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Dogs Fighting, Can't Find Reason or Pattern

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  JoanneF 
#1 ·
Background:
My boyfriend and I each have 2 dogs, so when I moved in back in December, things got interesting. We have Sam (1 y.o. German Sheppard, alpha), Ranger (3 y.o. Golden Retriever, very submissive to people and dogs), Ziggy (3 y.o. Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, alpha), and Riley (6 y.o. Lab/Brittany Spaniel). Riley gets along with everyone and everything, so he's never an issue.

All dogs are fed in the basement about 6 feet apart from each other and feed time is never an issue. They all wait patiently to be fed and leave each other alone.

Sam is aggressive to Ranger, but does not attack him. Sam and Ziggy are submissive to Riley. Ranger seems to be low man on the totem pole. Sam and Ziggy are great together, with an occasional test of wits every now and then. All 4 dogs get a ton of exercise and are obedient to people.

First Major Fight:

The first dog fight was Dec 24, 2009. The dogs were excited because family was in town. We put them in the basement so everyone could have some dog free time. Because nobody was downstairs, we don't know why a fight started, but Ziggy had Ranger's ear in a death grip. Sam then attached Ziggy in Ranger's defense. My boyfriend and I were able to throw Sam outside, and pin down Ziggy and Ranger. I had to use a pointy piece of metal to pry Ziggy's jaws open. Both dogs suffered small puncture wounds. I was also bit by Sam on my thigh as she went for Ziggy (huge bruise, small area of broken skin, jeans protected me well). From that day on, Ziggy and Ranger were kept apart, going outside on a rotating basis. Now when passing each other while one is in the kennel, they would growl at each other, with Ranger typically initiating the behavior.

Starting a week ago, my boyfriend has had all the dogs together again, no food or toys around, and I wasn't there. No fights broke out, but there was a little tension in the air.

Second Major Fight:

Today Ziggy and Sam were playing ball with my boyfriend. Not sure why, but Sam attacked Ziggy going for the ball today (again, this is not normal behavior for these two to be so aggressive to each other). My boyfriend and I broke up the fight by pulling them apart, grabbing them by the pelvis and pulling backwards. Ziggy will need stitches because of her puncture wounds, and Sam just needed to be cleaned up.

Now, I would take away all toys, except that the toys are usually not an issue with Sam and Ziggy together. Anyone out there have any other ideas of what may be causing these serious fights? Or what we can do to prevent it?

(Getting rid of one of the dogs is not an option.)
 
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#3 ·
All 4 dogs were spayed or neutered since 6 months of age. All dogs have advanced obedience training: sit, stay, heal, retrieve, leave it, etc... and some really fun tricks. We regularly work with them alone and in compatible situations (Ranger and Sam, Sam and Ziggy, etc)

Sam and Ziggy run around all day (literally) in our huge, fenced backyard. All dogs are also walked on a leash for about an hour 4 times a week.

All dogs are vaccinated yearly, last visit (besides Ranger's injury X-mas eve), was November 2009.

In regards to maturity, anything we can do to "help the process"?
 
#4 ·
Gotcha and wonderful :)

personally I would work with them together alot, get them very used to being in each others space with lots of rewards...I was lucky and when two of my bitches got snippy over a toy, ending the game (took two tries) was enough punishment and they didn't do it again.

I wish I had better advice, since we don't know what the trigger was on the first fight, and the second one was likely a toy, but could have been som'thing else...its really hard to say or advise without knowing exactly what the triggers are...I think your correct in taking away the objects that could be an issue.

but yeah, if they were mine, I wouldn't allow them togther unsupervised and keep everything happy, but structured when they are together. maybe the others posters will have other ideas :)

welcome to the forum btw.



 
#5 ·
Was it just a full out fight or was there possibly some growling before hand? I have a dog who has to be supervised with toys/treats/food/everything. So when he starts to even grumble, no teeth no full out growling, but just any warning noise, I step in an say "Quiet" or even not say anything at all but instead remove the toy or get his attention to something else.

It took a lot of patience and time but he can actually have treats without attacking another dog. I also use the word "share" when handing out treats.

I think Crio said it best, work with them together. Dont add to the fuel either by just screaming (been there done that!) and try to catch any signs ahead of time, like body language, pacing, hair standing up, low growls, etc etc.

