A couple weeks ago a friend of mine adopted a 5month old staff mix. He doesn't have a problem when hes with a group of dogs( hes brought her number of dogs to 4) but its standoffish when its one on one. In the group hes calm and submissive to the other dogs but when hes around just one of the other dogs he tends to try to dominate the other dog. I wasn't sure if its a pack structure problem or a behavior problem. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it.

Hi, Gabrielle,

Are you saying that the friend is making her pup join groups of strange dogs? Or do you mean the dogs she owns?

Sorry wasn't clear there, she's let him join her group of dogs and he's fine when they're all in a group together but not when its one on one.

Not enough info.

Not OK like how? Snarling/snapping/lunging, mounting, what? With a certain one of the dogs, or all three if they are separated from the pack?

Can your friend join the board? It's hard to address this kind of thing with the individual experiencing it. It's pretty much impossible via a third party.

I know that I would not allow dominance aggression among my dogs, period. But we don't really know what this is.

She is not letting 4 dogs "hang out" alone together, is she?

She's currently getting her internet fixed and will then be joining the board once it is. He's not ok with any of her dogs one on one. Not ok being snapping and lunging at them when one on one when they approach him. She let's them hang out together only when she's there to watch over them. He stops his lunging and snapping after a couple of corrections. I suggested she get a prong or dominant dog collar and keep a drag line on him along with possibly a muzzle. She has them crated when unsupervised. I'll be letting her use my computer on Sunday so it can be explained better than just what she tells to me and what I see when I'm there.

Sadly on sturday she had a dog fight between the new dog and her 3yr old female pit. Not knowing any better she tried to break it up by grabbing their collars and got bitten on her hand, thankfully it wasn't a bad bite. I've been watching him for the last couple days to give the dogs time apart while she decides what she wants to do with him. I haven't seen any aggression from him towards my two dogs or had any aggression from him at all. Is it possible that maybe hes an unstable dog? From the little I know of his background his previous owner left him to starve in a crate. If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them any advice on what can be done to make him a safe pet to be around would be appreciated.

How did a fight happen between separated dogs? Not being sarcastic -- this is a huge area to address. This is handler error, when the handler already knew there was a potential for trouble.

A you know, though, there is just no way with this tiny bit of info to offer suggestions.

Well, except for a big one: Separate the dogs. Don't let any of them, including the new one, live in anxiety and fear.

I know that we are willing to help, however. So even though weekends are not well-attended here, at least she can lay out the details.

I want to thank you all in advanced as my own internet is still not working correctly. I adopted Emich about three weeks ago from a shelter. I brought him home and had him in a crate while the other dogs were allowed to see him, they ignored him almost instantly. It took him about a week and a half to ignore them when they were crated and he was out. At this point I started walking them together two at a time. This is when I first noticed a problem. He would stare and become fixated on the other dog. A pop with the leash on his flat collar broke his staring.

In the back yard I have one big run and then individual kennels. My other three dogs while I'm out doing yard work or relaxing are generally together in the big run enjoying the kid pools. I let the three into the big run and kep emich on the outside of the run and the sniffed and ran along the fence but was no aggression. After a couple days of this I put ecollars on everyone other than the new pup as we haven't done any ecollar work with him yet, and let everyone mingle in the yard. Once again there was no aggression from him, he was submissive to the pack.

I was bringing them inside two at a time to crate them when he growled at the other male staff who just mins before was playing with in the yard. I correct him and put him away and then the others. I know now that I should have taken this as a bigger warning sign than I did at the time. We had a fight over the weekend when tia my 3yr old female pit jumped up on the screen door try to catch flies and the door came open and she got out into the yard with emich and he charged up to her and bit her ear. I made the mistake of acting first before thinking and going out and grabbing their collars trying to break up the fight before it got worse. He let go of her ear and bit my hand. He let go once he realized he had bitten me. Thankfully tia's ok and I'm ok.

I guess my main question is why would he be aggressive one on one with my other dogs but not while in a group with them? And what would cause his sudden outburst of aggression?

The basic answer is this dog is a classic bully that is intimidated when he is out numbered, but with only one he feels safe to act out. And like a classic bully, he needs to be shown the rules of what is acceptable and what is not.

He is not a dominate dog, or this behavior would manifest way differently and even within a pack situation, so he is looking for a leader and rules to live in comfortably. He is new to you and your pack, so his basic temperament was likely already established, but it is now your job to step up and show him what is what. Think of it as boot camp for him. NILF all the way and keep the other dogs away from him (or him away from the other dogs) from now on and always tethered to you when he is out. His every move is to be controlled by you. You now know the extent of his bully-ness, so you will have to really step up… Don’t except ANY lip from him with regard to other dogs, and SHOW him what the correct behaviors are.

Seriously consider marker training and training for focus. Getting his attention on you and keeping it there will not allow him to make mistakes. This will be key for all future training.