Shikoku puppy behaviour with other dog

Kaja

Hi there! Just a quick question.

I've noticed that my 4 month old shikoku has started sitting on her 'sister', our corgi chihuahua. They play often, wrestling and racing and even tug of war with toys. They share food sometimes. But *sometimes* when my puppy wants to 'play' she barks and bites the other one's tail... but mostly just barks. A lot. And then I noticed the sitting thing. She'll go unnoticed and then just plop her butt down on her. Corgi/chihuahua of course tells her no, and she ends up retreating to a safe zone in the end. All in all I'm fine with this. Her sister has a safe zone to retreat to if she needs, and all that. Just nitpicking two things.

Sitting on her: Should I discourage this or is it normal behaviour? Personally I think it's hilarious, but... I know that some people say it's a dominance thing? Since it doesn't hurt either of them (just annoys the corgi/chi)... I haven't been intervening. But should I?

Oh. Also! Puppy shikoku licks/cleans the other dogs' ears. Inside the ears. Hahahaha. Um. She seems to like it.

Barking to initiate play: I want them to play. I want to encourage that. Not so much the loud barking she uses to goad a reaction from our corgi/chihuahua. I'm fine with the whisper barks/muffled barks. But if I hear her do successive loud barks and she doesn't stop when shushed, I give her a time out in the ex pen. I should also note that this happens ONLY inside, not when we're outside. Any advice on curbing the loud barks to initiate play/encouraging quieter noise?

She talks to communicate with us (bathroom, for instance) so I don't want to give her mixed signals either...

CrimsonO2

Take the sitting on the corgi/chi as an initiation of play, not dominance. Your Shikoku puppy is exploring (and pushing) boundaries to see how far they really are. This is why we warn all future Shikoku puppy owners that they would get away with bloody murder if they could, just because of their face:).

With regards to the excessive barking, you may want to teach your dog a command to stay quiet on the next time your dog pauses...and then click to reward by taking them outside to play or something you know they'll enjoy. If your corgi/chi is a fully grown adult, they won't have the energy level to keep up with a Shikoku pup so any extra exercise you give your Shikoku will just allow for a more peaceful coexistence between the two.:)

Calia

If the corgi/chi does not like it, I would personally intervene and discourage the sitting. It's not a dominance think, the concept has actually been disproven, your Shikoku is just being a jerk. Depending on the personalities of both the corgi/chi and the Shikoku, allowing for the pup to continue being a jerk can cause your corgi/chi to escalate the correction, causing a greater argument.

LoL, with play barking Miyu is the same way, noisy inside and quiet outside. I actually prefer it that way since it's less likely to annoy the neighbors, but the hubby doesn't like it when he's trying to watch tv.

Vulpesvulpes89

The sitting thing is normal. All the dogs I've known have done it, but it isn't the nicest thing in the world though. My mother's dog used to sit on my puppy when the pup was annoying her and my Akita mix will often sit on/hold her when she gets annoying or is being to rambunctious. I also knew a Pyrenees who would pen/ lie on smaller dogs during play to rile them up and get them to play more. I've never seen it being used as an aggressive action The only issue would be if the dog being sat on tried to becomes aggressive but from what I've seen it's more startling to them than frightening.

It is kind of a jerk move but it is effective for stopping annoying/unwanted play if they hold the other dog. If your Shikoku is doing it because she is annoyed or aggravated at your corgi I'd suggest trying to get them to play in a more friendly manner but otherwise she's just being obnoxious and as long as the corgi isn't to upset it won't hurt anything.

The licking ears is a friendly action though. My dog will shove her whole face in another's mouth, roll over and then lick ears to show submission.

Barking, I have no idea. My dogs 'talk' to me when I'm in the bathroom, especially the Akita mix. Sometimes he sings when I'm in the shower. Otherwise it just sounds like you have a bratty and energetic puppy (so basically like every other puppy in existence).

Kaja

Thanks guys!! Yeah, been trying to train the shikoku pup 'quiet'... hopefully she catches on! With all the dogs I've ever had though, it's probably THE command/behaviour I find hard to capture. Haha. Sit, stay, speak, come, roll over, lay down, shake a paw, crawl.... she learned those in like 15 minutes or less each. But this one is a struggle. And of course since she's talkative I don't want to stifle her. So we'll have to try harder.

The sitting thing -- glad it's not a dominance issue (I figured she might be young for that, but didn't want it developing in to a habit if it were). Corgi/chi gets annoyed by it but I don't think it's too excessive. I'll feel a bit better laughing about it though, since it's only to play