Dominance

Question
I have two Golden Retreivers, a male and female. The female is 9 months and the male is 8 months. My question is dominance in the female? She will bite my male on the nose or facial area if he lies down on top of the dog house where she had been lying.  He has small cuts all over his face.They can play around and when my female gets tired of it, she will hold her stance and turn her head toward the male. They are in a fenced area, which our state requires. We let them out to play and run, but I am trampled with both of them trying to get my attention for petting. They jump, and the female will root the male out of the way of my attention. If you show the male more attention for a split second, she will bite his face when they go back into the fenced area. He doesn't try to defend himself, only yelps. My female was in the fence one month longer than my male, so they have spent there 8 & 9 months of life together. They are beautiful dogs with the female being long, blonde and slender, and the male , red, meaty, with a beautiful coat. These dominant episodes happen sometimes at night when we are asleep and we are awakened by yelping by the male. She has bit him again, we know. The Vet thought the cuts were play marks, but he knows that my female is dominant. Any suggestions on her dominant behavior with my male?  

                                           Thank You,
                                      Debra Perry  

Answer
Spay her if not already.  Such behavior disqualifies her from consideration as breeding stock.  We have plenty of better behaved dogs to breed.  She also needs to undersigned that you are the dominant one.  

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

You would do well to have them inside at night in crates.  Goldens belong in the house with you.  

It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first.  What the puppy
wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the
household, and any other pets.  In our modern society, even if we are home,
other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have.   The
only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around.  The dog may be
happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its
den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving
its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them
will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic
ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put
in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  Select
a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave
anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any
bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate.  Praise it for going
in.  Feed it in the crate.  This is also an easy way to maintain order at
feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a
safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition
to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to
give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor
do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
itself.