I hope someone out there will head my cry for help,

I am desperate at the moment, I have three dogs, 14yr old Rusty, cross spaniel(Male), 13yr old Sally, Fox terier(Female) and 9yr old Peanut, whippett cross Fox terrier(Female)
Sally was 1st as a pup , then I adopted rusty from the SPCA, and lastly Peanut as a pup
Rusty has been plagued with medical issues in the last 3yrs, he is diabetic , lost both eyes to Glaucoma, has a cough that no-one can help me with, and frequently walks in circles. I walk my dogs regularly, they take up a lot of my time, I cannot walk any of them together because of Sally's aggression, and with Rusty I have to walk him alone because I need to be his eyes or he may fall, which he often does.
I am under so much emotional stress at the moment because sally is becoming more and more aggressive towards Rusty and Peanut as of late, it has been building up for the last few years,
the situation is that Rusty cant see where he is walking(obviously he is blind) so sometimes/all the time he walks straight at sally,(if he walks at peanut she just ignores him)but sally must consider this a threat and nipps him to warn him off(which only happens when I am around, when I lock them away and am not around the aggression is drastically reduced), however when she does this Peanut takes offense to sally nipping Rusty and jumps onto sally, this always ends up in a fight and often in a bloody fight, I cannot handle anymore of these fights, Rusty runs away and the two girls are locked in each others jaws, I dont attempt to pull them appart unless thay are near the pool, then I can just scootch them in the pool and they let go. I am so tired of all the fighting and blood and wounds,
Sally has behaved aggressively directly after a certain incident, I brought home an old abused dog that I had bonded with ,also female, being naive I thought things would be OK , but this old dog fought constantly with sally and in the end I had to take the old dog back to the SPCA. ever since then sally has adopted that old dogs stile of fighting, by jumping on the back and biting the neck- before this sally never used to be aggressive to Rusty, and of course when I brought peanut home as a puppy, it was all OK until recently , until Rusty has been so sick. I am at my wits end , my house is a war zone, the only time things are moderately peaceful is if I lock them in the kitchen with their do-nuts , which is where they sleep anyway- but I cannot have them around me in the house because everytime poor rusty shows up it ends in a fight
Please help me someone, my vet suggested senility medication for rusty, but I dont know what to do , should I find a home for rusty or sally?, and no-one wants an aggressive dog or a diabetic, blind , coughing, circling dog

help help
any advice would be greatly appreciated
Marilyn Alexander

Do your dogs have crates?

Yep. Ditto to Angela's implied suggestion.

Dogs that aren't together, can't fight.

they do have crates, but how long must I put them in there crates, is that not a bit sad for them?

LOL ...

Which is worse - sitting in a safe, quiet, comfortable crate.... or having to worry about being attacked bloody at the drop of a hat??

Which is worse for YOU - having happy, comfortable, safe dogs... or having the stress of watching your dogs fight each other bloody (to the death even?)

hmmmmmmmm...

I vote crates, and managed separation/rotation.

You can still enjoy your dogs, walking them, playing with them and they will be much happier if you do your job as pack leader and keep them safe.

Imagine if YOU were old, blind, and living in your relative's home, and your punk neice beat you bruised and bloody just cause she didn't like you? And her mother just let this happen cause she didn't want to get involved? How would your quality of life be?

Edited by Angela Burrell (07/23/2009 12:29 PM)
Edit reason: food for thought

Watch your dogs for a bit.

Watch how often they take naps. Those naps could just as easily be taken inside the crate.

You let one dog out for two hours, while another is in the yard, and another in the crate. Then the dog that was loose in the house goes outside, the outside dog goes into the crate, and the crated dog gets to be loose in the house.

So on, and so forth.

It's not hard. Owning three dogs is a challenge, because the tendancy to develop their own pecking order and fight amongst themselves is very high. The quick, easy and safe solution is to keep them seperated.

They would be much happier NOT having to fight over rank, and watch their back constantly.

Ditto to everyone's advice.

A pack leader does not allow her dogs to be terrorized, bitten, bloodied, or even made anxious by others in the pack.

Separate them. You will strengthen your bond with each dog, hugely "up" the confidence of each, and make like worth living for all of them.

I rotate my dogs and had the same thoughts about it as you do, like will they be happy etc. It took a little getting used to but soon after we started it became a part of their lives. They are all much happier and stress free and so am I!

 Quote: Erin Croley

I rotate my dogs and had the same thoughts about it as you do, like will they be happy etc. It took a little getting used to but soon after we started it became a part of their lives. They are all much happier and stress free and so am I!

It pretty much goes without saying that everyone's life improves when fear, bloody fights, and anxiety are eliminated.

Erin, you did right.

Hey Marilyn

It's all about being a good Pack Leader! The Pack Leader (YOU) is suppose to take care of the dogs in the pack. If your not willing to put the work in, for the safety of your pack, then mabey you shouldn't have so many dogs.