Advice Please! [Long]

[Gilbert]

So I recently got married on 1/7 and we had taken the following week off work so we could move my wifes stuff into my ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT and get the dogs use to each other. Achilles(boxer) has always been a lil too rough with Rocko(pomeranain), he pounces around him and jabs at Rocko with his snout. The part Rocko hates the most is when Achilles lays next to him and begins to slap him or rest his arm on him. Achilles intentionaly does these things knowing that Rocko gets upset.

Achilles now also does this with Morena the 13yr old (small and 80%blind) poodle we adopted from my mother in law.

As of know we have to seperate them with baby gates.
When im alone with the 3dogs Achilles goes at each on them maybe once or twice but i can quickly get everybody to relax. Its when my wife is there at the problems are never ending. Rocko gets excited with evey move my wife makes and i think Achilles takes that as a "ok im ready to play" sign.

I feel so sad for my baby boy because he doesn't understand what he is doing wrong or why he is getting in trouble.
If someone has some advice for the above story please help me out.

I know taking Achilles to the dog park stops the above behavior, because once we get home all he does is sleep and does his zombie walk to get water or make sure i didnt leave him. Plus he comes home DIRTY & STINKY and i know i cant give him a bath so often.

Grrr... I just need him to relax a little.

 

[Gilbert]

It makes me feel so sad for him when he is ready for a nap, he sees me on my chair playing video game so he goes to Morena to take a nap with her but she growls at him, then he goes to Rocko and gets the same reaction. So he looks around, finds nowhere to go, then lays on the middle of the room.

 

[Roge]

Firstly congrats to you and your wife.

Ahh poor Achilles I feel sorry foor him too he has so much to learn, I brought Roge home at 8 wks and I have a terrier who to this date 4 yrs on is still the boss ,when Roge is in play mode spike just looks at him as if to say " GIVE ME A BREAK" and if a toy rolls near spike he wont let Roge have it ,Spike is not going to change at 9 yrs of age(believe me iv tried ) so Roge has learned to live with it , however after the first month they started to sleep on the same bed and from there on in there has never been an issue with that.
Looks like there has been big changes in your life and that of the dogs it will just take time for everything to settle down, just give him extra attention to let him know that he is still your number one guy.

 

[Gatorblu]

Congratulations on your wedding! The way I see this is there are a lot of changes for everyone, you, your wife, Achilles and the other dogs. The biggest change is for the smaller dogs and they don't understand why they lost their previous home, plus have to share with another larger dog. That being said, I'm reading how you are trying to correct Achilles behavior, but is anyone correcting the little dogs? Their growling at him shouldn't be accepted either. It will take time but as long as everyone is being treated fairly they should come around.

As for the coming home from the dog park dirty, you can just rinse him off. You don't need to use shampoo, which could be drying. You could also look into doggy day care a couple of days a week to help burn the extra energy, and Achilles can play with dogs his own size.

 

[Gilbert]

We are correcting the smaller dogs also because i began to notice that the growling went from "stop poking at me" to "dont come near me"

I have tried the rinse him off but if i remember correctly, he still smells afterwards. Either way i'll try it again because i HAVE to take him to the park today he was just so wild last night. One of the big causes of the stink is that at the park they have one of those doggy showers/rinse off stations near the water fountain. And there is always some kid that has to push the button creating a big puddle on the ground.

 

[Mega's Mom]

Congrats on your wedding! I agree with the other posters that it's going to take time to get everyone on the same page with the huge transition. Hopefully, you will see things get better over time. Also about the dog park, have you tried baby wipes on Achilles? It may be better than just rinsing and less drying on his skin then trying to put him in the bath everytime. I use them for Cornelius after doggie daycare and it works wonders!

 

[HulknThor]

Don't know what to say, sounds like you are doing your best, but I am no expert. Just thought you should know that Kong makes a shampoo that you don't have to wash out, it will keep him from smelling up a storm in between baths