So we have 2 dogs. First, is Sierra, 5 year old female Chocolate Lab. She is fairly obedient, and very friendly.
Got a new puppy 3 months ago, Miley... now starting to see some issues with the new dog, hoping beyond can help me 'dog whisper' them out of her. New dog is a female Lab Pointer Cross, 7 months old now.
Miley is showing a lot of traits, that I've read are linked with dominance. Such as sitting on furniture before we get there, putting her paw's on us, not listening to simple commands when she's excited, not sharing toys/locations in the house with new dogs, etc. I'm OK with most of these, as she is just a puppy and we are still training her. What I'm not OK with, is how she acts towards other dogs. Her and Sierra get along great, but new dogs, are an issue.
We agreed to house sit a friend's Lab Cross, Bella, for a week, and immediately as soon as she arrived, Miley was not too impressed with this new, friendly dog. Miley will stalk her around the house, and almost "herd" her, sort of cutting her off whenever she tries to go somewhere, or near anything. She has a very low growl in her throat, and growls at Bella fairly often. Bella is not agressive at all, but will only put up with so much of Miley. Her and Miley have gotten into it twice pretty good now, and have had to be torn apart. I'm trying to teach her it's NOT ok to be this agressive towards a new dog, and everytime she starts to stalk Bella, or growl at her, I giver her a stern NO, and get in between them. Then I sort of back Miley into a corner with my body, so she knows she's not in charge. If she continues to do it, she get's the kennel.
I understand Bella is just sort of fighting back against being dominated, but I'm worried about this behavior in Miley. We socialize her with other dogs, but not usually at our house. I have never seen her this way towards another dog... just want any other tips on helping me get this dominance/aggressiveness out of her before we bring kids into our family.
I live in a really small town, so puppy obedience classes are not an option, at least not right now. I have to rely on anything I can learn on the internet/books.