Cross Breeds

Does anyone know why a big dog would attack a yelping three month old puppy?

We've had Sugar-baby (A Pit-bull Lab god only knows what else Mutt) for almost a year, she's always been the sweetest dog. obedient, didn't bark to often, loved to play with everyone, was more likely to lick you to death or beat you up with her wagging tail then hurt someone, but last month we got a (then) two month old puppy, a Pit, Husky, german Shepard mix (cutest little thing, has the pit ears and the Shepard markings, and the husky Undercoat) Sugar-baby had already started to get protective of Lily (the puppy) Our grandfather's dog Angel Doesn't like her so Sugar keeps her away from her. but now, and this behavior only started this week, She's started hurting her. Three days ago, Lily wanted to play while Sugar-baby had a rawhide and sugar bit her then, and just yesterday, my father accidentally stepped on Lily (she hides under the bed-skirt.) and picked her up as she was yelping. During this process, Sugar-baby bolted from the living-room, jumped on the bed to get around my father, and attacked lily so badly she's missing part of her ear now and has three stitches in her neck. Now the ODDEST thing about this is that Sugar-baby seems to feel guilty about this entire thing, and is getting rather Mother hen-ish over the puppy, even more protective of her now that she's injured her so badly and licking what we let her lick (Which is NOT the ear. we don't even let her lick the neck wound) does anyone know what could cause this kind of behavior? And MAN I get long-winded when I'm worried about my babies.

Public Comments

1. Well, Jealousy definitely , I am sure the new puppy is getting a lot if not all of the attention. My female always pushed my male out of the way for more attention, never hurt him and I hope the puppy is not hurt either. You may want to watch Victoria Stillwell (On animal planet it's me or the dog), seems like you have a lot of interest in animal behavior (So does she [she's like a trainer in your own house.] Sugar-baby is a pit-bull so they're typically aggressive (May want to keep the two dogs separated) and the yelps of the puppy may have turned on a hunting instinct by Sugar-Baby, (The yelps may sound like prey)
2. 1. High pitched, yelping noises sound like prey. 2. Dogs will often join a fight against the loser. If she thought the pup was losing a fight with your dad, she may have decided to join in. I would say that Sugar is not trustworthy with the pup, and should be kept away from her.
3. I would have a behaviorist evaluate the two dogs together and give you an assessment of how they are interacting. It seems that trouble is brewing as your pup gets older and a professional's advice would be useful if you want to head it off early. Call your vet and get a referral. Two thoughts about the second attack - the yelping may have caused a prey drive reaction in Sugar- Baby or it may have been misdirected aggression caused by the excitement. Sometimes when dogs are startled by something, they will lash out and attack. At a dog event I was working at last year, some shade canopies blew over, startled some dogs and triggered a fight. It was a case of misdirected aggression.
4. Exactly like the person above said. The yelping noise sounded like prey and that yelping noise gave off weakness and when another dog hears that they will sometimes go into hunting/fighting mode, which is what the dog did. Also sounds like the older dog is a little dominant, and obviously can now be aggressive. You have to make sure you set the boundaries with her right away, especially with having the new pup around. Dogs live in the moment so the older dog isn't thinking about the attack on the pup anymore, so that's why it seems like she is feeling sorry for what she did. She is just nurturing the pup now. Also sometimes when a pup gets picked up other dogs will start jumping and biting at the pup or object that gets picked up.
5. Can you rephrase this because i can't understand what your saying.
6. "And MAN I get long-winded when I'm worried about my babies." This is where you get it all wrong. They are Not babies. They ARE dogs. What exercise is there? You still never answered this. To be balanced you must be doing exercise, discipline affection. For the pup, all it wants to do is play. If the pup yelps, you dont need to run over to it. Now if it is truly hurt, yes, but no reassurance to the dog in that frame of mind. Someone somewhere is lacking in leadership. Read up on dog behavior and become a leader to your dogs. They need it now before something bad happens.