thank you for answering

Question
QUESTION: i have a 4 year old female maltese named sprinkles...she's spoiled like a princess get's all my attention follows me through my aparment never leaves my side....i just bought a 2 month old chiwaawaa (can't spell it)named sandy and sprinkles trys to bite her and growls at her and i don't want to yell at sprinkles but its hard not to i don't want her to hurt sandy and all sandy wants to do is play with her and now when i leave the house i have to put them in seperate rooms. HELP HOW DO I MAKE THEM GET ALONG?

ANSWER: Hi Deirdre,

Are you sure your dogs are fighting? When some dogs play, it can sound a lot like world war three is breaking out.

You didn't say how recently your brought home Sandy, it can take a month or longer before a new dog has settled into a new household, and is accepted by the resident dog. Correcting Sprinkles behavior is much more than yelling at her. If you yell, she will not learn.
When you can't monitor the behavior between Sprinkles and Sandy, they need to be separated, a child-gate is very helpful for this. Keep Sprinkles on her leash when you're home. The moment she looks like she's thinking about going after Sandy, firmly tell her "NO!" and give her a jerk on the leash. Make her sit, and reward her when she's quiet and relaxed.

Because Sandy is also a female dog, there may always be problems between her and Sprinkles. Having two female dogs is not a good mix,  more often than not if there are aggression problems in a multiple dog household, it's because there are two female dogs.

Admitting that Sprinkles is spoiled is admitting to the crux of the problem. Sprinkles may not see you as the "pack leader" because you give into her whims. In effect, the inmates are running the asylum. Sprinkles is calling the shots, and you are helpless because you're not in charge. The fastest method of gaining control over your dogs is to enroll in a dog obedience class, or work with a dog behaviorist. In a class, YOU are the one who will be doing the learning, as you are taught by an experienced trainer to take control over your dogs.

You can read about how to start to get control over Sprinkles here:

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

I think if reading about how to fix this solution worked, you probably wouldn't be having a problem in the first place. I hope you will consider the obedience class option. The longer the problem continues, the harder it can be to resolve.

Best of luck,

Patti

PS. Your dog's breed is spelt: Chihuahua!






---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: HI Patti,
Thank you for answering my question actually i changed Sandy's name to Minnie cause she looks like a mouse heheheeh i brought sprinkles to a doggie day care today for her to be evaluated to learn how to play nice with other dogs because aside from being spoiled she doesn't play with other dogs that's not good. so i'm trying to break her in little at a time without forcing it so i'll see how that goes.
hopefully it'll all work out.

Answer
Hi Deirdre,

Good to hear that you're already taking steps to help Sprinkles get over her problems! Just be patient, but firm and consistent in what you ask of her. It will take time before you see improvement.

Best of luck to you, Sprinkles, and Minnie!

-Patti