Seeking dog advice--Male dominance question?

Question

I have what was once a very dominant male lab who is now almost 9 years old. Three years ago, we opened our home to a sweet, male newfoundland puppy (baby photo below :-) ). The two have gotten along well. Recently, however, my lab seems to be cowering and I think my newf is trying to keep him from his food and water. Why is this happening? Is it impossible to stop this behavior? Can adult male dogs ever get along? Any advice is appreciated!

Answer 1

My Grandma has had Cricket, a yorky for the longest time. Recently she got another one, Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown sometimes attacks Cricket when he goes to eat and drink. Dominance is weird. I had a friend who's female dog liked to hump things and I asked why because she's a female dog...they said that even female dogs will hump things to show dominance. And as for the first answer...that's just a temporary fix...all your doing when you do that is showing that he can be the alpha dog.

Answer 2

When you have more than one dog in your house, you have two packs.  One includes you and one doesn't.  Your newfie sounds like he's taken over alpha status.  To keep peace in their world, feed the newfie first, pet him first, let him out first and they'll all get along fine.

Answer 3

It is happening because your Newf is trying to become the Alpha male of the house. Which you need to nip in the butt now before it gets bad. Take it from me. My two male pit bulls had this problem and it became

deadly. It started with the food issue then escalated over time until one day when I was not home and it was just my wife, a fight ensued and she could not stop them and unfortunately I had to put the older one down because of the damage he had received in the altercation. The other answer is don't feed them at the same time and keep toys and food away from them when they are together. Good Luck!  

Answer 4

sometimes we we pay a little more att to the New Pup --with baby talk and stuff--and maybe you still treat the new dog as a pup and your adult dog understands your infliction in your voice--dogs pick up on small things--start with some 1 on 1 with the adult for a short short time and also maybe move the food of the New dog to another room my sister Had that problem, Good Luck and Happy Day