Dog dominance

[rosscrazyelk]

My older smaller boykin spaniel since he had his stroke is always trying to exhert his dominance over my much bigger weim. I have done everything I can think of. Was wondering do you think a bark collar would stop him from growling all the time?
Any help would be great.
Thanks and happy holidays

[DoubleJ]

Is it dominance or fear?  my older, dominant dog doesn't have a lot of problems with the puppy but, started growling and snapping at him when he was hurt a while back.  Kind of a dominance thing I guess as it seemed like he was telling the puppy, "I'm still in charge".  When he healed up, the issues seemed to stop.

Was the spaniel the dominant dog before the stroke?

[rosscrazyelk]

He does it thru all situations. Feeding, just playing, and when it comes to getting attention from me. He will even follow him around always growling and posturing himself. Its been going on for a year. Weird thing is thou is that they will lay and sleep on each other every night . Just trying to figure out how to break this behavior.

[Huntbear]

Not sure if it crosses over or not, BUT

When a person has a stroke, if they can not communicate effectively, they get very agitated, and will lash out....  Not sure this is so much a dominance issue as a fear issue, or maybe even a pain issue.  You may want to discuss this with your vet, see if they have any ideas..

[ghosthunter]

Is the growling followed by a act of aggression or is the dog just complaining?

[runamuk]

sounds more like a fear thing to me, or maybe possessiveness I will say a shock collar may just make it worse, in a case of dog on dog aggression the shock can be percieved as an attack from the other dog and then all manner of hell will break loose and you can turn an annoying growling issue into a full blown attack, if it goes really badly they may never get along again. 

what does the other dog do when he does this?  if the other dog is non reactive I truly would just ignore it unless it began to escalate.  My tiny dog snarfs and boxes the big dog when they come in the house, its annoying to us but the big dog could care less, and it ends quickly on its own unless he steals one of her toys.  I always feed dogs separately usually in crates so rarely have any food issues.
check with the vet for sure make sure the boykin didnt lose some hearing or vision with the stroke because that can cause them some anxiety.

[rosscrazyelk]

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Is the growling followed by a act of aggression or is the dog just complaining?

I would say it ends in a fight about once a month. the big dog cowers most of the time but occasionally stands up for himself.

[wildweeds]

How old is the boykin?

[rosscrazyelk]

How old is the boykin?

7 years old

[Happy Gilmore]

Have you taken him to a vet and had any bloodwork done? Elevated thyroid? Other health issues?

[jplmyers]

 

Maybe he just doesn't want to be messed with because he feels like crap.  Might not be dominance at all.  Check with your vet?

[BIGINNER]

sounds more like a fear thing to me, or maybe possessiveness I will say a shock collar may just make it worse, in a case of dog on dog aggression the shock can be percieved as an attack from the other dog and then all manner of hell will break loose and you can turn an annoying growling issue into a full blown attack, if it goes really badly they may never get along again. 

what does the other dog do when he does this?  if the other dog is non reactive I truly would just ignore it unless it began to escalate.  My tiny dog snarfs and boxes the big dog when they come in the house, its annoying to us but the big dog could care less, and it ends quickly on its own unless he steals one of her toys.  I always feed dogs separately usually in crates so rarely have any food issues.
check with the vet for sure make sure the boykin didnt lose some hearing or vision with the stroke because that can cause them some anxiety.

WHEN I JUST GOT MY WEIM. HE WAS VERY AGRESSIVE WITH OTHER DOGS.  I SHOCKED HIM ONCE WHEN HE WAS GROWLING AT ANOTHER DOG,....  ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE..  NEVER DID THAT AGAIN.  LOL

IT SOUNDS LIKE IT IGHT BE A PAIN/IRRITAION THING,  TALK WITH A VET.