March 21, 2022
Are my two female pups fighting because of hormones?
Full Question:
I have just found your webpage and have been reading a lot of the articles and I find it very interesting. My problem is, I got 2 female pups about 6 weeks apart. They are now 10 and 11 months old. Before I got the dogs, I asked my vet for advice about getting 2 dogs and what age would be best to get them. She told me to get them as pups and let them grow up together. They are both crossbreeds and I got them from a rescue center. They were both getting on great. When the first one had her season, she had no problems. But when the second one went through her season, she started attacking the other dog. After her season finished, they were great again until about 4 weeks later, when she started to bleed again. She started to attack the other dog again.
I have now got her spayed and she seems okay but the other dog is now starting to go for her. She is fighting back but she is not starting it. We are going to get the other one spayed and hopefully that will help. They have both been socialized and they go to obedience training every week and have been going since they were just 3 months. I have read your articles that say not to get 2 pups together. I now know I should not have got them together but I took advice from the vet and thought she would know.
I wanted to ask your advice about getting them to live together or do you think I would have to find another home for one? I really don't want to give one away as I love them both, but the fighting is terrible and I am scared they will really hurt each other, I don't know if these problems are just hormones.
Ed's Answer:
I tell people that in over 40 years of owning and training dogs, I have only met 2 or 3 Vets who know much about training a dog. Your Vet certainly would never come close to this.
Neutering females does not result in reducing aggression unless the aggression is hormonal (like your first female). The fact is neutering females can often make females more aggressive.
The easiest thing to do is to find another home for one dog. The worst dog fights are between females. My opinion is, you are not going to be able to have these females live together in peace.
If you want to keep them both, you should get two dog crates and separate these dogs forever. One dog would always be in her crate while the other was out.
Ed Frawley
Neutering females does not result in reducing aggression unless the aggression is hormonal (like your first female). The fact is neutering females can often make females more aggressive.
The easiest thing to do is to find another home for one dog. The worst dog fights are between females. My opinion is, you are not going to be able to have these females live together in peace.
If you want to keep them both, you should get two dog crates and separate these dogs forever. One dog would always be in her crate while the other was out.
Ed Frawley
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