theo the thief

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:18 am

hi guys

how are you all. not posted in a while, but here goes. lol...
theo will not let alfie have anything. when they are both given the same chews, bones etc at the same time, theo is not interested in his, he just wants alfs. he always takes alfs things off him. we tell him no, and he stops, but he just isnt getting it. has any of you, got any suggestions as to how i can bring theo down a level, as he constantly bullies alfie. when the boys go for pee pee in the garden, and i open the door to let them back in again, theo always knocks alfie out the way as if to say, im first not you. i have started to put theo outside again when this happens, and make him come in after alfie, but im not sure if im showing him right or not.
theo was our first dog, by 4 weeks, then we got alfie. i know its prob pecking order behaviour, but i think theo goes a little too far at times. any suggestions would be much appreciated.

angie xx

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:08 pm

i would like to know of advice for this too. although the outside thing doesnt apply to me (have to walk no yard) the bone thing does. with cleo and annabelle we will give them bones at the same time and cleo will go and chew on hers for maybe 2 minutes and then get in front of annabelle and try to distract her and steal her bone. of course annabelle will let her have it and then immedately get the one we originally gave cleo and the world is all good again. it is not a huge problem with us now...but in the future (when we get a house with a big yard) we plan on getting more dogs and i can see those issues arising with cleo.

Addicted Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 568

Same here. Betsy steals everything from Olivia and Olivia lets her take bones etc. from her mouth! This might be little diffrent than with you, because Oliva is Betsy's mom Smile

So, maybe it's more a mother-daughter thing here...? But seems to be a common problem.

We also have some issues on the backyard when they go there together. Betsy always has to be the first one. And when Olivia is peeing, Betsy will crawl almost under her legs sniffing the pee Shocked

Sometimes Olivia gets so disturbed she stops peeing Sad

It's crazy, how in the world she can be so interested in her mom's pee...!??

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:53 am

Hi,

My lot are the same, I use to give everyone their own chew etc and within minutes Mabel (bullmastiff) would have taken everyone of them, off all the others, Frankie, Kitty, Otis and George, they would all be running around looking for them - LOL, but she would decide which one she really wanted and go off and eat it, the others could then get a chew and enjoy it.
I now just put a selection on the floor (plenty for everyone) and they sort themselves out, it is quite amusing to watch.
Mabel will still try and take everything first.
I try not to interfere too much, as I feel it causes more problems that it solves. They all settle down in the end.
Karen

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:31 am

when i read the 1st message, i was expecting an answer below it..
loooool
it seems we have common problems here,. i do hope someone could come up with an answer regarding this situation..

i hate it when gucci bullies chloe.. he likes to have everything for him, especially the chew bones.. we usually give one to each at the same time,. identical chew bones.. but as soon as gucci realizes that chloe has one too, he would immediately snatch chloe's bone. chloe would then chew on the bone gucci has deserted, and again, gucci would snatch and gather both in front of him. chewing on one and placing a paw on top of the other. i really feel sorry for chloe.. sometimes when gucci is sleeping, we would then sneak up a bone for chloe to chew on. it only takes about 2 minutes until gucci realizes that she has a bone.. he'll snatch the bone right then and there even if he's still sleepy as hell..
Neutral

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:52 pm

Rocky sometimes takes his tiny Yorkie sisters chew etc. However, if she doesn't want this to happen, she damn well lets him know. Thus he knows his place. Maybe it is a pecking order thing, maybe sometimes they just do this for the hell of it.

I certainly don't have any worries with it, best to let them work it out for themselves. Laughing

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:30 pm

my two are the same!! With food, water, chews and toys. Cassie will push layla out of the way and snap at her!!