I posted a question a few days ago about an aggressive male. I had a few more questions. I have two other dogs, both very well behaved. One is a 4 yr old, mostly pit with possibly some ridgeback. The other is a 1 year old male GSD. Two are intact. The most recent addition to the family was the aggressive male, Thor. Stitch and Sniper got along great from day one. Thor and Stitch didnt get along well in the beggining... but they get along well now.
So the question is, with 3 males should I expect any trouble in the near future? Stitch and Sniper (the mutt and the year old guy) are crated while no one is home. They all play well in the backyard, in the pool and with toys. Is there anything I can do besides keeping the order the way it is, to keep them all friendly?

 Quote: Rebekah Schwartz

I posted a question a few days ago about an aggressive male. I had a few more questions. I have two other dogs, both very well behaved. One is a 4 yr old, mostly pit with possibly some ridgeback. The other is a 1 year old male GSD. Two are intact. The most recent addition to the family was the aggressive male, Thor. Stitch and Sniper got along great from day one. Thor and Stitch didnt get along well in the beggining... but they get along well now. ....

Which is which?

The aggressive male is Thor. Sniper is the puppy GSD, and Stitch is the mutt. The question I had is if with there being so many varying ages, and that Sniper and Stitch are intact, if there were going to be any warning signs (or if i needed to even worry about it) that they were going to start being aggressive to each other. Thor is the aggressive one towards people, but loves dogs. Thor is neutered. IF they do start to get aggressive, is there anything I can do to stop it, and return things to the very peaceful pack I have now?

 Quote: Rebekah Schwartz

... IF they do start to get aggressive, is there anything I can do to stop it, and return things to the very peaceful pack I have now?

YOU are in charge of whether aggression is tolerated in your pack..... not the dogs.

With three dogs, the pack leader must be even more on top of it.

I have a zero-tolerance policy about aggression in my house. Maybe I go overboard with shutting down play when it gets too rowdy, but I don't want any of my dogs to be afraid, and I don't want to allow an attack, which can permanently change a dog.

Besides not ever allowing any dog to decide on aggression, I do a few other things to minimize iffy situations. Toys are not left out. You supervise feeding (or they are fed separately). No treats or bones or anything to eat is ever left out.

I think you are doing the right thing by not allowing them to be together when no one is at home. It takes me a long time after acquiring a new addition to trust him/her to be with the other dog(s) when I'm not home.

I think that sometimes owners may underestimate the difference between one or two dogs and three dogs. That's a pack, and having a pack almost means adding a new personality that you don't know anything about; that is, you might have three dogs and know each one of them quite well, but that doesn't mean you know what the characteristics of the pack will be.

I think that having three dogs is a huge responsibility, far different from having two. Of course it depends on the dogs, too..... to a point.

So it's smart of you to be aware of the potential problems.

JMO.

P.S. I try very hard to have a two-year period between acquisitions, even if it's only adding one more dog to a one-dog household. IME, two years is roughly the time it takes to deal with behavior baggage a dog might come with, and to establish a strong bond, and to train good behavior/obedience.*

When the new dog comes, I'm still careful to have training time with each dog alone. Especially with a new dog who doesn't know the ropes yet (and may not even know his name yet ), I find it pretty hard to teach beginning manners with other dogs right there.


* I know this is highly individual; that's just a rough number.

I dont leave toys out, and the feeding is supervised... I know taking food away from the dogs, or playing with it is not advised, but none of my guys are food or bone aggressive. The only one i've thought would be a problem was stitch.. and in the early weeks, he was. They were seperate all the time, and only saw each other through the crate. They had one spat, and that was very short (due to human intervention). Since then, they've all been very loving to each other, and us. The one thing that worrys me is Sniper. He is very submissive, but is that possibly because he is just a year old? Thats what Im worried about in the future. Should I get him nutered?

It's great when you can have dogs all run together, but IME, it's unusual. Two are sometimes ok, but three changes the whole dynamic. Having your dog neutered is NOT going to change a behavior that is ingrained. He's submissive now at a year old,so he may be ok, but what needs to be altered is how you deal/interact w/these three. It's really nice that everything is ok for now, and it's smart to be on the lookout for a change in the peaceful environment.

As you can see from Thor, once aggressive behaviors are established, neutering is going to do nothing. Premature neutering may prevent hormone-related dominance and aggression from developing (not that I'd ever neuter a dog prematurely), but IMO, you need to change *behaviors* so the same thing doesn't happen with Sniper.

I have 3 males also, 2 of them intact, and one neutered at 5 yrs due to being cryptorchid. None of them can be loose together unsupervised, period. People have this idea that dogs are just going to get along, or that they should at least. I don't really care if they get along; they simply need to respect me enough not to tear into each other at every opportunity. I rotate each one of mine w/my female for exercise in the yard.

Is it more work for me to keep them separate? Of course. But I want them each to have a relationship first and foremost with ME, not the other dogs, and it's worth the extra work to keep them apart. Seeing each other through the crate, IMO, is not apart. True, they can't get at each other, but some dogs get very aggressive being a spectator in the crate. When mine are separate, they're split totally-one outside in run, one outside in yard, one in kennel in garage, one in house, etc.

Sorry to be long-winded, but this is doable, even if your "peaceful pack" goes South; you just need to commit to it and be willing to change your thought process a little. They're not children who need to be taught to get along ; they're animals who need to be taught that YOU are the boss.

Consider yourself LUCKY so far.

Here is what throws me on everything with Thor. He would bite a human in a second, but if a yorkie snaps at him, he is running in the other direction... I havnt noticed anything that would give me an idea that they were going to try to tear each other up yet... But im going to deff keep my eyes open. I should get Thor a crate, but he didnt grow up in one, and when I put him in snipers, he barks for HOURS! He doesnt mind being put in the bedroom eaither. They all eat in the same room, but not in the crates.