Question:
I have just adopted a nine-month-old Westie and we also have a two-year-old Maltese female. The Westie has just been desexed but will not stop mounting our female dog. How do I stop this as it’s really upsetting our little bitch?
Jenny
Answer:
The first thing to note here is this is not a sexual thing at all! It is dominance behaviour and the Westie is trying very hard to establish itself as the top dog in this doggy relationship (which it may well be, in a temperament sense). Usually in these cases the dogs will just work it out themselves. The Maltese will either tell her in canine body language that okay, you’re the boss and there’s no competition, the Westie will stop the mounting or there will be a power battle. I would suggest you only get involved if the Maltese is distressed or it escalates into aggression.
Dogs operate with a hierarchical pack mentality. The dog world is not a democracy — someone needs to be the boss! It sounds mean, but if you feed the Westie first and treat it as top dog you would have fewer problems, as everyone then knows where they stand. Otherwise, leave it to them to sort out. The puppy could just be being a bolshie brat and the Maltese may well get sick of it, run out of patience and put Westie in her place! Some obedience training for the Westie wouldn’t go astray to keep her under your control at least!
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