Extremely Jealous Puppy

[mandel878]

I have a 4 month old Boxer puppy Romeo and a 3 month old Rottie puppy Daisy. Romeo is as sweet as can be, he is extremely playful and lets Daisy get away with anything she wants. She takes all his toys, pushes him around, although she's smaller and basically bosses him around. She is extremely hyper and dominant. Well whenever I call him, she automatically shows up although she knows I'm calling him, when I get home from work I pet both of them but if she sees that I give him attention she starts barking, biting him and nipping at my hands to make me stop petting him and to focus all my attention on her. Any time I show him any affection no matter how small, she pushes herself in the way and tries to show me that she is the one that I should be petting. Romeo never does this when I pet or show affection to her and I don't show him more affection as a matter of fact she winds up getting most of the attention. How do I make this stop and show Daisy that it's ok if Romeo gets some love once in a while?

Concerned Rottie Mama

[moondog]

She sounds like a pretty normal Rottie puppy to me. ALL puppies love attention, why would you think at 3 months old that she should hear you and "know" you don't want her to interact with? She's a BABY. You have two puppies with different temperaments, is all.

You should be giving attention to and working with each of these puppies separately, for the most part, with a measured amount of "group" play. Plan a time each day for that, and when you are working with one of the puppies, put the other in a crate so the puppy you are working with has your undivided attention. Then switch and work with the other puppy. Same goes for walks - take them one at a time so you can work with one puppy undistracted by the other. Each should be taken to obedience classes separately by you. Raising two puppies at the same time is 3 times as much work as raising one alone. You have your work cut out for you!

[Sharon Marples]

And you would do well to separate the puppies during the day if you are at work. They should not run together all the time, it may cause them to bond more closely to each other than to you.

Two pups at once, a LOT of work to socialize and raise them properly. Good luck!

[poohbearsmom]

In addition, I don't leave toys laying around the house. Toys are played with between me and my dog.

This can cause a multitude of problems, one being resource guarding, especially if it's a multi dog household, and your pup has an innate propensity towards that unwanted behavior. It also devalues the toys, which are no longer special if they're out lying about all the time.

It's not a problem to give each pup a chew item in it's respective crate, but I generally recommend to folks in my classes to pull the toys off the floor and put them away until it's play time.

I wholeheartedly agree with Sharon... puppies should be kept separated save for a short period of time for play - separate crates, separate one on one time with you, etc... It's too easy for the pups to look to each other for guidance, rather than you - they speak the same language already. You don't stand a chance with competition like that! You've certainly taken on a large load of responsibility rearing two pups at once!

In addition, the word 'jealousy' makes me cringe... because one pup is simply showing dominant behavior over the other - it's not jealousy... it's bossy.