How do I handle my dog s behavior towards my other dog?
My 1 yr old toy poodle and 6 yr old boxer/pitbull mix have a great relationship, overall. They will cuddle and sleep together, they will play tug of war together (which hilariously consists of boxer/pitbull mix pulling toy poodle across the hardwood floors...) and chase each other around, etc.
However, pitbull/boxer mix never really layed down the law for our toy poodle. We have not done an awesome job of that ourselves for the almost year we have had him, and are slowly correcting that rather late, and I m sure that s a big reason why our toy poodle will basically walk all over our pitbull/boxer mix. (Plus he s just so gentle and lenient towards the little pipsqueak even though he could basically snap him like a twig.)
One behavior in particular concerns me a little and I m not sure of the best way to correct it. Our poodle will shove a toy in the other dog s face, then growl at him and yank it away, and then repeat. Our other dog will gently, tentatively try to take the toy but does not get aggressive about trying to take it. Still, the toy poodle will shove it in his face, then yank it away, growling pretty assertively. It does not matter which dog picked the toy up first--in typical doggy fashion, they each want what the other has.
I consider this both possessive and bullying behavior. Is the best way to fix this to basically tell him "no" and take the toy away from the both of them completely?
Thanks in advance for the help!