Puppy agression to my senior dog

[Jay98]

Hello! I'm new to the forum and I desperatley need your help. Our history: I got 2 German Shepherd pupies at 8 weeks old; one male, Zibo and one female, Jay. At the age of 10, we had to put down our beloved Zbo. We still have Jay, now 11, and she is a wonderful dog--we've never had any problems with her. She is now almost 11 and since losing Zibo was traumatic to say the least, my husband wanted to get another GSD for our family...for me--to help me cope with losing Zibo. We decided to get a female puppy since we loved how smart Jay is and hoped the female-to-female dominance issue, wouldn't be an issue.

We picked out a non-dominante (we thought) 9-week old puppy and named her Lacy. Lacy just celebrated her 1st birthday and we have 2 MAJOR problems with her. She's a really sweet, cuddly pup and she's great with our kids and all humans...it's other dogs and Jay that she has a problem with.

Problem #1: As experienced GSD owners, we socialized Lacy consitently with both dogs and people. One day she had a tramatic experience at a dog park (not the ideal socialization place, but the only option for us to interact with other dogs)....she was running with other dogs, then slipped and fell. She yelped and they all chased her and pounced on her. She has never been the same since. She now persistently barks and tries to bite every other dog she sees. I know this is fear aggression, but I can't seem to break this...she is VERY strong-willed. I tried using food rewards when other dogs are near, but she isn't interested. She remains focused on the other dog. I tried turing her around (removing her).....doesn't work. It's hard to find another dog owner who will work with me as I work with Lacy.

Problem #2: Lacy seems to be trying to take Jay's place in the pack and she's beginning to challenger her. They have fought 4 times...Lacy has punctured Jay several times near her eyes, ears and throat. All instances have been over food, water or toys. This possessive behavior is going to escalate if we don't stop it and I don't want Jay to go through this. She is a senior dog and doesn't deserve this. She never had these problems with Zibo. We feed them separately now and don't leave water out for free drinking and don't leave toys out. I'm worried that this separation will reinforce Lacy's possessiveness. We feed her in her kennel and we keep "her" toys in there too. Jay has complete reign of the house.

I can tolerate Problem #1 and I''ll be patient enough to work with her until she is more confident, but I will not tolerate Problem #2 for too much longer. Lacy stays in her kennel when we are not home and for short periods when Jay needs some rest. I don't want to always have to keep her in her kennel for years to come. I'm just afraid they might fight when we are not home. My husband has been bit "accidentally" trying to break up one of thier fights.

Sorry this is so long....just felt the need to give details. I love dogs, especially GSDs and we believe adding a dog to your pack is for life...we would never give Lacy up. While I've had my share of pack issues with GSDs in the past, Lacy's issues with other dogs have got me at a complete loss. I want our family and Jay to be happy and not worried all the time!!

I'd appreciate ANY help you can offer!

[sadie&jaskosmom]

Hey
Thats really great that your not willing to give up and it sounds like you alot more experienced than I am but I was reeding up on this last night because I just brought a GSD home yesterday and the shelter dog I already have is not liking the idea at all, theres a link to an artical that talks about this in another post basically what it says is pack order changes some times due dogs getting older and not being able to hold there place if you look through the other posts about dogs not getting along you will probably find it. It pretty much says that you dont have alot of say in the matter I hope that it helps a little, good luck I am a fellow GSD lover my husband grew up with them and we had to put down our first GSD in 2007 I love my shelter dog unconditionaly but I understand the pull of the breed they are the smartest dogs I have ever met.