GL and glad you are willing to work this out rather than just give up! :)
 
#7 ·
Background:
My boyfriend and I each have 2 dogs, so when I moved in back in December, things got interesting. We have Sam (1 y.o. German Sheppard, alpha), Ranger (3 y.o. Golden Retriever, very submissive to people and dogs), Ziggy (3 y.o. Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, alpha), and Riley (6 y.o. Lab/Brittany Spaniel). Riley gets along with everyone and everything, so he's never an issue.

All dogs are fed in the basement about 6 feet apart from each other and feed time is never an issue. They all wait patiently to be fed and leave each other alone.

Sam is aggressive to Ranger, but does not attack him. Sam and Ziggy are submissive to Riley. Ranger seems to be low man on the totem pole. Sam and Ziggy are great together, with an occasional test of wits every now and then. All 4 dogs get a ton of exercise and are obedient to people.

First Major Fight:

The first dog fight was Dec 24, 2009. The dogs were excited because family was in town. We put them in the basement so everyone could have some dog free time. Because nobody was downstairs, we don't know why a fight started, but Ziggy had Ranger's ear in a death grip. Sam then attached Ziggy in Ranger's defense. My boyfriend and I were able to throw Sam outside, and pin down Ziggy and Ranger. I had to use a pointy piece of metal to pry Ziggy's jaws open. Both dogs suffered small puncture wounds. I was also bit by Sam on my thigh as she went for Ziggy (huge bruise, small area of broken skin, jeans protected me well). From that day on, Ziggy and Ranger were kept apart, going outside on a rotating basis. Now when passing each other while one is in the kennel, they would growl at each other, with Ranger typically initiating the behavior.

Starting a week ago, my boyfriend has had all the dogs together again, no food or toys around, and I wasn't there. No fights broke out, but there was a little tension in the air.

Second Major Fight:

Today Ziggy and Sam were playing ball with my boyfriend. Not sure why, but Sam attacked Ziggy going for the ball today (again, this is not normal behavior for these two to be so aggressive to each other). My boyfriend and I broke up the fight by pulling them apart, grabbing them by the pelvis and pulling backwards. Ziggy will need stitches because of her puncture wounds, and Sam just needed to be cleaned up.

Now, I would take away all toys, except that the toys are usually not an issue with Sam and Ziggy together. Anyone out there have any other ideas of what may be causing these serious fights? Or what we can do to prevent it?

(Getting rid of one of the dogs is not an option.)
This is happening here ! My daughter moved back in with her two dogs Pete(pit bull/lab mix )alpha and Gypsy chiweenie(shit stirrer)I already have five dogs Waylon (black mouth cur/ mastiff mix alpha) Abbi (dobbie/beagle mix) Hershall (chi weenie ) but growls at everyone and Lilly (chi weenie) very sweet and mild. Everything was good Pete and my daughter were on the couch with me and Waylon decided he wanted there also Pete let out a growl and Waylon just attacked him we were trying to get them apart when Abbi jumped in also on Pete ! My daughter got the tip of her finger bit off and bit through her wrist !!! I grabbed a bowl of water and just dumped it on them enough to separate them. My daughter is ok and the vet have put the boys on Prozac 40 ml for Pete and 90 ml for Waylon also we got shock collars but only for when a growl starts don’t use it while fighting it could make it worse
 
#8 ·
This is a very old thread. On the face of it, I'd say it sounds like there is some resource guarding going on. Pete sounds like he was guarding either the sofa or the people, as what he saw as his resources.

With a bite as bad as that, you need professional help.

But what I would say is that a shock collar will only make things worse.

Imagine you were in a lovely restaurant eating a favourite meal and someone tried to take it from you. You would feel justified in telling them in no uncertain terms what you thought. If it happened repeatedly, you would guard your food much harder. But if the restaurant owner then started slapping you for doing it, you'd get really mad.

Resource guarding is like that. It happens when a dog is insecure about what he has and fears it is going to be taken. So delivering an electric shock is absolutely not going to do anything to ease the situation between the dogs.

I do urge you to find a behaviourist who uses a modern, science based, force free approach. If anyone talks about alpha, dominance or pack hierarchy, their knowledge is out of date and you should avoid them.

You could also read the Resource Guarding information here -

 
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