Expert: Jill Connor, Ph.D. - 1/9/2008

Question
Yesterday I posted the following question about my yorkie and just received a reply that "this was already answered".  Ive never used your service before so I'm hoping another dog expert might be more helpful.


My Question was:

I rescued a 5 yr old male pommeranian 3 weeks ago and I'm having issues with my 5 yr old miniature yorkhire terrier.  He is constantly biting at the pommeranian's neck and then trying to hump and lick him on his private parts.  While it doesn't seem to bother the rescue dog, it is really disgusting to constantly see my yorkie licking him.  He is also humping his toys and then either licks himself or the rescue dog immediately afterwards.  This is not behavior that I've seen before and I imagine it must have something to do with male dominance but I need advice on how to stop it because every time I tell him "no" he stops for a minute and goes right back to it.

Expert: Cassie
Replied: I've already answered this for you before.

Answer
I apologize for the inconvenience but yesterday I answered a question I had already answered before ... Internet demons! We just push the "send" button and the Internet demons sometimes interfere! lol.

Yes you're seeing dominance related behavior, most likely (educated guess.)  If the rescue dog is not objecting, the behavior should self extinguish.  If your Yorkie is not neutered...do it ASAP.  An intact male suffers from eternal sexual frustration.  It will take approximately 8 weeks for his testosterone levels to drop and some behaviors driven by that might cease.  In the meantime, you can do two things.  FIRST: remove yourself when you see this happening.  By giving the Yorkie attention, even negative attention, you may be inadvertently rewarding him. Leave the room for up to one minute, making certain no fights erupt between them (although it appears your new dog is accepting the dominant behavior.) Second, take him away from the other dog several times a day and, using positive reinforcement training, teach him a simple command (even if he already knows commands, use different words.  This is called "crossover" training.)  Once you have 100% compliance to your command (takes approximately 30 repetitions to get a conditioned response, and then it must be tested for a few days), when you see the Yorkie attempting to repeat the behavior, interrupt him with a clap of the hands or whistle, give him the command, and he will come to you for the food reward.  Now, this combination will take 2 to 3 weeks to put into effect.  My guess is that all of this behavior will most likely self extinguish but it can't hurt for you to use methods to insure a smooth transition.  Please repost with any further questions.  Thank you.