My dog is a nervous wreck due to his sister, what can I do to help?

Dont be intimidated by all the writting, Summary at bottom if you dont feel like reading all of it.Well let me start of with his sister, which is my sister's dog. When my sis lived at home, she got a dog named stacy. She was our only dog for seven years. Then she moved next door to us to get more privacy and took stacy with her and right around that time I got my own dog named Frankie. In the back yard, both dogs are chained up to where they can reach each other. They love each other very much and they play well for the most part. Also both dogs are great with people and act so sweet. Since we got Frankie right after my sis and Stacy moved out, he was the only dog in our house so he was raised to act as though it was his. Also, stacy had lived here with me and my parents for seven years so she had the same state of mind. When we baby sit stacy, Frankie freaks out. He walks in front of me and my parents and sits on our feet to show us that we are his and not stacy's. Also if Frankie has food in his bowel. weathre he really wants it or not, he eats it all. When ever stacy walks by one of his toies he jumps on the toy and guards it while giving her a dirty look. And to get to the main point of this, they have horrible fights with each other. Since stacy has a little bit more pitbul in her than Frankie (they have different dads) She usually wins. We have had to tak him to the vet to get stitches because of stacy a few times. Now Stacy is getting old so Frankie is coming out on top for the most part but we dont want them fighting. They fight over attention, food, and possesions. One time Frankie was at his water bowel and stacy came up next to him and he started doing his thing where he stands firm over what he believes is his and just stares at her. He may have groweled but he usually doesnt, and then stacy attacked him. This is always what happens. One day, they were both just standing there and Frankie noticed that he was close to his bag of treats so he stood over it, ducked his head down a little, his tail was straight with his body, and he tensed up and gave stacy that glare. Then stacy groweled at him and attacked. All this has basically started making Frankie nervous when she is around. It started off a few months ago, when stacy was at our house, Frankie went on house guard mode. When ever somebody came to the door, he instantly jumped up and barked his head off at them until he saw who they were. Now he does this all the time weather shes over or not. Even if he thinks he hears something, he'll go crazy barking. I think the reason he started doing it when she was over was because he wanted to show us that he was a better guard than Stacy. It seems as though Frankie is always on the edge and ready to jump anytime he needs.I know it would be great if we could seperate them but there are times when we have no choice. Also, when they're in the back yard with nothing to fight over, they play so sweet. They jump on each other and fake fight and sometimes stacy will lick frankie's ears and its really cute. I know they're just acting like most brothers and sisters but its gone to far.Is there any way we can calm the dogs down and possibley get them to stop fighting?P.S. My sister recently got another dog. Stacy attackes her too and has left pleanty of cuts on her. The bad thing is, her new dog, Willow, is a full blood pitbul. She used to be really sweet and would fall to the floor when stacy attacked but now she fights back, just like with Frankie. And today, My sister came out in the back yard and was petting stacy then went over towards frankie. Both dogs got tense and goave each other the death stare. Stacy started wagging her tail and growling at the same time. The she lunged at Frankie but he stepped back. She was at the end of her chain when she jumped so it pulled her and she flipped onto the ground and Frankie just walked off, ignoring stacy while she barked and growled at him, trying to get at him.And last but not least, Frankie now acts possesive whenever any dog is in our house like my uncles dog who is sweet and care free. Im afraid we'll never be able to have another dog and since my sis will be moving away soo with Stacy and Willow, he'll be all alone.SUMMARYMy sis's dog stacy was the only one for years but when we got my dog Frankie, she turned into a real bitch (even though she IS a female dog) and even though my dog frankie was a sweet, happy go lucky dog, all of stacys attacks and abuse has had a negative affet on him and now hes on high alert all the time. He feels as though he has to constantly stay on guard. Is there anyway to calm our dogs down and correct this behavior? We punish them when they fight (especially stay because she's the one who starts it) by spanking them and locking them byt their self for a while. We dont want to spend the money on a trainor for three different dogs and it wouldn be best if it was

Simple: Keep them separated and exercise them till the drop. This is a big problem- if you don't fix it quickly, it could lead to their deaths. If they're not fixed, go ahead and neuter/spay them. I would tell your sister that you can't keep Stacy anymore. Don't let either of them on the beds or any furniture. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/topdogrules.htm That is a really good article on being alpha of your dog. Good luck, and keep us posted!

Way too long to read

Well spanking, will just make everything worst for both the dogs and i think its best if you start to, take it easy on both of them. Stacy obviously isn't well socialized and that's why she most likely attacked Frankie. Spanking, will lead to worst aggression, just little heads up.Start walking them and going to places with them in public and have them socialize with other dogs, however make sure they're on leash so they won't attack any one. If they fight stay calm and seperate them, after you do seperate them, don't spank them just take them into their crates or something like that. Start keeping them seperated and have some one with you. Have them both on leashes and start having them around each other. If there are any signs of aggression, slowly have them walk away. If they are getting along, praise them. Keep this up every day for with about 5-10 sessions for about five-ten minutes. Stay persistent and consistent. Sometimes it works better if you do exercise them and give them both plenty of attention.If you're not going to supervise them have them seperated. If they are together, make sure there are no toys or bones around, that could lead to fighting and make sure there are plenty of room for the both of them so they don't have to be near each other.

You and your sister need to 'work from the same page' and be consistent with both of them regarding what is acceptable and in what way you will correct the instigator of the trouble the second there is any sign of it. The dogs need to be treated equal and have it made clear that the only people who decide what is allowed and what is not allowed is you and your sister, not the dogs.Here is how to start off.Have separate beds at separate sides of the room and bowls for them, walk them together (swiftly correcting any negative behaviour from either of them) make it a long walk so they become used to having a positive time together and are more settled when they come home, you walk in first and the dogs wait at the door, then they come in one at a time (the most troublesome dog waits until last) when you say they can come in. You send them to their own separate beds. At feeding time they both should sit and wait where you put them, when you bring the bowls down they should still be waiting and then go for their food when you say they can. Then its back to bed until the last 'potty walk'This sends a clear message to the dogs that they are being treated equally but that it is YOU the humans calling the shots, so the older dog does not feel she has to control anything and the other one is not overly nervous as it can trust you to be there to control matters. Dogs should not have the run of the house and be able to pick on another.If your dogs are not trained to be able to perform the above tasks, then that is the underlying problem, or a big part of it. If you need to then work with them individually on these behaviors, such as staying until the food bowl is down and then until you say they can eat. Once they improve, you can work on them together.The punishment won't really make the difference in itself. If you do the above with them daily - you WILL see results in a fairly short period of time. Once things have improved there and they are happy to tolerate each other and stay out of each others way at home, you can start to bring them together more often using positive reinforcement, I especially recommend clicker training and while you are spending a few weeks doing what I posted above, its a good idea to be reading Karen Pryor books in order to move on to the next stage when they are ready.ADDED; you should also work on crate training them individually, so that anytime they are unsupervised they will be in their seperate crates. (crate can also be thier bed)