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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
  
| Houston we have a problem.
We have 3 dogs. Little dog is my 6 year old 10lb mutt, he's a tripod and he was born (we believe) deaf. I've had him since he was born on my living room floor in college and he's my little cuddle bug. That's about what he's good for, he's honestly not got a lot of training, mostly due to being owned by a busy college student and then just being a solitary dog. He's always had a bit of a dominate personality but not overly aggressive.
We just got two puppies earlier in the summer. Sisters from the same litter, boarder collie/blue heeler mixes. They are 7 months now and we are getting them spayed later this month. In the beginning they had some scraps about the food pan, but we figured they would work it out and it was just vocal. J's pup is pretty good with him, they play well together and we even kennel them together sometimes.
My pup on the other hand is a problem child. She DOES play with him, and is gentle with him. But every once in a while, and in increasing frequency and serverity she'll go after him. We've started seperating them when we feed them, but it is still happening and I can't determine the cause or who is the real instigator. Tonight she nicked his ear and got it bleeding pretty good. I have no idea what brought it on. We were right there and when we yelled at her she stopped, but not before she got him.
How does one handle this? Rehoming of the little guy is NOT an option. I couldn't do it, him being somewhat special needs for one and also just being my buddy. We are going to keep them seperate for the time being, but they both want to be with people, so I know that will be tough on whomever is left out. I thought about getting a short leash for the pup and anytime he is on the floor, she is on the leash with me. If he is up in my lap (our typical TV watching arrangement) then she can be loose to play. I feel like thats a little more fair than keeping one locked upstairs and one locked downstairs.
Thoughts? Options? We were wondering if the increasing aggression might be related to horomones starting to come on since they are now 7months. Mine is bigger and has starting to look less "puppy" and more "dog" so I'm thinking horomones are more present... We will be spaying ASAP now (I want to stress the plan was never to leave them intact, we had a spay fund ready to go a month ago, and then we had a yellow jacket nest moved into the house and well, we had to rob the fund a bit to kill those buggers).
Seriously stressed about this, I hate to see my fur kids not getting along and especially my little guy as the who ends up hurt. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
  
Location: Florida.. | spay her .. but you shouldnt get rid of your lil guy.. he was there first.. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Sounds like to me the aggressive female needs to be an only dog, shes going to hurt your little cuddle bug I have a feeling. I would be finding her another home. I dont think spaying will help with the problem of her being aggressive, I had a female like this and she was just a big old bully till the day she died. |
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 Horsey Gene Carrier
Posts: 1888
Location: LaBelle, Florida | She is coming of age and is testing her dominance with the older dog.
If you haven't already, you should start doing some training with her. It is up to you to become the alpha though training with her and not allowing her to squabble with the older dog.
I would have her in crate when she can not be supervised so you can see what happes when it happens and hopefully correct it.
If she is 'just a bully' then she needs to go into a one dog home. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Thanks guys
She's fine with her sister and her sister is fine with the little dog. We've been hyper vigilant about watching them and calling her to us when she wants to go to him, even if it appears to be harmless. The two females are only 7 months so they are crated anytime we can't supervise.
She's going to be spayed promptly, as soon as the vet can get her in when I call tomorrow. The city kennel club is right down the road from us, so I think as soon as the next round of classes starts we'll be headed down as well. I was planning to wait until the snow flew and we were cooped up, but I think some reinforcement is needed before then.
I'm confident we can figure out a solution that is workable for everyone, or at least we have a list of things to try first.
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Just like in a horse herd, there is an alpha male/female.. a pecking order.... Humans are an afterthought./an interloper... You can protect your favorite while you are there... But not when you are not... |
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OT - puppy aggressive with older dog