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June 09, 2011

We have 4 dogs and 2 of them have become aggressive. They are attacking each other. Our vet suggested adding chamomile tea to their drinking water but that it would take a while to have an effect. I really need help!

Full Question:

Hi. My family is having a problem with two of our dogs being aggressive.

My mother and father have four dogs in total. One is a female we've rescued from a shelter. We have an older male dog who is very gentle, then we have two younger males (they're about two years old).

Recently the two younger males have become very aggressive. They've attacked the older male dog about three times, nothing too serious but it was enough that we took Drake (the older one) to my sister's for a little while so he could heal without being stressed with the other two.

They've also attacked my two female dogs, one of which is from the same litter.

We don't know what to do. When I took Drake to the vet, he suggested getting chamomile tea and putting it in the drinking water because it's a sedative but he said not to expect immediate results.

I really need help. We love these dogs so much and I can't bear to think about putting them down but we just don't know what to do anymore.

Thanks for your time.

Danielle

Cindy's Answer:

Instead of trying to sedate the dogs with tea, I’d recommend taking control of them and how they are allowed to behave in the house. I certainly don’t have any issue with certain supplementation but training & leadership are the keys to changing a dog’s behavior.

This problem is going to require a change in the way you live with the dogs and how you manage their free time. It may also be that they are going to need to be kept separate (if not permanently, then for the short term while you iron out the training).

Loving dogs isn’t enough, you need to offer them leadership. This is going to be a lot of work with this number of dogs. Start with our groundwork program and Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

You need separate crates or kennels, and time to devote to training each dog EVERY DAY. This is not optional. Without training you won’t change anything.

I’d also recommend dominant dog collars and the video Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.

If you spend some time reading this section on dog fights, you’ll see that your problems are very common. If you don’t teach the dogs your rules, they can’t possibly behave how you want them to.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes

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