I have two male Yorkshire Terriers that are 10 years old and have fought since six months of age. Would they benefit from medication to calm down?

Question

I have two male Yorkshire Terriers that are 10 years old. They both were brought into the house at the same time (Christmas) when they were 3 and six months.

    They have fought since they were six months. They are cousins (their fathers were brothers).

    It is definitely a dominance thing but lately they are having many fights (3 in the last two weeks). When they fight they cannot be separated and it is very scary.  Sometimes injury occurs.

    We are in the Philadelphia area and about 5 years ago we had taken them to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Clinic to have a $500.00 sessions with a behavioral dog psychologist to no avail.

    They were both neutered at 6 months but that did not seem to help. One is roughly 10 lbs and they other is 13 pounds. Of course, the 13 pounder has the advantage but that does not stop the smaller one who is the most aggressive.

    I know I should get rid of one but they are like members of the family. When they fight if it is summer we throw them in the pool and in the winter when the pool is closed we throw them in the koi pond to break them up.

    I know we have done about everything wrong that we could of but we have tried so many things over the years but nothing seems to work. Sometimes they go for 6 - 9 months without a fight but then other times we are walking around on egg shells with them.

    I really don't know what DVD we should purchase because they are not socialized and never have been with other dogs because we know they don't get along with each other and are afraid to let them in the company of other dogs.

    Please help us deal with this problem - do you think they would benefit from medication to calm them or isn't that necessary?

    Thank you for your time,
Peggy

Accepted Answer

Your dogs have been fighting for NINE years? These dogs don’t need medication, they need leadership and structure. The problems you are seeing are the result of the way you live with your dogs. When dogs act like this they lack leadership from their owners. In other words their owners don’t understand how important pack drive is in how they raise their dogs.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then he or she will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way. The fact that they have been doing as they please for the last nine years will make this a little more challenging for YOU, but it can be done.

If you want to fix a problem like this you can but it takes some work. I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

Here is a DVD that I would recommend titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs. If you go to the link on this DVD you can read about what it covers. You will also see a detailed outline of what’s in the video.

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.

Cindy