I have had multiple dogs for years without any real fights and would like to keep it that way which brings me to this question. I would really would like to know if I am overreacting on this or misreading the situation. Earlier today when I let our 4 dogs out into our fenced in dog run to go potty before we took our family bike ride, I went with them in the run as the youngest, Balto, a 10 month shih tzso, still drags a leash behind him as well as my 2yro lab mix, Hobbes, due to reactivity to strange dogs. The other two, a 6yr lab/golden mix,Trigger, and our 3yr lab, Pongo, just wear remote trainers although a verbal "Hey, stop it!" will stop the older 2 in their tracks. Normally they just run to the end of it, potty, playfully chase each other, stop immediately and return to me on whistle call and sit for leash pickups and leash clip ons to return to the house or go else where. However today, Balto ran up to Hobbes and jumped up to place his paws against Hobbes's shoulder, causing him to stiffen, raise his head, ears,and tail, I corrected Balto with a sharp "no" and leash correction, then said "Hobbes, enough" which made him return to his relaxed posture. I also called him over to me and had him place near me. Balto also tried it with Trigger but stopped when told "no" as he was about to jump. However he did turn and give me his best innocent look. He does not try to do this to our only female, Pongo, but then noone bothers her.

Then tonight before our evening walk, Balto tried the same stunt, stopped when corrected and instead of stiffening Hobbes just came and flopped down by me. all of the dogs are altered. Am I handling this properly as the dogs are never togather unless my hubby or I can supervise? This is a very new development as since he joined our family at 8 weeks he has idolized and been very respectfull to the big boys espeically Hobbes. Should I have been tougher on Hobbes as well or am I just overreacting?

Is this playful but rude behavior, or is this something Balto is trying to do to gain status within your household? That's what you need to figure out.

Pushy rude but playful behavior is fairly typical of dogs coming into adulthood. Social climbing is normal, as well. Both of them need to be dealt with immediately, and I feel that the stiffing body posture of the older dog is acceptable and shouldn't be corrected unless he takes it too far. Showing your older dogs that you have their back and correcting the puppy in front of them will help them to trust that you are leader and that you will always have everyone's best interests in mind.

Personally if these were my dogs I'd physically remove the offender and put him away in a crate for a time out while allowing all of the other dogs to see what I'm doing. Calmly, yet firmly - No talking, no touching, basically ignoring the offending dog because that is the punishment. Dogs hate to be ignored!
I would also not allow the other dogs to approach the offenders kennel, since that would defeat the whole purpose of ignoring him.

Edited to add - I've had an incredibly rude, pushy pup from the day I brought him home, and this method works great.

I wouldn't be tough on Hobbs - he didn't do anything. Stiffening when another dog is rude is completely normal. Correct the younger dog (who is just being an adolescent) and by all means say 'Hobbs enough' but there is no need to recall him.

In Hobbs' mind he reacted normally to an annoying situation, you stopped the youngster but then ostracized Hobbs from the pack while everyone else had fun. Doing that would only make any potential problems worse in the future.

As the boss you should deal with the offence and then no one else would ever need to. You started off right

Thanks for shedding some light on this. Things have been going better since I've started Removing Balto from the scene to his kennel for a time-out when he acts up. Strangely enough the older dogs didn't need to be told more than once not to approach Balto's kennel,and when I returned to them, Hobbes licked me under my chin before the games started up again. I'm still trying to figure out if it's just playful rude or social climbing as Balto has always been very confident and a little obnoxious if allowed. Just when we thought he was well behaved, he turns into Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde, lol. Hopefully with persistance, training, and time he'll grow out of it just like the others did apparently.

Hey Dawna, this is far from a stupid question and in IMHO, I think you're on the right track.

If the pup hadn’t attempted the same thing with Trigger, I would say the pup’s reacting to some sort of insecurity (not sure what kind of “strange dog reactivity” you’re talking about with Hobbs) that Hobbs may be putting off.

And even if Trigger is a confidently sound/balanced pup, dogs live in the moment. They can be feeling goofy or energetic at any time, which a pup would pick up on immediately and want to join in the action.

It was interesting with Echo when he was a baby. This pup loves to play but will chose flight over any kind of assertive altercation every time. He’s also the most adventurous, confident, stable tempered dog I’ve ever owned.

When Vince would react to thunderstorms, Echo (who’s never had an ounce of fear of them) was initially all over Vince - licking his mouth, circling him, jumping on him. It was almost like (as a baby) he knew this dog was in trouble/scared, just not balanced and it was like he was trying to bring him into his calm world by interacting with him any way he could.

I love watching my dogs and as long as I’m not seeing anyone put out, I initially let him do his thing. And while I do think his “Come on buddy, there’s nothing to be afraid of” antics had a bit of an effect on him, Vince's initial fear was very strong and I didn’t want it having the opposite effect on Echo so I knew it was time to step in.

And although I found this curious, it is not Echo’s or anyone of my pack member’s job to maintain the pack balance, that’s my job. They do try though.

And if I simply have a spunky little monkey that’s choosing to initiate play with dogs that aren’t receptive at that time, it’s always the initiator that gets my attention. The dog on the receiving end, while it would be ideal if they could just put up with everything (and every dog is different, many do) I don’t feel it’s a realistic expectation that we force them to.

They’re going about their life with the baggage and temperaments they were given. They didn’t ask for the advances and I don’t think they should be punished for letting the initiating dog know that their approach isn’t welcome.

Amazing things can be done with desensitization though.

And with the crate time outs, I’ve said it before and I know many people disagree but I don’t think they have the intended affect that they may have on say a “human time-out”. Sure they’ll settle down, they have no place to go and they’re out of everybody’s face, but I don’t think they are really learning anything.

To me, this is a great time to get the pup’s focus/attention on me. I’m the center of their universe and what a great time to show them how much more fun I can be than their pack mates. The other dogs have an opportunity to watch how I “gently” redirect and play with the pup (pack leader stuff) and absorb all that unwanted energy so it’s not directed at them.

The fact that Hobbs came and flopped down by your feet (and the sweet chin lick of gratitude) IMHO says that he’s proud of his leader and has a confident spot right by her side. It sounds like you did a great job protecting him. And like Tanith said, don’t ostracize Hobbs, or any one of your pack for speaking their mind or showing uncomfortable body language. Learn from it. It’s when we shut them down in their communications with each other that we start running into problems.

Human interactions are a completely different story, but IMHO, a pack needs to function socially, with everyone getting an equal say in how they want to be treated by each other.

CJ- Thanks for the rassurances. I'll definately try to redirect Balto toward mini obedinence lessons and games. I hope it was alright but I PMed you with the extent of what I meant with Hobbes strange dog reactivity since if was a little off topic.