Bo is now nearly 15 months and Badger is just over 13 weeks. Up to now they have both played whenever possible although Bo does tell pups off when she's had enough. Last night Badger tried to get in her bed to annoy her (she does not allow him in her bed or crate) and all hell broke loose. It was a full on attack but with no teeth or biting, just sounded awful Pups ran and then submitted and started licking Bo's face. Since then Bo has been less tolerant of him and tonight doesn't really want to play and has told him off a few times. He does really know how to push his luck thought! Bo has also been humping him which he has allowed and submitted to. Bo is currently on antibiotics for a cut leg which doesn't help and is only allowed street walks.

Everything has gone perfectly up till now so is this a normal phase? As long as nobody is getting hurt I have always left the dogs to sort things out naturally between themselves but am not sure if I should be stopping the more aggressive behaviour from Bo although it is never unprovoked.

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Bo - Cocker Spaniel x Border Terrier
Badger - Cocker Spaniel x Lakeland Terrier

Lose the word dominance - it is terribly unlikely to be relevant here.

Badger is approaching adolescence and as a result his puppy licence is expiring. He has hopefully been exposed to lots of doggie signaling and now he has to learn how to use it.

You say full on attack - no teeth means that this was not even an attack. This is an older dog who is been pestered by a pup and if you don't teach puppy that this is not acceptable then Bo has to.

Hopefully Badger is meeting and interacting with lots of other dogs so that he learns a variety of signals from different types of dogs and also learns about tolerance levels.

The humping is probably stress related - in most social contexts, other than sexual, humping is a displacement behaviour.

I would most certainly be interrupting puppy's behaviour if Bo is showing discomfort, before she has to go to escalated distance increasing signaling e.g. growling, snarling etc.

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

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They have a pecking order, Bo seems to be the dominant one. But there's nothing wrong with that. Pupster is just pissing Bo off and pup needs to know that! It's a valuable lesson to be learned, "When I say no, I mean it"

The dog has an injured leg, the pup has crept into her space probably to play, and the dog just wants to rest her leg. Puppy could have hurt her. It was not an attack if there were no teeth or biting involved, the puppy just does not know any better and it is unfair to leave all the teaching to the older dog. If you feel the older dog is uncomfortable, you should intervene. As to the humping, I would not be happy with Bo at 15 months humping a puppy of that age. He could do the puppy some damage.

None of this has anything whatsoever to do with dominance.

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Thanks for the advice all. I will take your advice on board and intervene more when puppy is annoying Bo.

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Bo - Cocker Spaniel x Border Terrier
Badger - Cocker Spaniel x Lakeland Terrier