My 7 year-old German Pinscher attacked my Rat Terrier. Is it possible this fighting behavior to be passed onto her children and what should I do with the dogs?

Dear Mr. Ed Frawley,

I have a question concerning Displaced biting.

We live in the middle of 20 fenced acres. Last night a car stopped at our gate about a quarter mile away that can be seen from our house. My seven year old bitch, Lady, became excited and grabbed my 15-year-old neutered submissive Rat Terrier that is half her size. I had two other dogs that joined in when the Rat Terrier was down, perhaps because he squealed. As Lady, who is a German Pinscher bitch, hung on to the Rat Terrier, I grabbed her collar and socked her in the face several times until she let go and shoved her in a crate. A 5-year-old son of this bitch seems to be developing the same tendency and is one that helped his mother in this attack. I am not sure he actually took a hold of the Rat Terrier because the Rat Terrier only had one ripped ear and not any puncture wounds that I could find. This was the first time Lady had every grabbed the Rat Terrier that she has lived with since she was 10 months old. Fortunately, my husband was home to help me separate the dogs or I believe the Rat Terrier would not have survived. This breed seems to be sight excited that causes Lady to go for a lower pack member.

Lady was not socialized when I bought her from a kennel situation at 10 months. In the beginning I had major problems with Lady when I brought her home with a 5-year-old spayed Rat Terrier bitch. I finally found a home for the Rat Terrier bitch after a couple of years of hell. At one time when Lady was about 18 months old my husband yelled at me to come and hold the Terrier bitch while Lady was clamped on to her. We were afraid that Lady was going to kill the Rat Terrier, and my husband grabbed the closest item, a broom and hit her over the muzzle. He hit her so hard that the handle on the broom broke in two pieces. There were many other incidents, and I kept them separate but an accident of letting them together most likely meant another fight. My husband and I took both Lady and the Rat Terrier bitch to obedience class. My instructor set them up by having everyone run with their dogs to the other side of the room. Lady immediately went for the Rat Terrier, and my instructor helped me jerk even harder on her choke chain thinking that I had not been hard enough on Lady. We even tried hanging her at one time, but we needed to be more knowledgeable in what we were doing.

This was the first displaced biting incident that we have had for several years.

Is displaced biting hereditary? Or is it an owner/trainer problem? If I had been more knowledgeable in the beginning could this have been stopped for good? Could this problem be transferred to a child? I watch my dogs very closely and keep them confined if children are around, but there is always that one possibility of something happening. I have read extensively, attended workshops, watched videotapes, and obedience classes, but I wonder if I had been a stronger alpha in the beginning if this problem could have been prevented? Is this a form of dominance or a mental problem?

My husband wants to euphemize the dogs for this problem, and the propensity to fight. The decision is mine and I am unsure as to what I should do.

Thank you for any advice you can give me. I do own several of your videotapes, and thank you for giving us such great advice.

Kay