any dog behavior experts advise wanted

[libby 1957dog]

not sure if this is the right place to ask ,but im desperate,i recently lost my dog and best friend of 16 years, libby ,and thought as she was so good to me and for me ,id try to give something back by adopting a stray from the city dogs home ,i ,or should i say she found me ,a lovely young cross breed ***** of around a year old found on the streets and very neglected and skinny ,anyway we introduced her to our other two dogs ,a yorkie ***** almost 14 years and a lasa dog 5 years ,on 2 separate occasions a couple of days apart at the dogs home ,no problems , brought her home all was well , the yorkie is a bit of a grouch now and then and she growled at maggie ,the new dog and maggie cowered ,i thought that showed she was deferring to the older dog ,good sign ? ,i thought so ,then after a hour i was sitting down on the sofa ,maggie sat next to me ,pepper ,the yorkie came towards us ,now i didn't see this as i was behind maggie ,but my daughter said maggie bared her teeth at the yorkie ,but the yorkie kept coming ,probably didn't see or hear the warning ,next thing shes got the yorkie by the neck ,i picked her up and my daughter got the yorkie ,i took maggs out side and see turned into terminator ,she literally changed ,she went into guard dog mode ,patrolling the garden and barking ,very cold and calculated ,not crazy excited ,she went from a big daft puppy to a all business guard dog ,we kept the dogs apart as she was barking like crazy when she saw them ,kept her overnight and had to return her yesterday,heart breaking to return her to that little pen after having her home with us ,anyone know of any ways to train her or socialize her ,i really want this to work out for her ,shes a fantastic dog ,she was great with my family ,and settled well with me and my wife and kids and the random sounds of our house and street ,shes a sweet nature ,let me take her food and a bone she was chewing off her ,no aggression or problem at all,just seems to be other dogs ,did i do something wrong in the way i introduced her into the home ,and is there some way i can fix this , im clutching at straws here but anyone been in this situation ,any way i can help these dogs get along , i know she must be tramatised from being in the dogs home ,30 odd dogs all barking and upset ,cant be good for you ,and she showed signs of settling after only a short time of being with us ,she just went in to protective mode ,,when i took her back yesterday she barked when anyone approached us but accepted them when i reassured her ,please any help ?
here she is when she chose me at the dogs home
heres maggs pepper and piggy ,at the dogs home

and here she is about 2 hours after getting to our home ,sleeping on me

[Gorn Captain]

From the photo at the shelter, she seemed very skinny.
I'd say she'd been living on the street and having to fight for any food and shelter.
Now that she is in a good environment, plenty of food and shelter, her instincts tell her she needs to protect all those new things, especially from the competition of other dogs. You as a human are no competition, other dogs are. She doesn't realize that there is plenty to go round now.
I'm no dog psychologist, but I've had dogs for 25 years now, and I've seen plenty of others, sometimes with behavioral problems.
You'll need to protect your oldest dog, make it very clear that even though he's old and weak, he's your top dog. Otherwise, she might attack him again, no matter how harmless he is.
My Jack Russell (16) was just out for his first walk after an operation and still very weak. He was out for like 5 minutes when a dog attacked him. Dogs that feel they need to defend their turf will take out the weak as well. Weak is bad in the dog-eat-dog world, it commands no respect.

I'm a strong believer in Cesar Milan's school of thought. When you see the slightest hint of unwanted agression, take action before it escalates from 1/10 to 10/10. You need to nip it in the bud quickly. Correct the dog with a jab to the shoulder (not hit him, but a quick and strong jab with extended fingers) as if you are giving him a "dog bite". That's how dogs correct unwanted agression in their own world, with a "warning bite". It snaps the dog out of his frenzy.
Remember, YOU are the alpha. At this point, your new dog is adopting the alpha position. The new kid needs to know that for now, she is last in line.

Milan says: Exercise, discipline and affection, in that order. Teach her the rules first, before the cuddle.

And remember: I'm NO expert!

[libby 1957dog]

expert or not ,thank you for your thoughts ,yeah what you say makes perfect sense ,im a little unclear about the method used to "nip it in the bud "do you mean i should ,at the first sign of aggression ,poke the aggressor on the shoulder to distract them, should the new dog be on the leash at this time ,to have better control of them ,let me ask you what you think of these suggestions made by the dog warden "catcher" ,she said to muzzle maggs ,the new dog ,for a while ,so she cant hurt the others until she gets used to them ,the dog warden also said walking all three dogs at the same time ,away from the home would be the best way to go about it ,that would reinforce the "pack"mentality in all 3 dogs ,bonding them into a unit ,its just that pepper the yorkie is almost 14 and im not sure shes up to or needs all this upheaval at her time of life ,but dogs are adaptable or are they not ? thanks again for your input ,maggs is back at the shelter at the moment , i didn't want her to miss out on the chance of finding a good home with out any extra complications ,its really all about her finding a good loving home ,if after the weekend shes still stuck there im going to bring her back here and try again to find away to make it work out for all of us

[palitoy]

Struggling with the same issues, former stray dog who is normally quite mild but very, very leash aggressive. I don't own other dogs but proper introductions help when we have other dogs over. We meet in tennis courts and everything goes fine.

I also grew up with Yorkies, it's their way or the highway sometimes isn't it?

When another comes up to me at a dog park and mine begins to get aggressive, i was instructed to turn my back to it. By walking away, my dog gives up and moves on.

