Hunting Multiple Dogs

[Mr. B]

On Saturday Maggie my 3 year old female Lab had a run in with an older female lab. Snarling, squealing, yelping and a cut on the nose later Maggie had learned not to go near Amber. After some EMT on her nose it was time to hunt. Afterward Maggie seemed intimidated and hunted very close, while Amber hunted farther out (and I kept Maggie away from Amber). One of the other things that Maggie did was when she did retrieve a bird if one of the other dogs came near her she would just drop the bird and give it to them.

This is only the second time that Maggie has hunted with other dogs, is this something that I need to worry about?

Is there something I can do to keep this from happening again?

Is there anything I should have done differantly?

Thanks for any help.

[BigDaddy]

Amber's owner should have corrected the dog. Biting and growling should not be tolerated. Some will say that it's a natural dominance thing. I say that's no excuse for the behavior and it can be corrected.

As for Maggie, did you give her lots of praise? It sounds like her confidence was down. You need to build her back up with lots of encouragement.

[Blaze]

Mr B.

I'm with BigDaddy here. Amber's owner should've been all over her to knock it off and HUNT, not fight.

In my relationship with my dog, she knew I was top dog (alpha), my wife and kids came next, then her place was after that. We had a "family pack" if you will. One thing that a lower dog will look to the alpha for is protection. There were a few times when we came in contact with an aggressive dog or two, and I would always get myself between our GSP and the other dog to make sure the aggressive one knew I was the alpha in our pack and if he wanted to tango, it's gonna be with ME. In Maggie's case, her fear while doing retrieves and dropping the birds for other dogs sounds like a result of not being 'protected' by her pack leader, aka YOU, when Amber got in her face. I know you can't always be there to stop anything from happening, but in her eyes, Amber has established herself as dominant over Maggie. Maggie should be more concerned about pleasing you, her master, than what Amber could do to her.

My suggestion: build her confidence one on one as much as possible, and always let her know that you are looking out for her safety too. Next time she's around Amber (or any other dog that gets in her face like that), I'd jump in and grab the instigator by the back of the neck, give 'em a shake, and let 'em know who's in charge...or do whatever else is necessary. I've had to boot a few stray roaming dogs in the head when they came into the neighborhood and tried to start things with my dog or worse yet, threaten my kids. I have no tolerance for that whatsoever.

Praise her up, get her back into birds, and make hunting with you and for you her primary goal.

Good luck,

Blaze

[Mr. B]

Blaze & Bigaddy,

The other owner did correct Amber and there was not a problem the rest of the hunt.

And like you said you can not always be there. I was on the end of the line while Amber and her owner where on the other end. Ths dogs ran in to each other between us.

Since this was Maggie's second time hunting with other dogs, I probably should have been a little more careful.

I think that her confidence started to return. The last bird of the day was all Maggie's. We never got a shot at the bird because, the bird never got higher that 3 feet off the ground and Maggie was pulling feathers off as it flew off.

Thanks for the help guys. Is there a good way to introduce hunting dogs to each other to minimize this?