Hey everyone.

I have four dogs. Two are mine and two are fosters. The two that I own are: female Australian Shepherd/Lab mix, about 4-5 years old, spayed; male Heinz 57, 11 months, intact.

My two fosters are male Louisiana Catahoulas, one pure and one mix. 2.5 and 3 years old. Both neutered.

My puppy (just turned 11 months) has been here his whole life (I rescued his mom while she was pregnant - mom and littermates are in new homes). He is about 65 lbs now. He is rough when playing and doesn't seem to read other dogs' body language (i.e. the "get lost" vibe). He is NOT aggressive but just overly playful.

The two fosters: the purebred male isn't very tolerant and the other mix is too tolerant (eventually ends up trying to hide) so they are always kept separate from the puppy.

The female has not liked this pup since day 1. She adores my neighbor's Maltese puppies but never showed any interest in playing with my pup and his littermates. I would have all the puppies and adult dogs (supervised) in my yard, their mother, my female and my Catahoula mix foster. The other two (mother and foster) would play with the puppies. As they got older my female would growl and walk away from them (happened rarely - the yard is big and the pups thought she was boring). I assumed it was because they were active babies. She has never done this to any other dog. Now that he is big, she is getting worse.

She growls if he goes close to her. She growls/snarls if he bumps into her. She "corrects" him all the time. He is not being a jerk to her, he will be like for example, sniffing her and she will react, like a loud growl/barky thing in his face (she doesn't bite him, but sometimes puts her teeth around his muzzle). This is NOT over toys or food or attention. When she roars at him, he reacts by play bowing and start to jump around like he thinks she wants to play. (He's kind of a silly dog). He has never done anything to her, like steal her food or anything. He always submits. But he always wants to play and she hates when he tries to play with her. I thought she might accept him better as he got older and started growing out of his puppy phase, as she has liked every other adult foster dog I've had and is generally playful, but she's getting grouchier with him. I know it is probably because of his bull-headedness as the other dogs don't really like him either, but he does leave her alone after the first few minutes they are together, where he tries to play bow and act silly (he probably wouldn't leave the other dogs alone if they were out together).

Most of the time if they are out together he will just lay on his dog bed or on the floor of the room I am in and ignore her. But she acts all grumpy (tail clamped down, kind of slinky manner to her body) and gets mad if he goes near her or innocently sniffs her. Again there are no toys or food involved.

If I let them in the yard together (which they aren't really ready for since the pup isn't trained yet, I just did it to see how they would be together) - she will initially growl at him if he comes near her, but he is persistent and eventually she will run around and play with him (I keep him on a line just in case)

OK before you guys say anything - yes these dogs are most often separated with dog crates. They are hardly ever out together. But I really would like to spend more time with my dogs, as I work all day and don't get to see them or spend time with them. My puppy is crated TOO MUCH as he can't be out unsupervised, while the other 3 can be out together and loose in the house. I will be keeping these two dogs and I would really like if they could, if not be friends, at least tolerate one another.

I just want to know what I should do and if there is anyway I can solve this problem. Should I be correcting one or both of the dogs? Train the pup to completely stay away from her if she is out? Give up as they will never get along?

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I took the female to the vet to see if there is any medical reason she is grumpy, she got a clean bill of health.

Listen... I would love to tell you that there is a magical way to make all dogs like eachother, and remove all negative side-effects from having multiple dogs. But there isn't. We can try and reinvent the wheel, but it's pointless.

If you're going to have multiple dogs, and they don't get along, you have no choice but to keep them seperated.
Maybe not in a crate, maybe in a sectioned off area of a room (think of a baby play area). But seperate.

If no growling is the goal, then you must correct all involved, the one growling and the one being growled at. Walking in between is risky unless done right, but you basically have to physically step in between them and correct the behavior. You may never get them to like one another, but you absolutely can make them neutral to one another, and that should be the absolute goal anyway. If they end up liking one another in the process, it's a great bonus. Also, I would never allow any of them to correct one another. No matter what. Even if the one being corrected deserved it and you were in the process of correcting and the other dog beat you to it. I would correct the one who needed it, and at that point ALSO correct the dog that did my job for me by trying to correct the other...
Sheesh I think I confused myself there. Hope I made sense.

Yes, thanks Cameron, the dogs are not truly aggressive to one another. In other words, it's more she's annoyed and she isn't attacking him or trying to hurt him. So I wouldn't be afraid to get in between them. They are both very submissive to me.

I understand what you are saying. I do make the puppy stop "dancing" at her and trying to get her to play. I get him to leave her alone. Then she is fine. But I should also correct *her* if he's being an idiot and she growled?

I guess what I was trying to ask, also, is: what if he does something that makes her growl such as simply walking too close to her while she is laying down, or sniffing her, that I don't think is "bad"? Should I still correct HIM if she growls and he wasn't trying to be an idiot?

What should a correction entail for growling? She's very soft. Usually I give her a verbal correction (she knocks it off at this point) and if she doesn't smarten up and does it again, I put her in her crate to give them both some peace.

I agree that these two should be able to be around each other. They don't have to be best friends. I figured it would be able to happen since these dogs are not truly aggressive to each other.

I had a strange thought last night. Maybe I am anthromorphosizing (sp?) but, my female does not like German Shepherds. My puppy kind of looks like a German Shepherd (he's black and brown and has a long body). Could that be why she doesn't like him? Not that it matters why.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

But I should also correct *her* if he's being an idiot and she growled?

Yes, you correct all involved.
Sure, he provoked it, but she did your job FOR you instead of letting you deal with it. That also deserves a correction

and no, its not because your dog sees the other as a shepherd. They don't generalize instinctively - think of how many place you have to take your dog to different places and re-establish that sit STILL means sit?
They don't generalize. Dogs are recognized by scent, not the way they look. It is more likely that your pup is just being an annoying little sh*t and she's calling him out on it

Now what do you think about this... should I correct HIM if he's not being a dink and she growls? For example, if he just walks near her when she's laying there, or his toy happens to hit her crate while he's playing and she's in it? Should the pup be corrected by me if she growls, even if in my estimation he did nothing wrong? (in addition to correcting her, of course.)

I would, yes. I would correct all involved with a general "Knock it off!" to everyone in the vicinity.
A dog usually has an instigator leading to a growl... and sometimes it's as simple as a look for a dog that is being grouchy.
Bottom line, the pup shouldn't be antagonizing, and the adult shouldn't be growling.

Umm, if Cameron is right, it sounds like your puppy is looking for trouble to begin with. It reminds me of how little kids want to do everything their older sisters do. When older sisters get annoyed by their younger siblings, they would yell the younger to get lost. If a parent heard the older yelling, they would scold the older for being mean. Sometimes younger kids do that to get their older sisters in trouble. When I was little, I was the troublemaker.

wanted to add, taking the pup away from the situation is also in order, as well as avoiding situations altogether.
This is just how I would address it when it did happen.
Not a huge fuss about it, just a simple reprimand, then redirecting to a more appropriate activity.