Chips and Dog Behaviour

Doreen Potter Author

Should you let your dogs "Sort it out "

CHIPS and DOG BEHAVIOUR !!!!!!I

Click the link above to watch :) 

I love this video taken 8 years ago of my two rescue dog's interacting.

The way they communicate is lovely to watch. 

Roma the adult dog is so tolerant of Juno the pup. This can change as the pup matures, what is seen as acceptable (because she is a pup) could be seen as pushy or bad mannered as she matures.

I hear quite a lot “ let your dog's sort it out”

This is something that I don’t agree with. So you let them sort it out………..The adult dog may give the pup a severe telling off, but what could happen is the younger dog doesn’t heed that telling,

This could lead to a squabble or even worse a fight with injuries.

So what do you do?

Let's talk about what NOT TO DO first.

Do not punish the older dog for growling, this is a clear communication that they are not happy. (They would have shown lots of other communications before the growl that were not listened to).

If you do reprimand the growl, your dog may miss out that step and go straight to a snap or bite.

Imagine from a human perspective, someone tries to take something off your plate, maybe pinch a chip

So you say “Hoy that's my chips please leave them” (we all love chips)

That person doesn’t listen and goes back for another chip.

So this time you shout, “HOY that's my chips, leave them” They still don’t listen and go back for yet another chip.

So you stab their hand with your fork.

A bit extreme, but you get the picture.

You have to escalate to get the desired response i.e. leave your chips alone.

So your first two warnings didn’t work. If they go for another chip, what would you do ? Well you could get up and leave, or maybe say, " here have my blooming chips" 

Dogs of course cannot say "please leave my bone, toy , dinner etc

But they do communicate through body language that says the same.

You have to be the voice for both dog's.

Both need help to sort this out before it escalates.

The older dog should not be put in the position that it needs to tell the younger dog off.

The younger dog needs to be taken away from the scenario if they are annoying your older dog and not listening.

It is up to us as pet parents to sort it out.