Quote: Roanne Rist

am hoping I can get them to work things out. Maybe I should work on the mom since she should know better.

Dogs don't work things out between themselves!!! Left to their own devices, they WILL fight!

Every dog in your home needs separate obedience and compliance training, starting immediately.

My dogs got into a couple of squabbles. As in your case, there were no injuries, but it was obvious that the conflicts were headed in the wrong direction. Before things could escalate to unmanageable, I went to a "crate and rotate" lifestyle. Since my two also are fine in the yard, they can be there together with close supervision. They can be out in the livingroom together if both are on down-stays. We can hike together and go for walks. In the van, one is crated. In the bedroom, one is crated. If I am distracted by living, one is in an X-pen. The key is to STOP the CONFLICT before it gets dangerous. We have not had a single scuffle/snarl/stink eye in 15 months. However, I don't mess around with this. My dogs are big enough to hurt each other or hurt me if I have to get in there and separate them.

To begin with, manage, manage, manage.

An unexpected benefit to this lifestyle is having two dogs who look to you as the center of their universe. Once I started crate and rotate, my dogs became even more bonded and eager to train.

It's a pain. Only you can know if it's worth it.

If you let the fighting continue, you are likely going to end up with a Fight-On-Sight situation which is 100 times harder to manage. There is no room for error if you wait too long to take control and end the scuffling. If you stop the conflicts early enough, there is some forgiveness for management lapses.

Not all dogs can get along. It's too bad. I miss the days of my dogs sleeping on top of each other and being best friends.

My experience with 2 bitches, spayed, a bull terrier and a chesapeake
was that they could not be together period. Fighting was it's own reward, nothing helped, I sewed up the bull terrier over and over again. Here's something interesting: the bull terrier's endorphins must have got screaming high during those fights because I noticed I could suture her face W/O lidocaine if I did it right after the fight, while she was still panting.
I could not live like that anymore, I'd find a home for one of them-- and do it before the "fighter" get's set in her ways and becomes unadoptable. THEY LIKE TO FIGHT, love it, some of them.

 Quote: Roanne Rist

Would you think taking them on walks together would do?

SEPARATELY

 Quote: Roanne Rist

Maybe I should work on the mom since she should know better.

Roanne, please think about this. How is mom supposed to know better? You can sit down with her and discuss it over a latte, but she still won't get it. You have to take control and manage each of these dogs individually. Once you have established that you can do THAT, then, maybe, MAYBE, you might be able to hang out together as one big happy family, but you have a lot to do before then.

Thanks everyone for your opinions...I will start tomorrow on Stella and her training. We just got back from a long walk and it was really fun. They are great in the van and are crated. There is no staring or fighting. I am going to keep them totally separated in different rooms. I will let everyone know how the training goes and post pictures. Thanks so much for your help..

Is there anywhere on this forum that gives you a place to start training so that it works? I know the sit, stand, down and wait but where to begin is my question....I just want to get it right this time so maybe just maybe I stand a chance.
Thanks

I'm not following you. Train what exactly?

If you need to start at thevery beginning, I suggest you get Ed's "Basic Obedience" dvd. You can order it and start watching online while you wait for it to arrive. It is worth what you'll pay for it.

This is a great jumping off video for teaching you how to live with your dog and start obedience training.

 Quote: Roanne Rist

Is there anywhere on this forum that gives you a place to start training so that it works? I know the sit, stand, down and wait but where to begin is my question....I just want to get it right this time so maybe just maybe I stand a chance.
Thanks

You mean start training a pet dog basic obedience? And include pack leadership?

You mean beginning with a puppy, or a not-so-well-trained adult who needs a do-over?



eta
Thinking about the thread topic, maybe you mean how to get foolproof obedience? Going beyond "down" to "down" every single time in every single situation, proofed for venue and distraction?

Edited by Connie Sutherland (05/20/2012 07:39 PM)
Edit reason: eta