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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!

5 Answers

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  • 5 years ago

    Sounds like normal dog play to me. If no one is getting hurt, and no one is getting threatened, what is the problem? If the pit bull doesn't mind, why do you mind? I don't think there is anything that needs handling or correcting. You merely need to view it as not a problem. Possessive? Sure. Most dogs are possessive with toys they consider theirs at the moment. Bullying? What? The poodle is PLAYING. A lot of dogs do this "look at this great toy I have, don't you want to take it from me?" thing.

  • 5 years ago

    Seek professional help for yourself on how to train a dog properly since you've allowed this poor behavior to progress without proper correction.

  • Slug
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    It sounds like you have a very beautiful submissive dog (I know right the big dog that could snap the poodle in half in one bite!) It sounds as if the poodle has taken his place in the pack and that is above the boxer/bull and this is something two dogs will always do one will be above the other. I have a Labrador and he loves to carry everything but when I visit my brother and his working cocker and springador the springador will take all the toys from my labs mouth and my lab will let her, At feeding time if either of my brothers dogs move into his food bowl he backs off and lets them eat his food (of course we step in and put the dogs in their place because we own them not they own us!!) My lab is a super star perfect in every aspect he visits adults with learning disabilities, helps to teach children to cross the road and how to approach dogs but he is submissive to every other dog thats just him but its up to me as pack leader to regulate the pack.

  • Jojo
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    I don`t see what the problem is.

    The larger dog is not bothered by the poodles teasing and obviously does not view it as a threat.

    Large dogs with stable temperaments rarely view small dogs as a rival or a threat and "will" let them get away with murder (so to speak).

    If the dogs are not actually fighting over the toy then let things be.

    However....If "you" are bothered by it then take all toys away and only bring them out when YOU want to interact with the dogs.

    All toys should ultimately belong to the dogs leader/owner anyway.

    When my old dog who was very dominant natured, was alive, my other dog used to do the same to him as your poodle does to your larger dog, but my old dog would just look in disdain as he was confident he was the top dog when it came to the crunch.

    He knew if he really wanted the toy he could just take it, but he just allowed his friend to have his fun.

    Source(s): Gsd owner for 53 years.
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  • ?
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    I try to make sure all my dogs have identical toys & chew bones. But yes on occasion this still does NOT prevent squabbles, so at THAT point the item that whose ownership is up for debate, is removed by ME (usually fussing & saying, "NO BITE") equally to ALL parties, and the "disagreement" ends.

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