how much of this kind of behavior between dogs sharing the same household is breed specific?

one trainer i have worked with used to breed rottweilers, but finally quit that breed because it was impossible for those dogs to live peaceably together. they had to be kept separately. now she is breeding yellow labs instead and training them for bomb sniffing, and reportedly she no longer has the dog cohabitation problems she had with the rotties.

i can easily see a number of breeds having issues with sharing resources in one household. but other breeds don't seem to have these issues. for example, i've been a mastiff owner almost all my life. the breeders i know keep huge packs of english mastiffs--10 to 15 dogs--all together in one room and one yard with no problems. the dogs all pile on top of each other to sleep, and do not fight.

i don't like owning more than one dog for a number of reasons--i like the one-on-one bond i develop with my dog when it is just the two of us. i don't want my dog having his primary bond with another dog. but when i did have two mastiffs, until just recently, i never worried about these dogs fighting, even though the pup is confident and dominant, having been whelped into a large mastiff pack with dogs of all ages, and sometimes pushed the older dog around a little. a few warning snarls over food on occasion, but it never escalated and they slept and played together quite peaceably.

it's quite common for mastiff breeders to have these packs of numerous mastiffs all hanging out together.

so, i wonder if really the guildelines ed gives in his articles and video about keeping dogs separate applies to all breeds, or is only of concern to those raising protection and high-drive breeds?

thanks.

I've lived with no less than 3-4 terriers for the last 30+ yrs. Terriers are noted for not being great pack dogs, but other than my present JRT, I've never had trouble with fighting. He (JRT) intimidated my GSD till about one month ago. The GSD, now two yrs old, got tired of his $#!+, and the JRT no longer even makes eye contact with the GSD.
Living with multiple dogs is more about understanding the dogs, and who's the top gun, but I do agree that some breeds are easier in a group.

I think breeds have a lot of effect on it. Some dogs are just dominant by nature. My two females are both extremely dominant, and it took a trip to the hospital for my younger dog for emergency surgery for me to finally get it through my stupid head that I need to do something SERIOUS and FAST. Both are breeds commonly known to be dominant: chow and german shepherd.

Then again I don't think dog agression is entirely breed related. I think it also has a lot to do with how they were raised, expierences when they were younger, etc.

Beating a dog achieves nothing, it will still resort to natural instincts, any breed of dog that becomes more than 2 in a household, becomes a pack, and that means they have to start sorting out, pack order, which is ok if you have strong leadership, YOU the owner is Alpha, the problem comes in when the rules and boundaries are not set, then the dogs want to sort things out themselves, especially having had a large group of females (5) it can be tricky hormonal fluctuations etc have quite a big influence, on behaviour also as dogs get older and if a dog dies, there are constantly changes in the hierarchy, so the idea is to be vigilant and watch the behaviour carefully, I never run more than two dogs together,when I am not home to supervise I kennel them,the smaller 2 females live separately always,
they have a set established routine and the age gap has also helped keep conflicts to a minimum, I find toys and food increases, aggressive behaviour so I train each one on it's own, away from home to keep jealousy to a minimum.
when feeding, all the bigger dogs eat seperately, you need to be aware of the triggers that set them off, keeping dogs running in a pack can be very tricky, personally I would not do this, I think the dogs temperaments no matter
how stable, can be unpredictable..I also think that adding
a male to the pack, creates quite a lot of competition if they are unspayed, I have found, that having them all spayed helped quite alot, when they are entire and you add a male dog you have whole lot of new problems..
Dog ownership can be as unpredicatble as marriage <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I am sure that many people far better qualified have answered this question.I have
1 standard poodle 7 years old-female (crystal)
1 greyhound female 13 years old ( sparkle)
1 greyhound male 3 years old coming 4 ( booker t)
1 greyhound female 2 year old ( nadi aka naughty nadi)
greyhounds are sight hounds and two of mine were very very good racers.. hence very strong drives.. prey drive.. different from a working dog but the same.. they will give chase to whatever moves.. some are stronger than others..they are initially corrected for any behavior that looks too intersted in the cats. This is another reason that they are crated when not home. I will not take any chances of fights, injured cats, dead cats, dead other dogs, things taken off counters, foods or anything that could cause them harm being gotten into. It is for their own safety that they are in crates when I am not home or can not keep an eye on them. I also never allow more than one dog to be loose if my daughter who is 4 has company. It is too confusing for all concerned.

Ok i have a young goat in my backyard.. that i bottle fed from 4 hours old..so I use care in the backyard. turn out is just that, out to potty and back in, unless I go out there to play or work. or stand and watch them run laps.. greyhound laps.

