My older staff, Bailey, becoming over-protectivve of pup.

Hi All,

Hope someone can help

We have two staffs, Bailey - who is 4, and Baxter, who is a staff/Patterdale cross who is 9 months.

Recently, we've started having problems with Bailey becoming grossly over-protective with Baxter - however this is only out of the house, he couldn't care less when indoors.

He's always been pretty poor with other dogs to be honest, something we've tried to address with no luck so far, however a few days ago he became extremely hostile with someone who tried to clap the pup at the local shop. Goes without saying I won't be leaving them outside anymore, was a last minute decision to pop in whilst out for a walk.

He's exhibited this behaviour before through growls but it's getting worse and worse.

I don't know if it's related, but for the first time in a couple of years we've had to take his crate down as the pup somehow managed to impale his paw in it a few days ago - could he be insecure because of this? He's been looking really unhappy recently.

Up until recently the pup was more of the problem child, however we've been training him a lot recently which again, despite us still giving him attention during this process.

He also gave me a warning bite today when I tried to usher him out of the living room whilst we tidied up.

Starting to get a bit worried, hope someone can help!

He also was chemically castrated just before Xmas, no idea if this was a factor - needless to say it hasn't calmed him down....possibly the opposite!

The crate removal could be causing some of the issue as this would have been seen as his space and now it's gone.

A warning bite is never good and really needs to be addressed before it continues. You might need to go back to basic training there just to reinforce.

As for the overprotective behaviour, it's not something I have experience of sorry. Hopefully someone with better experience will be able to help.

Thanks Ian...

We put the crate back up last night and he seems a bit more content today. The "bite" I referred to was more clutching at air - having read up a lot I probably didn't help matters by raising my voice as much as I did at the time.

I can't imagine that the crate being down would effect his behaviour outside - however may be effecting his indoor behaviour if he doesn't feel that he has his own place to go to.

In regards to the over protectiveness with Baxter - when does he do this, and what does he do? As you've figured out - leaving any dog outside of a shop isn't a great idea, but especially not a dog that is DA, what if an off lead dog approached without you there to resolve the situation?

Do you feel that maybe you've been slacking a little with his training whilst training the puppy? Could he be picking up on any of the puppy's behaviours? Did he make contact with the warning bite or are you referring to an air snap? How did you go about ushering him out?

Has he had a vet check to ensure he's not in any pain or discomfort?

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for the reply.

The puppy's training if I'm being honest had slacked up until maybe about 2-3 weeks ago. My partner has been off work on annual leave and has spent a huge amount of time with him. The only things the puppy does that are problematic is jumping up on people and occasionally chewing things he shouldn't - he's actually very well behaved.

I considered that maybe Bailey is in some sort of pain or discomfort, last night when we put them to bed, my partner was showing me where the pup caught his paw in the crate - I went to touch the top of the crate with my finger and Bailey went nuts again..

It's hard to explain but it was like fear rather than anger. He then sat there looking at us crying and chattering (not really barking) We separated them last night to see if it makes any difference.

Think I'm going to have to take him to the vet - I've a feeling that he's been badly shaken when the pup hurt himself on the crate the other day, the Mrs said afterwards he was sitting licking the pup's paw to make sure he was ok - can't recall any of these behaviours before the event..

forgot to add, when he turned the other day, I tried to block him running into the living room, wasn't a bite as such but he dug his tooth into my heel.