Help with newly jealous dog
We have a 16 month old lab akita mix (neutered). He has always liked all dogs and people. We took him to puppy kindergarten and he responds to voice commands like sit, stay, come, heel, etc. He responds very well to food rewards. He spends most of his time outside, but comes in in the evenings.
Our problem is that he seems to have developed a jealousy problem after the birth of our 8 week old baby. For example, he has a female lab that he plays with every day (she lives behind us, and we made a doggy door for them). They have always played well together, though they do play rough. In the last few weeks they have gotten very angry with one another, with hair raised for the first time. Now when we go outside if we try to pet her our dog heads her off and bites at her to warn her not to go near us. Today I tried feeding our dog treats if he let us pet her, and this worked, but when I ran out of treats he once again bit at her when she tried to approach us to be petted.
He is also displaying aggression towards other dogs when he used to wag his tail and play happily with other dogs, but now he doesn't seem to like anyone in the neighborhood. What can we do to restore him to his happy old self? We have tried playing with him in front of the baby and giving him individual time without the baby, but this doesn't seem to help. He does learn quickly from experience. For example, our neighbors installed an electric fence, and he got shocked one day. It took him 6 months to be brave enough to go back into their yard.
Re: Help with newly jealous dog
I am not sure how much Akita your dog has,
but when Akita's mature around 15 months or so,
they sometimes go through a change where
they are not so accepting of strange dogs
and are more protective..
I am a bit baffeled about your neighbors dog though.
I would think they would be friends forever unless they
got in a scrape. (akita's never forget and they can
get quite jelouse like any dog can)
My suggestions is to keep socializing/training.
Another possibiltiy is that he might not be feeling well.
Good luck and welcome.
