01/05/2026
Bella the 13 year old female Border Collie that has been in my bathroom has been barking incessantly the last couple of days. So much so I’ve had to shut the door to my bathroom and to my bedroom because it was driving all of us crazy. It’s not like she’s confined in a tiny space as my bathroom is big enough to have a sofa in it, and she has a nice fenced yard attached.
Yesterday Prince my Schnauzer/Chi squeezed himself through the gate into Bella’s yard, and the door to the bathroom was open. I hear a commotion and ran in to find Bella had him cornered and was growling aggressively at him. I moved her away, picked him up and got him out. Of course I’m now I’m pretty convinced she really doesn’t care for other dogs and does need to be an only dog.
With all the barking she’s been doing I felt like it was her saying, “Where’s my man? I need him!” I was told they did everything together, and she went everywhere with him.
She woke me up early this morning barking. It wasn’t even light yet, and I wasn’t ready to get up. Being a bit at my wits end with Bella I decided to open the gate and let her in my bedroom. There were 4 dogs there that sleep with me.
To my surprise she sniffed them and her tail began wagging. Because of that I decided to open the gate that surrounds my bed that prevents the other dogs from getting on my bed. Now most of the pack were there. Again her tail was wagging, and she set off to explore the house. I was cautiously optimistic and followed close behind just in case.
Bella was fine with all the dogs and most of them with her. Roxy the Mini-Aussie can be testy so I had to keep her in line. It was extremely quiet until I opened the gate to let Barkley out.
Barkley sleeps on the sofa, that has a fence around it, in the living room. I opened the gate, and Barkley immediately attacked her! I put my arms around his belly and lifted him back through the gate to where he sleeps.
I’m scolding him severely and yelling “Be Nice Barkley!!!!!” He knows what that means. I keep pointing at him and telling him how bad he is. When I, the pack leader, scolds him he puts his tail between his legs, his ears go down and he looks like a broken pup. This is what you want when you have a pack member go awry.
Barkley didn’t hurt Bella at all because I intervened quickly so she was upset but not at all injured because she has such thick fur. Barkley has pit bull in him and it has showed it’s head one other time. He can go into a blind rage if not stopped quickly, and if that happens, once they grab something damned if they will let go.
As a pack leader of a large pack of dogs you HAVE to instill a healthy fear of you into them or all hell can break loose. In a wild dog pack the leader is responsible for correcting bad behavior, and a wild dog leader corrects in a violent way because that is what keeps the pack in line. Of course that isn’t how a human pack leader corrects. It’s tone of voice that is the corrector at least for me. Yelling loudly scares the hell out of my pack.
I don't talk much to my dogs throughout the day. I mean...they don't talk....they communicate with body language. I've never been much of a talker because I was an only child so it's natural for me to be quiet. Because i don't say much....when I do speak they really listen to me. So when I yell loudly it scares them and really gets their attention.
I let several minutes go by all the while looking at Barkley and telling him he better behave this time. I again opened the gate, and he sheepishly came out avoiding Bella like she was a hot stove. He followed me and Bella into the kitchen, and it was clear he understood not to go after her again.
Bella, on the other hand, began showing her teeth and growling at him which could bring it all on again. I decided to put her back into her area for everyone to cool off.
I’ll try this a couple of times a day until I’m comfortable that they have both gotten over the tension. We’ll see…….being a pack leader is one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had lol.
