I have 2 dogs. How do I handle situations where one of my dogs inappropriately overcorrects the other one?

I have a 7 year old female fixed lab mix who is balanced, social, and all around great dog. I also have a 3 year old male hound mix (fixed) who has struggled with reactivity. I am very proud of our training with him - he is now neutral to dogs, people, and other previous triggers and his obedience is very strong. In this training, we did a lot of groundwork to provide structure and leadership in our home.

However, infrequently (once a month or so), my younger dog will correct my older dog for coming into his space or as a redirection when they are highly stimulated and in a tight space. He needs a large personal bubble and we manage situations to make sure he doesn't go over threshold. However, sometimes he will correct her and, in my opinion, it is an over correction when she didn't do anything that warrant a strong correction from him. I don't like that the young dog over corrects her in a non-appropriate context. How should I handle these situations? Thanks!

Leerburg's Answer:

You may want to take a look at our free course on management. How We Manage Dogs In Our Home

As a multi-dog owner myself I don't allow my dogs with this tendency to have free access to my other dogs. It's my job to manage the interactions. I've had harmonious groups of dogs over the years, there was never conflict or overcorrection between them but I've also had groups of dogs that needed to be separated from each other when I wasn't there to supervise.

My current dogs have a big size and age difference, from 4 pounds to 80 pounds and the ages are 1, 2.5, 8 and 12. I only allow the 8 and 12-year-old to be free together at all times. When the others are added to the mix there is DIRECT supervision. Some dogs are just inappropriate for whatever reason, they're all individuals and I don't feel you can train it out of them. This is a management issue.

-Cindy