Good idea Mike.

Good comments and ideas from everyone else too! It's always important in scenarios like this to keep in mind "that's what worked for "person"". There is no cookie cutter solution. You have to use your best judgment in these situations. What one individual is willing to put up with, or consider “aggressive behavior” is sometimes different then what others would classify the same exact behavior. I have had people tell me they need my help in an emergency situation, their dog is being crazy and seems dangerous all the sudden. I said, “What’s wrong”? This person replied, “My dog is barking at people”. K, great, now what’s the emergency?

I don’t see the situation the same way this individual does.

As for dog’s who have ended up dead due to fighting. I would consider the source and question the abilities of the “parents”. Whenever we hear about a kid getting a hold of daddy’s 9mm and shooting his little brother, any reasonable person knows that the parent is to blame %100. The answer is not getting rid of guns, getting rid of kids or any other irrational idea. The problem is with the parent.

So one can not assume that if you let two dogs work out their differences, this will result in death. *Because there is a responsible parent in control*

Unless your dogs are kenneled when you are not home, how do you handle these dogs when you are not there? If you have always separated them and asserted your “alpha” responsibilities, what are they to do when you are absent? This is when a dog dies. The pist off bigger brother is now going to do as much damage as possible because there is no supervision. Easy answer, kennel the dogs when you are gone. Only own as many dogs as you are willing to handle.

Don’t get me wrong, I do and will intervene when I think things are getting too serious between my dogs and others. As I said before though, the dogs don’t know the intervention is coming from me.
The long down stays are great for obedience and “showing the dog who’s boss” but this will do nothing for you when you are not home. Obedience is always a good tool to use to control any kind of behavior.

*This has worked for me, I can’t say that it is a blanket solution for everyone, but this is the system we use*

Mike, you answered your own question. You said it’s not worth the aggravation and you will separate them, that’s probably the best route for you at this point.
I’m just curious, is the Dane your dog? Does he live in your home? Or is this just temporary?

My female dane acts similarly. She is the dominant dog and is always trying to push the other dog into playing. Eventually the male learned to just stop moving when she started into him and when that happens the female leaves him alone for awhile.

I've also picked up an e-collar to control the female while she is off leash in the backyard for situations when she is bugging him too much. I've found that following Lou's methods to familiarize the dog with the collar has drastically improved her reaction to me when she's playing. She used to totally ignore my commands while playing with the other dog.

Michael,
I understand this has worked for you. But why on earth would anyone who has two (or god forbid, three or more) dogs who are fighting loose in the house with no supervision? That is asking for a disaster. Infighting in the ranks means there is pack instability, which means someone does not know their place. There is transgression somewhere. Wild dogs do not waste much time in real fighting; they rely on ritualized displays of power to maintain stability. The more infighting you see, the less centralized the power is (see this with humans too!).

This is not the only reason dogs fight, of course. Two rank animals of the same sex, redirected aggression, mating priviliges, etc are other possible reasons.

Just because you are the top dog, doesn't mean that there is no dog #1, #2, #3, and so on. All the priviliges of the hierarchy are given to each dog, in that order, but no one usurps my authority. My dominant dog is allowed first pets, first training, and the privilege of being the dog I count on for alert duty; she exels at it, and she feels the confidence I have in her for her watchdog capablities. The other two get their due acording to rank and ability. Keeps everyone happy.

I seperate my third dog out, the omega, when I am not home. She is safe, I know the other two dogs are not going to fight (they don't have competing interests), and I come home to an uninjured dog. I do this even tho I know my dogs sleep when I am gone, and even tho my pack is quite stable. It is just not worth the stress.

It is a lot easier to stop aggression in the posturing stage, than it is in the bloodbath, or even fighting, stage. If they were two human siblings, would you allow them to beat each other up, or scream at each other all day long for every little thing? Or would you say 'settle your differences in a manner acceptable to me, or I will settle them for you'?

I allow only one obvious display of power from my dog; if I am petting her, no other dog approaches (on their own), and she has my attention 100%. And if another dog willingly moves out of the way when she approaches, I allow that, (then I put her in a down stay and pet the other dogs). Anything else, and she thinks that she has the power to disipline, which is my exclusive authority. Of course, there are all the subtle displays; head carriage, choice resting place, last to pee in the yard, and what not. Those are not biggies in my pack, because I have given her that right, not because she has assumed the right was hers.

But this is what has worked for me. 'Letting them settle it themselves' would have been an absolute disaster, and she would have eventually bitten me for some small transgression on my part. Nope, not worth it.

I see your point Melissa,

I don't think you really want to know how I would handle it with kids...lol

 Quote:

I’m just curious, is the Dane your dog? Does he live in your home? Or is this just temporary?

The dane is my friends, she is a 10 month old spayed female, as I mentioned in previous posts. It is entirely within my control to not bring my dog around her. She lives at my friends house, and as someone mentioned earlier, he is going into her territory which puts him at a disadvantage.

It's hard to explain the way they act without writing an essay on it and giving myself a huge headache. She doesn't seem at all aggressive, never barks, growls, snarls, shows teeth, nothing like that. They get along great when they are both being mellow and laying down somewhere. She licks my dogs ears out, he licks her lips. Everyones happy. It's when she has too much energy and my dog wants to relax that the problems start. She is like this big dumb dog that can't take a hint and doesn't understand that he doesn't want to play. They have "played" like this for hours in the past and never hurt eachother. She plays this way with ME when I am alone with her, if I start running, she doesnt run with me, she wants to pounce on me, or wants to run laps around the yard n have me chase her. Had I not read all the information on dominance and pack behavior etc, I would just consider this them playing and her not taking a hint that he wants to relax.