Yes I thought of the food thing but I am thinking it would be hard to manage with both dogs. My older one is a Velcro and is mostly where I am. He is fine on his own if I am not around...no separation anxiety...loves daycare etc. Maverick the older one understands leave it. but puppy wants ONLY what Maverick has!!!! Thats why its hard to occupy him with chew toys. He takes what ever Maverick has, Maverick lets him have it, Maverick finds something else, Ryder takes that too. When Maverick gives up and just falls a sleep then Ryder is not interested in the chew toys now his mission is to bug Maverick. My mission then becomes trying to entertain puppy so to leave Maverick alone whom is just exhausted!!!
The story of my life, this is Ginny exactly. Sadie is such a wonderful big sister and so patient with Ginny that it frustrated me to no end to see Ginny doing this.
Going to puppy class helped us a lot with handling Ginny. Because it allowed us one on one time with her we were able to bond with her and she was more inclined to want to spend some time with us, instead of just with Sadie. Trainer her also helped her to learn her place in the house, with us anyway. Even though she still wanted to steal from Sadie all the time, she became inclined to listen when she was reprimanded.
This is more or less what we did with her outside of puppy class training.
We gave Sadie a 'safe' place to lie and chew on her toys/bones where Ginny couldn't reach her. We put an old blanket down on a couch and let her bring her toy up there. Ginny was/is very small and couldn't get onto the couch without help.
When Ginny took toys from Sadie, we'd calmly and immediately take her by the collar, say 'NO!' and give her a short time out (10-15 seconds). We did this each time she took something from Sadie. Eventually she realized she'd get a reprimand and stopped doing it...in front of us anyway. Ginny is much better now and will allow Sadie to have things as long as we're there, which is a huge improvement since they're never alone uncrated. We also taught her the 'Drop It' command so that when she took something from Sadie we could eventually tell her to drop it, and she would. She knows what she's doing. As soon as we say her name now when she's stollen from Sadie, she immediately drops it and backs off.
The other thing that we did and still do is crate Ginny more than Sadie. This gives Sadie time off from the harassment, helps us to establish Sadie as dog #1 and gives us a break from watching Ginny. This has been suggested to us by two dog trainers. Some nights we'd put her to bed as early as 9pm. Get her up around 10-11 for one last potty break then back in the crate she'd go. It didn't affect what time she got up in the morning, so long as we let her out one more time.
Actively implement NILIF. Also very important. Ginny doesn't get so much as a pat without working for it, even if she just has to lie down.
I've learned that being soft on bossy dogs will do nothing but give them the upper 'paw.' Ginny is so tiny and cute that it was and still is VERY hard to reprimand her and believe that she knew EXACTLY what she was doing, but she did and still does.
How could this little face and 4 lbs. of fluff purposely be bad?
http://picasaweb.google.com/OntarioSheltie/Ginny?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbF5Oq0wPGbfw#5390574884656427778
Ginny at 6 months old. She isn't very much bigger or taller now but still manages to boss Sadie around, who literally weighs twice as much.
http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=192&pictureid=2104
Some times Maverick is too tired and does not want to play that game but just wants to chew on his chew. When Ryder takes it he just falls a sleep. We also do the couch thing