Jealous Dogs and Harness Hiccups: Listener Q&A
24 Apr 2025 · 12 min
In this episode of The Dog People Podcast, hosts Jack Lawrence and professional dog trainer Max O'Neill answer listener questions about common dog behavior challenges. They first address Ross Alexander’s concern about a younger dog’s jealousy and resource‑guarding tendencies toward an older dog, explaining how to establish human control over resources, set clear boundaries, and use consistent cues to prevent escalation. They then discuss a related issue of a dog bolting through the house door, offering a step‑by‑step protocol that teaches the dog to sit and wait for a release before entering, using a brief leash “brake” and repeated practice. The conversation shifts to Maddie Van Nort’s harness aversion problem, where Max outlines the distinct roles of collars, harnesses, and slip leads, and describes how to re‑condition a puppy to enjoy a harness through positive association, cueing, and a “head‑through‑the‑hole” game. They also cover muzzle training, sharing a two‑week conditioning plan that first desensitises the dog to handling before introducing the muzzle, enabling safe veterinary procedures. Throughout, the hosts emphasize consistent human leadership, the importance of treating humans as non‑resources, and using incompatible‑behavior techniques. The episode is interspersed with sponsor messages (Grow Therapy, Edward Jones, Total Wine & More, Amex Gold, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capella University) which are low‑signal filler. The overall take‑away is practical, humane, and structured guidance for multi‑dog households and puppy equipment challenges.
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Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you.
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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host Jack Lawrence. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast For some free dog training advice. You know, Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like, I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah. Go, oh my God, that's awesome. And then they get one like, oh my God, what the fuck have I done? And Max O'Neill.
You would not believe how many people I meet and I go, what made you want to get, say, an Aussie Shepherd? They go, I don't know. I'd go, had you met one before? They go, no. If you want to ask me how often I walk my own dog a week, it's only twice a week.
It's the Dog People Podcast, the podcast giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, he's friendly. My name is Jack Lawrence, not a dog trainer, but a dog training enthusiast. I have a rescue working dog with me, Max O'Neill, 100%, definitely a dog trainer of the highest level with a working line Rottweiler. Max, we've got some listener questions we're going to smash through right now.
Looking forward to getting stuck into them.
Ross Alexander flicked us a message on the old Instagram. If you're on Instagram, make sure you search the Dog People Podcast. Hey, Jack and Max, loving the podcast. Thank you, champion. Oh, he's trained with you before, Ross Alexander.
I know Ross, Apollo, and Percy.
Oh, there you go. I have a question for the podcast about jealousy between 2 dogs. My dogs get along really well, but sometimes my younger dog will get jealous of my older dog if he gets toys, food, or affection over him. He will jump all over my older dog to try and get to me. My older dog usually just turns away or growls. My younger dog also always turns running into the house as a competition, and he has to run through the gate first. How do I go about managing this? Sounds like it could be the start of some sort of form of potentially like resource guarding. Am I, you know, barking up the wrong tree, so to speak?
No. So, um, no, you're definitely right. So resource guarding can definitely be part of it. Um, and then just like control dynamics throughout the relationship as well. So we'll unpack both those different issues, Ross, because what we're seeing is, um, a little bit of both. So first off, when we've got 2 dogs in the house, particularly if they're the same gender like Apollo and Percy are— Percy's the younger one, he's a Yorkie poo from memory. And Apollo is like a— I think it was spoodle or something like that. Spoodle and something else. But anyway, um, and it's pretty normal to see dogs be like a little bit competitive, and that's fine. Like healthy competition and like especially during play is cool. When it's not cool is when we start to see them competing over resources. We want to show our dogs that, hey, we decide who has access to what resource. Also, most importantly, we ourselves are not a resource. So, if we see our dog getting jealous and if we're seeing Percy getting jealous towards Apollo, And going, hey, I want the pats, or I want this, or I want that. We really need to put a stop to that because once our dog has that light bulb moment of, oh, I can control the distribution of resources, so to speak, they'll start to try and control other resources that they see value over. So, in those moments, if we're petting dog 1 and dog 2 enters a situation and wants to try and be a part of that, it's our job to put in place those boundaries. If we leave that up to our dogs to put in place the boundaries, we're going to see Most dogs are really not, you know, quote unquote balanced with this. We're going to see dogs who are either way too lax with the boundaries and let this issue slide and go, okay, all right, you have the pats, it's cool, I don't want it that bad. But then the problem is, is the dog that gets away with that behaviour will then try this on another dog and inevitably—
Who might not be willing to back down. Game on.
