We have 1 old small Toypom female, 1 female cat and two 4-year-old Great Danes, a male and female (brother and sister), both sterilised and healthy with lots of open space to run. All the above animals behave well except for the Great Dane female. She does not listen to us at all, no matter what discipline/reward system we use. She would force her way into the kitchen pulling food off the counter tops, throw the dustbin over to find food inside. The animals always get enough food and water on a regular basis but she will always go eat the small animals food and water. On a few occasions she tried to bite the Toypom female... and in general just keep pushing her luck, when reprimanded she just wait 5minutes and go do the same stuff behind our backs. Today we took the Toypom for a grooming, when she got back home the female Dane sniffed her constantly while wagging her tale and we thought all was okay, and then 20minutes later she almost killed the Toypom, thats when I lost control and smacked the female Dane hard with my hands and order her into the house - I feel very bad about this, spur of the moment... Please give us some advice.
Dogs don’t understand the concept of defiance, she is testing her limits and boundaries. She misbehaves because either you have not taught her what you want or you haven't given her motivation to do it. You need to teach her the correct behavior/ boundaries and motivate her to do it by rewarding good behaviour, with food, or favorite toy or game. Give her lots of mental stimulation, as well as physical, you have to be consistent make the rules and stick to them. Smacking/ hitting is not the way to go,
I understand that dogs dont get the concept of "defiance" it was just my human way of explaining her behaviour. She grew up with her brother under the same conditions, yet he does not show this behaviour, I also understand no 2 dogs are the same, but in this case there is a big difference between 2 dogs from the same litter and same upbringing. I also hate abuse of animals and I would never just hit a dog, but this is not the point here...she could have killed the small Toypom if I did not intervene. There were also many cases of problem animals wild and domestic that had to be put down because of irreversible behaviour problems. I dont think this is as extreme, and I believe that we can still train her to stop this behaviour, how, I dont know.
