I have two dogs who are in separate outdoor kennels during the day. I bring them in at night for a meal. When the younger is finished, he barks at his brother and they fight. Suggestions?

Question

Hi,

I hope that you can give me some advise how to handle this situation. I have 16 months old Bullmastiff Baron, and 18-month-old Bullmastiff Cesar. Sweet dogs, I raised them from puppies. I keep them separate in outdoor kennels most of the day, and take them inside over the night. I also take them for a walk twice a day and they both behave well, sit, down and heel. I was feeding them in the kennel twice a day, and everything was o.k., until now, when Baron the younger one, when he finished his meal started barking at his brother, and then they start to fight over the fence. After this incident, I decided to feed them separate in the crates at home. Everything was o.k. again for about couple of weeks, then yesterday, when I wanted to open Baron?s crate to take his empty bowl, he aggressively attacked the door of the crate with loud barking and crawling. I quickly took my hands out of the crate. I told him to stop, but he got even more aggressive, keep guarding his empty bowl. He is not a hard dog, he was never aggressive before, he is maybe more like soft dog. He always gives me any toy or tennis ball with no problem, and he is not even guarding when someone walks around, like Cesar does. However, this behavior, to try to bite his own master was big surprise for me.

I do have some dog training experience, and I think I know how to handle dominant dog, but I don?t know what would be the best to do in this situation. In meanwhile, when I was writing this e-mail, I experienced new problem. When I wanted to give Baron food, and tried to open his crate, he started aggressive barking again. I was afraid to give him the food, and I don?t know what to do now. Maybe Baron and Cesar have some for me unknown communication, and because Cesar got his food first, he might told Baron: ?looser?? Or something to provoke him, I don?t know. But, I need to feed him somehow. Should I use electric collar to correct his behavior, or would it make him that even more angry?

Steve

Accepted Answer

You have 2 dogs that are now reaching young adulthood, the time where they begin to become more mature and start to try to re-establish themselves in the family pack. Many dogs start trying to push the envelope and use aggression to move up the rank into a more dominant position.

The fact that your dogs are so close in age and the same sex is going to make your job much harder than if you had only one dog or two dogs of much different ages or a male female pair. Same sex pairs are much more likely to fight and have issues.

I think I’d start reestablishing myself as the leader in ever aspect of both dogs’ lives. I would just concentrate on one, because I guarantee you the problem is the changing dynamics between both dogs.

I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet. I’d start all over like the dogs were new to your house.

I believe that this DVD could really help you. It’s titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project. You can go to the web page and read the outline of what’s included on the video. These DVDs are not meant to be watched one time. The fact is anyone who needs this information needs to watch it many times because every time they watch it they will pick up new ideas.

I would hold off on the ecollar for now. Giving corrections may aggravate things at this point. Calm, clear and consistent leadership are going to be the key to regaining your control over these guys.

Don’t put yourself in the position to let him guard the bowl. Take the dog out of the crate first and then remove the bowl, leave a leash on him in there if you need to. I’d also make sure the crates aren’t side by side, or close to each other. I’d put them in separate rooms if you can or only crate one dog and leave the other outside in a kennel and switch them during this groundwork progress.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum.

I hope this helps.

Cindy