My rott boy is getting a bit cheeky towards my other dog over the last couple of days.  I have a 3.5 year old rott boy and a nearly 9 year old staffy bitch.  The staff is and always has been the boss and if she grumbles at the boy he has always backed off but she is fairly tolerant of him now (but wasn't in the beginning) even though he is quite rough with her.

I have noticed the last few days that her head is often wet and have seen my boy standing over her with his head and throat over the back of her neck and he has on occassion put his paw on her shoulder - cheeky little upstart that he is!  The staff hasn't responded to him and I have been causing a distraction when I notice by either calling the staff over to me and making a fuss of her or giving him a verbal reprimand  like 'oi' or something similar.

I don't leave them together when I go out (one of them tends to be caged) but I don't know how to stop his behaviour as the staff is getting older (9 next month) and would be less likely now to have a physical fight with him if he takes liberties.  Any suggestions?

I would call him away and reward him for coming, and also reward him when he goes up to her but doesn't do it, if it really is a problem.  Making it more rewarding to not do it is much more effective than a reprimand :-)

I would also maybe have her checked over just in case he's smelling something different, which is making him act differently towards her.

I did wonder about calling him to me rather than her but thought it might seem like a reward for doing it to her if I call him over and reward him when he does it.  I have difficulty thinking dog, its the timings that always throw me.

> I did wonder about calling him to me rather than her but thought it might seem like a reward for doing it to her if I call him over and reward him when he does it.

Not really - you are calling him over, so giving him a command (no different to recall) and rewarding him when he obeys, that's all :)

Exactly.  You can only reward what he's doing at the time - to reward the paw/head on shoulders behaviour you'd have to praise or treat him as he's doing it.

I should have said, I've done the recall thing with Linc when my friend's lab was staying - Linc was a bit of a humper when he first arrived generally but he wouldn't leave poor Chester alone, but after a dozen or so reps of recalling him as he went to hump, he found that more rewarding so stopped the humping altogether.  Hasn't done it to anyone since, actually.

Thanks, I will see how we get on with that.  I am reluctant to let me staff properly tell him off as she will go for him like a wild one but I do think he needs to be told by his elders and betters that he is taking liberties.