Why is my dog bullying puppies?
Some dogs consistently start fights with small puppies to prove they are bigger and stronger, even if they play fine with older dogs. In other cases, a new puppy will persistently chase an adult dog away from its owners until she hides behind the couch. This relentless bullying often becomes so severe that spouses want to get rid of the instigator.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Keeping the dog away from smaller dogsDid this help you?
- 2Putting the dog in a crate or using a belly-supported harness when it goes after a smaller dogDid this help you?
- 3reprimanding the puppyDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“About 1 month ago I noticed that all the fights he starts is with small puppies - otherwise he is fine with most dogs, either plays or moves on.”source ↗
“Recently it has been pretty consistent - all puppies he meets, he seems to want to proof he is bigger, stronger and starts bulling.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 6Is weird indoor dog play behavior actually aggression?
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- 6Why does my dog freeze and refuse to move when he sees other dogs?