quiet behavior with treats, toys, praise. Gradually move the dogs closer to each other. Each time Lady aggresses, immediately move her to the time out area, and then go back a bit in the distance between the two dogs the next time. What you are teaching her is that remaining calm and quiet when Marley is around gets her good things, and showing aggression gets her put into isolation. You need to make Lady "re-learn" her perception of what Marley's presence means to her. This may take minutes, hours, or even days.
The key is consistency and persistence of training. Also, I do NOT recommend ever yelling or physically punishing Lady for her behavior. She is almost certainly doing this behavior out of fear and anxiety...so any punishment will only increase her fear and anxiety, and make her associate Marley's presence with bad things happening to her...thus giving her even more reason to react aggressively to try to get Marley to leave.

Answered by cheytara on March 24, 2010 at 8:16pm - report abuse