dog problems...

Question
my friend has 2 dogs, a pet bird, and 2 cats. Recently she found a dog that was dumped after having puppies. it was a small boston terrier/beagle mix. she brought it home and has been trying for almost 2 months to find a home, but now they'll probably keep it if all goes well. this dog is sweet to everyone, but recently, the boston terrier "madison" bit one of the other dog's ear. the other dog really likes madison and wants to play with her, but madison suddenly was mean to her. Any advice on changing madison's behavior to the other dog? thanks!

My friend said:

everytime our dominant dog comes near her
she doesn`t move and stands still and keeps her tail straight up and my dog wanted to play with Madison and Madison attacked her and this morning she bit our dogs ear but she didn`t get hurt the other dog doesnt show aggression to Madison

Answer
Hi Kelsey,

To me, it seems like one dog is not respecting the other's signals. Be careful with assigning rank to the dogs-it's not that cut and dried. Status is fluid. It shifts. If that one dog is stiff with it's tail straight up-it doesn't want to play!

Grabbing an ear is a "Hey, you are out of line" kind of bite. What may be happening is that this new dog has been there long enough to start asserting herself.

If your friend sees it happening she can interrupt it with a fun cue like "Who wants to go for a ride in the car?" or "Who would like a cookie?"

Increasing exercise may help as well. Tired dogs are calm dogs!

A good book to suggest:
Feeling Out numbered-Patricia McConnell