Exactly right. Or, you know, the other side of the spectrum is you have a dog who rather than just put in place a nice firm boundary, be like, hey, no, like I'm having access to this right now. You'll have a dog who crosses the line, is like, I will attack you, maul you, kill you for trying to touch my resource while I'm using it. So, we as the humans can be the picture of consistency in that moment and go, hey, I'm aware that my pats, my attention, my affection is a resource. I'm deciding right now to give it to Apollo. So, Percy, you need to back off while I interact with this dog. I'll decide when you can have access to me as a resource. That's the first one. And that same sort of distribution goes for no matter what it is, whether it's pets, food, toys, etc. It's always us that's got to be in control in that situation. We've got to be deciding, uh, what the outcome is, who has access, so on and so forth. So hopefully that answers your question there, Ross. For the second part, in terms of the running inside and doing their thing and turning that into a game, again, normal. And it depends whether we like it or don't like it. For me, that doesn't represent a huge Uh, issue. But obviously, if that's out of line with your home behaviour, which for me it would be too, then here's how we'd correct it out. So at the moment, I'd kind of just take a little bit of Percy's freedom away. I'd be making him dangle like a bit of a house leash around and drag that around. Obviously, when you're not home, probably taking it off so it doesn't get caught or wrapped up in anything. But in those situations where he goes to bolt inside, I'd first be teaching him to sit at the door. If he sits, the door opens. If he starts to get up and rush, the door slams back shut. Nope, you can't come back through. So once he's sitting nice and calmly and waiting for you, you can give him a release. Now we don't want that release to be like bolting through the door. So if you're given that release and he bolts, you can step on that lead, pump the brakes, go, nope, go back outside. Let's repeat this exercise. I had the exact same issue with Nelson. He's the thing that every time we allowed him back inside after a pee, he just zoomed down the hallway and he'd nearly put a hole in the drywall because he's obviously quite a big dog. So, we'd put them back outside. We'd say, if you sit, I'll open the door. If you get up before I release you, I'll close the door.
Cool.
That's the first part. So, we've got a dog sitting there waiting at the open door for the release. We give them the release. Okay. They rush through.
Nope.
Step on the lead. Take them back out. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Your dog will soon get bored of this. And we give them the release. They'll come through much more slowly eventually.
Okay.
Good.
Now you can continue into the house. And then once we've got that, it's just about making it A habit. And if we're consistent in our behaviour, our dog will be consistent in their behaviour. So hopefully that answers your question, Russ. Good to hear from you.
And I just quickly take us back to the first one he was talking about, because I've actually experienced this with a mate of mine with his 2 dogs. He's got a Labrador and a, you know, the sausage dog things. Dachshund.
Dachshund.
So they've got the Dachshund and the Labrador, and you go to sort of pat the Dachshund and the Labrador is like in your face and it's like pushing into you and just trying to get in there. It's like, no, no, I want the pats. So in that situation, you just take the lab. Would you just take the lab, walk it away to like its mat, a placemat, tether it if it's not going to stay there, almost like a timeout for a kid and just say, no, that's not what we do.
Yeah, there's plenty of ways you could correct it. You could correct them into something else like, hey, if you go in your place, what's called like an incompatible behaviour, be like, hey, you go do this so that you can't do this. Or you could just correct it, go, hey, no, this isn't on, go away. And just be like, you can be in this situation, but you can't be forceful like that. If your dog can't be present around that, then yeah, just remove them from it.
Go, all right.
Yeah.
Like you can't be around it then.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Uh, all right, great. Ross, thanks for your question, legend, and for listening to the show.
Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, Or availability, and you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as 2 days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com/startnow. That's growtherapy.com/startnow. growtherapy.com/startnow. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.
At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters so you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich.
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I think Maddie's about to start Pro Pups Academy with us, actually.
She is. She said she's booked in for pro puppy training. I'm booked in for pro puppy training starting at the end of April, but we're struggling a little at the moment. With him not liking his harness, backing away when we go to put it on him. We're trying to put it on more in the house without going out, but he still just isn't a fan of it. We're wanting to start tethering him at home, but I was hoping for some advice for both when we're taking him out and at home. What is the best thing to be using? Harness and lead, lead to collar, or slip lead?
Cool.
So, hey, Maddie and Pants. Pants is her Border Collie name. I'm not talking to the pair of pants she's wearing, just to clarify that.
What a name for a dog, Pants.
