We have 9 dogs and while we were all good terrific, fights have been escalating quite recently both in frequency and severity. Why, after years of no fights, would a fight break out?

Question

Hi Mr. Frawley...

    I've been exploring the internet because a problem has developed in our household. I found your site, and it's one of the most intelligent and helpful on the web.

    I saw that you have addressed the problem we're having about family pets fighting, and have read your response: "You've created a pack, either separate the dogs or find some of them new homes", so I won't repeat the question about what to do...but I'm so distraught over it that I want to better understand why it's happening now...and that we've "created a pack" doesn't explain it.

    Our 9 dogs are outside with us when we're out, and they come in when we're in. We have a sanctuary for abused horses (44 horses on 320 acres), so there's lots of activity, exercise, and energy burned for the dogs. Mealtime is supervised, no food dishes are left on the floor. 6 of them sleep in crates, the older ones sleep on beds in the living room. It's been like this for years.

    And for years all 9 dogs have lived in perfect harmony, trouncing along with us as we tend to the horses. We have 5 purebred corgis, 2 mixes, and 2 hounds. Several months ago two of them got into a blood fight, and several others joined in while the rest circled and barked. All the sudden the incidents are escalating in frequency, and severity, and it's never the same two who start it.

    This has been unbearably upsetting. So now I've been keeping them all separated, even before I read your website. But everything we loved about having our dogs as part of our family has changed. I would like to understand why, after years of no fights, would frenzied fights break out?

    Thank you for all you do for animals...
Melanie

Accepted Answer

This is and issue of not understanding RANK within a pack. You USED TO HAVE a pack with well established RANK. Something happened to change that and the dogs are fighting to re-establish RANK. In the mean time you yourself was not a strong enough pack leader. I will expand that as say that a strong respected pack leader does not have dog fights because the pack knows and respects the consequences of not following RULES that are ESTABLISHED BY THE PACK LEADER. These foundation for rules are set during normal obedience training (I can bet you a lot of money that your dogs are not completely obedience trained) With this said Obedience training is ONLY PART (less than 50%) of the solution. Controlling the pack and rank is the other half and that’s the part that many people miss and don’t do. There are two or three training DVDs I would recommend that will help solve your problems:

Basic Dog Obedience
Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs - YOU NEED THIS
Remote Collar Training for Pet Owners

Here are some training articles I would like to point you to: I would start by recommending you read an article I recently wrote which explains my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some ideas from this. You should read the article I wrote on GROUND WORK TO BECOMING A PACK LEADER. I would recommend that you read the article I wrote titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING If you study this article and then incorporate that into your interaction with your dog, whether it’s in normal training or your day to day living with your dog you will find it will really help your relationship and your dogs performance. I assume you have read the articles on dominance. Good Luck Ed