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Posted by Elizabeth on 5/2/2008, 7:04 am, in reply to "Re: Tsavo the Weenie Boy"
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Let's see... first thing is to give Tsavo "permission" to put the puppy in his place, even encourage him to do so since he isn't doing it on his own. Then praise him when he does.
I had been propping a baby gate against the bedroom doorway to keep puppy away from Tsavo when Tsavo was in the bedroom. The vet said to stop doing that because it makes Tsavo feel like it is a barrier keeping him away from me, which is where he wants to be. Or at least, he wants to be able to come to me when he wants to without having his access blocked, even though we moved the gate whenever he wanted to come or go. She said that we should not let the puppy in the bedroom at all, only the big dogs.
Basically, we just need to be supportive of Tsavo and if the situation hasn't improved in a few days we should move the puppy's crate out of the bedroom entirely and not let him even sleep in the bedroom. In our house the living area is one big open area with a doorway leading to the bedroom, so we could slide the crate out into the living area but not so far that we can't hear puppy if he cries during the night. And he could still see us from there, so she thought that would be ok.
She told us that if Tsavo doesn't start asserting himself soon that we should put a long, light leash on puppy and let him drag it around in the house. Then, if he gets in Tsavo's face, we should grab the leash and jerk him away to help him learn not to invade Tsavo's space.
And, I had been feeding puppy first- oops- he should get fed last. And he should go through the door last when entering and leaving the house.
I will say that while we were in her office, with the dogs off leash, she really encouraged Tsavo to get after the puppy, who was jumpig around and getting in his face. Finally, after a lot of encouragement, he did. Then later that day, at home, with us encouraging him, he did it again. Just those two incidents have made a huge difference. After the incident at home puppy settled right down and didn't even attempt to mess with Tsavo again. That was on Wed. Everyone was fine yesterday, but I think in part because they all had 2 long walks and puppy slept a lot, lol. Also, Argos had surgery and when he came home all of the other critters, cats included, were very aware that something had happened with him and they were all on their best behavior, lol. Today it is raining and we will be inside a lot, so it will be interesting to see what the dynamics are.
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