[NA] Odd Dog Behavior

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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Y'all know a lot about dogs so here is what I am seeing.
I have 2 female dogs. Catahoula "Dottie" and A Transylvania Hound "Bella"
Dottie is 6. Bella is 3. Day to day they get along but they certainly growl at each other from time to time and Dottie frequently will take a sock, shirt, or other piece of clothing and bring it into our closet and guard it.
If Bella goes in there, they will full on fight. Not all the time but in that one spot in the closet, Dottie tends to always have a piece of clothing and she just sits there absolutely trembling like she is having a panic attack.
If Bella comes in, it turns to anger.

Lately, she has switched from articles of clothing to very specific dog toys that only Bella plays with. From a human perspective it looks like she is doing it to be a jerk face.
Dottie doesn't play with toys but Bella does and just now I hear Bella just standing outside the closet barking.
Anytime I hear this, it means Dottie is guarding something. The last 10 times, it has been one of Bella's toys.

I kick them both out of the closet and here is where it gets weird. Bella just wants to play but Dottie is acting ****ed.
They are circling one another and growling but in between growling, Dottie stops to lick Bella's face a few times and then resumes growling.
I assume licking is a sign of affection. but just now they were growling and circling and like 4 times, Dottie stopped to lick Bella's face.

They definitely have this love hate relationship where they have these spats but every night for about 2 hours, they tumble all over the house wrestling and playing like best friends.

Dottie is a super nervous, anxious, dog that is terrified of thunder and many other things.
Bella is dumber than dirt and perpetually a puppy, dopey, clumsy, and silly.


I am curious about the guarding thing and the licking while on the verge of fighting thing.

#BitchesBeTrippin

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I have no idea but I'm convinced our dog is really a cat. That's how much I know about dogs.
 
Frickin' wolves. We made those things from wolves. People are wild.

How many millenia have we lived with dogs, and we have no idea what's going on in there. Some sort of left over wiring from pack behavior.

I'm guessing it's a game. She wants to play "fight", and the piece of clothing wasn't sufficient to trigger the desired response.
 
Please don't take this the wrong way.

Why does it seem like everyone now a days have 2 or more dogs?
IMO it just stresses them out more than giving them comfort.

Have never had more than one dog at a time all 3 of them lived long happy stress free lives.
We just keep the food and water bowls full and the dog door open and Cruiser takes care of himself. He has no competition for his food , toys or our love and affection.
He's 12 now and we would not bring in a new puppy to stress him out until he is gone. Could not do that to him.
Cruiser flys with us 98% of the time and is a fixture at the hangar. There is not room for 2 dogs in our 172.
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What's the background of the dogs?

The description sounds like "resource guarding" and stress can be a factor. As long as there's no negative outcomes and no escalation, it's normal dog behavior. Probably bringing it to your closet because it's your (alpha dog's) space. Somewhat a dominance thing?

My brother has two yippie dogs and they do the face licking thing too. I've always taken that as a friendliness gesture, like "hey, why you being a jerk, let's play".
 
lol He is a red paw monkey poodle, haven’t you heard of that breed yet?
He is a licker sometimes after grooming and we do keep him cut as a poodle.
No he does not help, he is absolutely useless and does nothing but look like a girl. Sometimes I wish I were him since he don’t have to do ****.
 
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Think it would just continue elsewhere if you locked them out of the closet?
 
Being able to tell poodles from huskies is about the extent of my dog knowledge. I do know that they are a lot of work, and I'd rather play with someone else's than have one of my own.

Kind of like... never mind.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
I have no idea but I'm convinced our dog is really a cat. That's how much I know about dogs.
Click to expand...
If It loves you unconditionally, it's a dog.
If it grudgingly tolerates you, it's a cat.

Half Fast said:
There’s your problem.

2 male dogs will get along (occasional fights). A male and a female will get along. Two females? Forget it.....
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Can two female dogs catfight?
 
so Dottie's face takes a lickin but Bella keeps on tickin her off?
 
My moms current dog used to take a shoe and put it on her doggie bed. Usually more than one shoe. And she never chewed on them. If a shoe is missing, check the doggie bed. And she always had them lined up, left shoe on the left and right shoe on the right. She grew out of it after a few years.

Maybe take your doggies to the pet psychiatrist to work out their problems. I understand big city folk do that now...
 
When Dottie licks Bella’s face, she’s being submissive at that moment. That’s what we see wolves doing to the alphas at Wolf Park here.
 
Seems about time to tie this thread back to aviation: :biggrin:

 
Gary Ward said:
Please don't take this the wrong way.

Why does it seem like everyone now a days have 2 or more dogs?
IMO it just stresses them out more than giving them comfort.
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Nah, that's too general. There are social dogs and antisocial dogs. Social dogs love being with other dogs. For example, our mexi-mutts are far from being stressed out being together. :)

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Agree. I have 3 dogs. Prior to last year we both worked away so 8 hours a day we were gone. I think a dog would be seriously stressed out just being alone.
I'd peek in on the cameras and from time to time they would be playing. They have free reign, doggie door, etc. They're pack animals anyway right? Don't they prefer to be in a group?
 
Has there been any medical changes in either of the two dogs? Maybe that's triggering some alpha/beta behavior? Just trying to figure if there's something that changed at approx the same time you started seeing the issues.
 
Matthew said:
Has there been any medical changes in either of the two dogs? Maybe that's triggering some alpha/beta behavior? Just trying to figure if there's something that changed at approx the same time you started seeing the issues.
Click to expand...

No, from my dumb human perspective, what it "feels" like is Dottie lost her place in line.
We have the big dog Tiger who is clearly the alpha and Dottie has been his sidekick and they always got along.
Then 5 years later we bring in a puppy because COVID hit and we lost our minds.

I think about the time the puppy got bigger than Dottie, these little issue started. That's about all we can figure out is she didn't like being FO to a captain half her age when she was in line for a captain position.

For the most part, they get along but Dottie definitely seems on edge around Bell about 15% of the time and once or twice a year, they will have an all ought real no kidding fight. But that's really rare.
 
Let me get this straight - you’re having a problem managing a couple of small dogs, yet you’re thinking about getting a horse?

I’d better start making the popcorn now....
 
Are the females fixed? I never had two female dogs but my neighbor did. Constantly bitching at each other. Then he fixed them both and they became BFFs.
 
Classic resource guarding which is instinctual if left unchecked...you should nip it in the bud or is could easily escalate to other items like food or even humans and get more serious than just a growl even though they are best buds otherwise.

Goes against conventional training wisdom but I have a Border Collie/Lab that is too smart for his own good and when he started showing any signs of resource guarding I yanked the item away and he lost it immediately...he figured out real quick to knock that crap off! Now he understands the line between playful and guarding.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Are the females fixed? I never had two female dogs but my neighbor did. Constantly bitching at each other. Then he fixed them both and they became BFFs.
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They weren't broken, so before someone who is actually offended by the term "fixed", I'll just point out the potential issue. :)
 
Do you let the dogs watch either TV or youtube? Asking in part because there seems to be a direct correlation between people I know that act badly, and how much they pay attention to tv or the Internet.

The only other thing that comes to mind is that when dogs get to a certain age sometimes they get into a "get the hell of my lawn" mode with other animals. Kinda like Margaret Thatcher. (And I'm kinda a fan of Margaret Thatcher....if she were alive today she'd probably have already thrown Russia out of Ukraine.)
 
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