Yeah, it's cool. I like that one. I like quirky dog names. You meet a lot of the same names. Okay, so we're going to chat about a few different things here. Sorry.
I'm now thinking when she's at the park, pants down. People are like, excuse me?
You want me to strip?
Sorry, carry on. Let's get back to the question.
So we're going to chat about a few different things here, Matty. So first, in terms of what's the best equipment, we're going to go over that in class because each piece of equipment's got a different role. As part of our puppy training program, A collar has a role and a harness has a role. Collar for us is more like training and structure. Harness is more sniffaris. That's kind of the distinction we use, but different organisations use different things. That's the first part. Second part, in terms of your puppy enjoying wearing their harness, we just need to start to form associations again. Hey, look, when this thing is on, lots of cool stuff happens. So putting the harness on and then immediately going and doing play, immediately feeding them, immediately going on an adventure. Your dog will start to become conditioned to that equipment and go, oh, that's what that means. You'll start to see that differing response. It's the same when I put Nelson's protection collar on. He goes from happy-go-lucky, basically a Labrador with eyebrows, to serious Rottweiler mode. And then lastly, in terms of having issues putting the actual harness on, quite often what we see is if we move towards our dogs with this big scary thing that's going over the head, they'll naturally back away. And that kind of becomes the thing. They go, oh, well, every time this comes out, it's you chasing me trying to squeeze this over my head. I'm good. Instead, I want you to completely flip the script. Have the harness there, hold the hole open so they can stick their head through comfortably, and then put your hand on the other side of the hole with food. And you can attach a cool cue to it, like get dressed. Um, when I used to volunteer with Guide Dogs Queensland, that was exactly how we conditioned the Labradors to the harnesses. Hey, we're not going to chase you with this. I want you to chase me with this. So, we'll be like, come on, come on, come on. They'll be like, oh, I need to get my head, my head through that hole to get the food. And completely flipping that equation in turn completely flips their mindset. And our dog goes, oh, it's not you trying to force this on me. It's me trying to force my head in there. And you just make it this whole game. And eventually you can just stand there with the harness, get dressed, you know, go boom, shove their head through. You give them the reward. And it's, it's as easy as that, Matty.
Similar sort of setup that I've seen where people are doing muzzle training. So there are some dogs in the world that need to wear a muzzle. A lot of times it's actually, it can be a very beneficial thing to teach all dogs because at some stage in their life they may need for safety reasons, whether it's the vet, they're getting a shot, you're not sure if they might Whatever, anything like that. It's just a safety reason to get them used to that scenario of wearing a muzzle.
1 million percent. We did, we completed muzzle training with a Rottweiler the other day. His name was Max, actually, great name. And Max is one of our favourite clients, obviously being a Rottie, got a big soft spot for him. So he had some issues at the vet, particularly around injections and nails. And the vet's like, you need to wear a muzzle. But if, because he wasn't properly conditioned to it, this obviously caused a lot of stress, so he went away from it. So we went back a step. We're like, all right, we first need to train him to be okay with us doing our nails and us giving him an injection. Before we can do that safely with a dog of his breed, power, and size, we first needed to muzzle condition him. So our first appointment with Max's parents was, let's get him muzzle conditioned. This was about a 2-week process. Now he's got no issue putting the muzzle on and wearing the muzzle, which is good. And then what that meant is we were able to then go about teaching him to accept a needle and be okay with being injected and vaccinated safely. And over the course of the session, we counter-conditioned that. And by the end of the session, I was bending down, grabbing Max's skin, pulling it out, and sticking him with a fake needle or a pen, giving a big old poke. And we had no response whatsoever, whereas last time we had a big aggressive response. And we wouldn't be able to do that if our dog wasn't muzzle trained. What we might do actually is Nelson, by the time he gets to his— it's either his PSA 1 or PSA 2, he will need to wear a muzzle at some point. So, and we actually haven't touched a muzzle at all with him yet. So, we could even do a little short video where we talk through the steps of conditioning a muzzle to a dog. I think that's smart. And if you guys are interested, maybe put a comment in the group or send us a DM if you are. Keen to see that video, we can put that up for you.
There you go. Just a couple of quick questions answered there via the social pages. If you have any questions, of course, we are available on Facebook and Instagram. Just search The Dog People Pod on all those social channels. Put your question in, whatever it is. There's no stupid questions. Anything you've got, chuck it in there and we'll make sure we answer it in an upcoming episode. The Dog People Podcast is a Mashed Pumpkin production hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill. Edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence.
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