[mahseer]

I am an animal care professional with 19 years experience and a lifetime dog lover. I have cared for groups of up to 50 dogs. The number one thing you need to manage is your own feelings and emotions. The dogs must fear you, and no I'm not talking about beating them into submission, I'm talking about projecting your energy at them. No matter how strange it may seem, your dogs are wolves in their DNA and varying degrees of wolf behavior will shine through in them. Until you have established your dominance and control you might want to muzzle the big dog just to prevent injuries to the little dogs. If they fight you should immediately dominate both and pin them until they submit to you. They need to know that all behaviors are allowed or disallowed by YOU. Also, forget about thinking the dog is traumatized. It will read that on you and then act traumatized. Definitely buy Cesar Milan's books because he is 100% on the money. Everyone that I know and respect in the dog world loves Cesar and is thankful for him bringing the truth about dog to the masses.

[Gorn Captain]

I don't think dogs should "fear" you, but you must at all times dominate them as "leader of the pack", that I agree with.
Cesar talks about "calm and assertive", and that is indeed the case.
When I say "nip it in the bud", that comes from Cesar. It's too hard to stop a dog that is at level 10 of agression, he'll only have the "attack focus".
When training your dog, you need to be very vigilant, and see all: a raised lip, a low growl, a leg raised in "hunt position", those are all signs that the dog is building up to agression.
By reading those signs before the dog gets out of hand, you "nip it in the bud" and correct the dog, giving him the "hand bite" and snapping him out of "attack mode". The quicker you see the sign and correct, the quicker the dog will learn "the boss doesn't like my agressive behavior, I need to cut it out".

Also make sure that one of the other dogs is not the one that starts the fight, taunts the other dog into a fight. You need to watch them all.

Another thing Cesar says: "if dogs fight, and you separate them, they first need to "kiss and make up". Don't let them split up angry, or they'll carry that anger with them into a next fight.
So you correct them, split them up, make them come together again until they are calm and peaceful (friends again), and only then let them go separate ways. They only get to leave when you make them become friends again.

And these techniques often work. I used them Before Cesar (BC)!!!
I have had dogs for 25 years, and they've only fought once (over a bone).
What I have done, on very rare occasions, is make them submit to me. You roll them over onto their back (which is "I surrender" in dog language), and keep your hand onto their throat.
Don't suffocate them (!), just keep them down on the ground (belly exposed) until they surrender to you. This can take minutes, even half an hour. The dog must stop struggling and give in. Keep him down. When he relaxes completely (submission), hold it for another 30 seconds. When you remove your hand, and the dog remains down, he has given in, you're the boss.
Then give him a sign to get up.

[mahseer]

When I say "fear" I mean it as a form of respect and fear of displeasing the alpha. I know not everyone will get this, but the bible tells us to "fear God". That is the fear I'm talking about. What Gorn Captain says about making them submit is essential. Ideally you train a puppy that way but I once adopted an American Staffordshire that didn't have proper boundaries and it took me a solid hour of pinning him on the living room floor before he gave up and submitted. I never had to do it again.

[thunderbolt]

We've learned to be verrrry patient with our shelter dogs. Odie took months before he stopped snapping at us, we had to learn what was setting him off and remove the problems. Now he's one of the family and a fun dog.

[PNGwynne]

This is very interesting--thank you for sharing. My partner has a recue dog as well & it had adjustment issues, too. It is still very shy & a bit territorial but very lovable & loving.

Best wishes to you libby as you bring you new family together.

[libby 1957dog]

thanks for taking the time to help me out with this you guys and your good wishes ,i appreciate all your input ,and brian your right about yorkies they can be a trial lol ,yeah your all dead on my first concern is the other two dogs my wifes and my daughters ,my daughter is 19 by the way ,thats why we returned maggie to the dogs home ,firstly to protect those little guys and give maggie a shot at a home with out our complication of 2 other dogs ,my hope is she can find a loving home ,and i can at least help her by telling any prospective owner of her many positive traits,travels well ,loving nature ,house trained ,doesn't chew expensive vintage super hero toys lol ,etc,and research to see if there is a way to reintroduce her into my home and socialize her with my other two dogs ,ive had some great suggestions and encouraging news ,that dog whisper guy is magic,and his methods make so much sense and seem easy ish to implement,and im sure that maggies problem can be straightened out by using his methods ,so for now maggies at the dogs home and i hope she gets lucky and finds a good and loving home but if not my family want us all to give her another chance with us armed with a better knowledge of what went wrong last time and how to help her to accept our other dogs this time ,again thank you all for your help and kindness and ill keep you posted as to how it works out,cheers chris

[Gorn Captain]

I know that must have been a hard decision.
I certainly wouldn't have wanted your older dogs to come to harm.
It's hard enough training one single dog, keeping three of them "in balance" can indeed be an impossible task.

[libby 1957dog]

yeah ,your right it wasn't easy ,but it was the right thing to do for now at least ,for all of the dogs ,and they are whats really important ,strange thing is with piggy and pepper ,they both grew up with my old dog libby ,and knew her all of there lives ,they seem so much different since shes gone ,almost directionless ,they dont even eat the same ,i guess there missing the alpha dog ,anyway my family and i are swotting up on dog whisperer atm ,just in case Maggie doesn't find a home and we give her another shot,ill keep you all posted