I'll apolgoize from the get go for the long post, I hope I'm able to best describe the issues we're dealing with. We're a multiple dog household (total of 8) with one unstable personality. We have three Border Collie's, two Border Collie mixes, two pit mixes, and one small mix mix. By and large, 7 of them get along fine. There are 6 males and two females, 5 of the males are neutered and the remaining one is due to be neutered but in the "clueless" category. Everyone knows their basic obedience and are what you could call, good citizens. When we have people over to the house, I'm always told how the dogs blend into the woodwork as if they weren't even around as they are good dogs.

We feed seperately in groups of 2 to ensure nobody is feeling pressured to gobble or being rudely stared at and keep them off of furniture as there are plenty of pillows for them to enjoy on the floor. All in all, they know their place.

The 8th is 3 year old Border Collie who was diagnosed as severely hypothyroid little over a year ago and is on medication to keep his levels stable. He had become very aggressive pre-diagnosis, with lots of redirected aggression towards us if we intervened between him and the other dogs. Once on medication, he became another dog, or rather, the puppy he once was. Much more relaxed, happy, and reactive only to certain triggers that made me wonder about pack structure and dominance and his way of dealing with both.

In the year that he was not diagnosed, I wonder if he was just, for lack of a better term, so pissed off at the world that he never found his place...and now is not certain of anything.

Food is a trigger as are doorways. He has to be the last one in or he will growl and posture at anyone coming in after him. He doesn't actually make tooth contact but when he postures and bullies, it throws the rest of the group off kilter, in particular the female pit. He gets so wound up that he will actually shake and appears to be afraid of everything, sometimes sitting by the door and staring at the wall...or a corner. It's really very heartbreaking if I may add a senseless but human emotion of mine.

So, my question, or rather my first of probably man, is what is the best approach? He is not dominant towards us, he will lay down easily on command, he knows his WAIT command for doors and stairs, he does sleep in the bedroom which I understand is wrong but I'm just not sure how to best help him. Do I crate him, do I leash him and make him deal with dogs making his triggers go off left and right, what corrections are best used with a dog who seems to have a trigger temper and yet is soft. He is highly sensitive, like many border collies fearful of loud noises and very watchful of every little move anyone makes. He's a total control freak.

Currently, I'm just keeping him tied to me during the day when he's in the house with others so that I can intervene at first growl but I just feel as if I'm failing him when I'm not always fast enough.

Outside, all the dogs interact just fine, a few play together, others ignore each other, but there are no incidents that do not involve our presence...which is why I'm looking for help as to what I can change about my behaviors. He has narrowed his irritation towards one female for the most part, she is a very strong personality whom we keep in pretty tight check or she would run the household.

You can probably tell I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused so I'll gladly attempt to explain myelf better if needed.

Thanks for any replies.
Maria

Well, considering you have 8 dogs,in my opinion it sounds like you got things going pretty good. If making her wait to come in last helps then keep doing it.

What kind of corrections are you doing when you have her glued to your hip? I would devote some time towards putting this dog and the dog she doesn't get along with in downs next to each other for extended periods of time. All in all it sounds like things aren't really that bad, considering you have 8 dogs and only 2 of them are having issues. Isolate them and make them understand the rules. If the behavior in the house is out of control then certainly crating the offender would be benificial.

 Quote: Maria Sanderson

You can probably tell I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed

8 dogs? Yeah, I would imagine! Staying out of this one!!

See if anyone will take this dog. (I have extensively read Ed's Q&A's today and I'm pretty confident he would say that). Maybe he is too overwhelmed by all the other dogs too. He probably needs a home with less activity and more attention.

I believe thyroid medication can cause alot of temperament problems in itself. Google will probably have lots.

Thanks for the replies, as a whole, things aren't that dire, I just want to do my best to ensure that as a pack, they're peaceful. That's been the key to being able to have them to begin with. Well that and the fact that they are not all very driven or dominant dogs and I work from home. We have acreage and they all get training reinforcement on a consistent basis. Obviously I'm not saying that I work each one an hour a day, but they all get leash walks 2/3 times per week and do get 15 minutes of obedience or tricks per day. While they do entertain themselves nicely, mostly sunning on the deck, they're not outdoor dogs with nothing better to do than chase cars. The occasional rabbit is a thrill.

When he's on a lead with me, he gets basic leash snaps which do get his attention and he settles. I've just this week pulled a large crate into our sitting room and he actually loves it...or likes it a lot. It's next to a doorway so he gets to sit inside quietly as I let the other dogs in and out. It does seem to have desensithized him a little to it but he still grumbles on and off. When he comes out of the crate though, he immediately greets everyone with lots of face licking. The other dogs, not us.

We have electronic training collars and we're instructed by a local behaviorist on their use but I find him to be sensitive to them and will take to staring into a corner after a mild correction.

I suppose it does all come down to management, I was just hoping that there might be some insight or technique that I was missing. I can put both him and the dog he picks on the most in down stays without issue, his aggression towards her is unpredictable in nature most of the time. For example, he may wake up and start growling at her even if she is fast asleep.

Re-homing him (or any of them) is not an option. Selfish, I know, but I also know I can work through this.

Thanks!
Maria

PS: He's getting his new (and complete) thyroid work up today in case his meds are not doing what they should be doing