Dominance towards my chihuahua!

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[ShorkieLove]

I need some help.  Alice keeps chasing,biting and trying to get on top of my chihuahua Rilie. How do I get her to stop. She hurts Rilie when she bites her. Alice will not leave Rilie alone. Alice chases her all the time and Rilie tries so hard to get away from her.  I have to get this to stop now. My chihuahua Rilie is very very small Alice out weights her and Alices is going to get bigger. how do I teach her this is not allowed?

[minnie mee]

Are the dogs fixed?  that will help if they are not.

Minnie Mee has only taken a dislike to one dog, a Parisian Bulldog, and she snaps and bites and barks and snarls at him.  Fortunately he is easy going and doesn't care.  But your two dogs live together, so this is urgent.

Have you been working on Bite Inhibition with Alice?  At least then, she will know not to hurt your Chihuahua.  It must be a territorial thing.  Do you have a sound to show her you are unhappy?  I have a Tsst sound that tells MM that her behaviour is inappropriate.  She always stops her actions when I make that sound (she may start again in 5 minutes, but then I doubly Tsst her.)  Then I have a tut tut sound to show her that now she is behaving appropriately.  Dogs can't speak English, so she may be interpreting your anger and speaking as encouragement.  If there are two distinct sounds, one that means good and one that means bad, then she knows.

I also suggest you go to a professional dog trainer with the two of them.  This sounds like it needs to be nipped in the bud immediately.

[Kim]

I agree. You may need a professional trainer ASAP. If you can't afford it, try taking them both to a neutral area where you can train them to get along. Right now it seems your home is Alice's domain. So taking them both to a place that is new and unmarked would be the ideal place to train them. You will of course need another person to help you out with the training.

It's basically like any other training. I like to use food as an incentive. You first get them in the area far apart. If Alice looks at Rilie and then looks at you without growling or barking you give her a treat and praise her. If she does act out you take her out for a bit then bring her back in. And start again. If she can do this at least 10 times in a row, move a little closer to Rilie. This of course is going to take some time and constant reinforcements. Eventually, Alice will learn that being nice to Rilie equals a reward.

For now I suggest you keep them both in separate areas.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[shorkiejem]

Looks like Grace is trying to set the pecking order/pack leader.  One thing your dog HAS to learn is YOU are the pack leader and always will be.  This is the Yorkie side in Grace.  How much younger is Grace?  There are a couple of things to look for.  Does this happen when you come in the room?  Does it happen when you are not in the room?  When Alice goes after her does she first stand over her behind her neck?  Does she stare at her first?  When she goes after her does she grab her behind the neck, or go for her front legs. 
Well Grace may have to be moved down the list in pecking order.  The quiet one may have to come first to show Alice she is not first.  This would mean feeding Riley first.  Give a treat to Riley THEN a treat to Alice.  Alice will come 2nd in everything.  Take Riley out for a walk leaving Alice behind, then bring Alice for a walk.  After a week you should be able to take both out with no problems.  In the house you will need strong command words.  Say Grace's name first, then the command OFF.  Stare at Grace and continue to keep doing it.  She may go back after Riley in 20 seconds, stand there and continue to do it until Grace stops.  YOU, the pack leader won this battle.  Here is a excellent article.  Ignore the leashes and the pictures and just read the article.
Dog training is always good.  But the trainer will probably come to the house.  Or you can bring Grace and get her to learn the commands.  Just my opinion
Keep us posted!!

http://leerburg.com/aggresiv.htm

[ShorkieLove]

Thanks for all the advice. I called my friend who is a trainer. He is going to come out this weekend. . I live about 45 min from town so its hard to get someone to come out. I'm hoping we can fix this. Alice will have to stay in the dogs room(yes I know its a little crazy they have there own room) by herself till sat . I feel bad but Rilie has never been confined. I dont want Rilie to think she is in trouble. I will just have to take Alice outside to play with me.