March 19, 2012

One of my dogs is getting sores on her skin from our other dog's saliva when they play. Is there anything we can put on her fur to make it taste bad, but won't cause her any arm?

Full Question:
Hello,

I read quite a bit of your Q&A about dog biting and nothing really applied to my situation. I have 2 Golden Retrievers just under a year old. They are from the same litter, sisters. They are the best dogs I have ever owned but the problem is when we put them outside, they wrestle around and play.

They are in no way trying to hurt each other and they never do this in front of my husband or I. The issue we are having is when they wrestle, they grab at each other's necks. One of them was getting these large scabs, so we thought the other dog was biting her. We took them to the vet to have them checked out and our vet told us that she isn't biting but her saliva is irritating the other dog so severely that it's leaving sores.

We have tried to put them out separately but they have horrible separation anxiety and they both just sit at the door and cry. The vet suggested that we muzzle the one that is doing the biting, but I am hoping it won't come to that. I was wondering if there is something we can put on her fur to make it taste bad but won't cause her any harm. Do you have any suggestions?
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
Sorry, I can't suggest something to put on their fur. A muzzle would be a better fix, although it won't stop the core behavior. We have directions on how to measure the dog for a muzzle on this page.

Typically in littermate situations, as the dogs grow up, there will be more and more rough play, which may end up in aggression between the two. Not always, but usually. I'd work on teaching them to be comfortable apart from each other gradually. There may come a day where you need to take one to the vet due to an accident or something and they need to be emotionally prepared to be without the other one.

You may want to read the article about why we don't recommend raising 2 pups at the same time.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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