I allow them loose in the house if I am paying attention.. if I can not know the whereabouts of my dogs.. then nadi is crated..sparkle is crated and booker may or may not be
All dogs crate when sleeping or gone.

Anyway, turned out unless I am out there they were kennel muzzles.. ( greys are always turned out muzzles at the track since they turn out 20 dogs at a time or so)

IWhen I bring a new dog home.. which occassionally happens.. as I am a grey foster home.. I am always careful. I generally leash the dog to me until I am sure of what they can and will do.. this is after several weeks of introductions through crates and 1 on 1.
I always crate dogs when I leave the house.. no exceptions.Too many things can happen with a pack running loose through the house, with no control and no supervision. I also tend to put a few up and let the others go at different times during the day to make sure that everyone is getting enough one on one attention.

Nicole

 Quote:

I am sure that many people far better qualified have answered this question.I have
1 standard poodle 7 years old-female (crystal)
1 greyhound female 13 years old ( sparkle)
1 greyhound male 3 years old coming 4 ( booker t)
1 greyhound female 2 year old ( nadi aka naughty nadi)
....Ok i have a young goat in my backyard.. that i bottle fed from 4 hours old..so I use care in the backyard.

Do you have pictures to post? Which one is sight-impaired (from your bio post)?

Sounds like you are very careful with maintaining multiple dogs in your home. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I do use great care. The 2 year old greyhound, Nadi is sight impaired. She is 100 % blind in her right eye and she is 60-70 percent blind in her left eye. She suffered from a severe bleeding disorder that turned out to be a TBD.. after two treatments of a month each with doxy she finally got over the bleeding profusly at the drop of a hat.

She is actually a super trainable, super smart dog.. She is even tempered. She was raised like any racing dog until a little over a year.. her owner sent her to two different vet schools from 10 months old to 14 monhts old trying to help her vision.. but it was congenital..
She is a very intelligent dog, and the more she is worked the better pet and better dog she is. She is dependent on humans more so than other dogs..but she is quite capable of hurting the goat.. and her drives are very strong. .if she were sighted, she would not be able to be here. Her sire is the top ranked sire for racers.. anyway..

I do use great care for many reasons, pack mentality number one.. also, she and my old girl are in serious daanger if a disagreement breaks out.. as the pack will go after the old girl.. or her.. they are the two weakest links.

I have learned through many mistakes made over the years.. of fostering all sorts of animals in my house the care needed.. and I am sure I will make a mistake again, but I learn from each and try not to make repeats..

I do have pictures of everyone. I did not know the protocol for posting pictures. I have them in small sizes for posting on greytalk.com.. but did not know.. if i can post them somewhere.. I will..
Nicole

 Quote:

......I do have pictures of everyone. I did not know the protocol for posting pictures. I have them in small sizes for posting on greytalk.com.. but did not know.. if i can post them somewhere.. I will..
Nicole

Here's what it says in the index, at Member Bios:
Member Photos and short Bio
  "This forum is the place for a picture or two of you and your dog. Only two photos are allowed and one must contain a photo of the owner. Any posts that contain more than 2 photos will be deleted. Tell us a little about yourself if you like. It's always nice to put a face with a name."

I have read that many people recommend Photobucket-type sites, then they can post a link here.

I wanted to add i know greyhound people that keep between 5-10 greyhounds in the house,but they know their dogs, some use muzzles even after years for turnout,have banks of crates for their dogs.

Currently, I have a friend and his show chows staying at my house until his place is ready(another week or so) his dogs are crated or leashed,never allowed contact.They tried to kill the goat and could not be easily called off( much better for me than him).So, anyway,there is something to be said for keeping dogs seperate. His dogs are easy going but they will follow their natural instinct and they really are not trained other than the crate and conformation showing..although i keep pushing him to doobedience with them

nicole

Wow! Wjat a lot of information! I am joining this discussion very late, but after reading all the posts I felt I *had* to put my 2 cents in. I live on a farm with several family members. We are in the process of building separate houses but currently all reside together. We have a HUGE number of dogs for different purposes, and they are kept apart or together as appropriate.
Our female malamutes are kept kenneled separately at all times, else they would kill each other. When one is with people, the other is in her own kennel.
Our male malamute splits outdoor time between the kennels of the two females. Indoors he is supervised at all times.
Our male husky lives inside all the time but is allowed to play in the kennel of the oldest female mal (2 yrs old).
Our mastiff plays with everybody who can be played with. He lives on the porch for security and potties in the fenced yard. His buddy is our female wolfhound mix (both are altered) and she is totally indifferent to all other dogs all the time.
Our 2 Pomeranians (female and a neutered male) live indoors but will be moving to my grooming shop/boarding kennel/pet training facility asap due to thier inherent breakability.
Our two malamute puppies (which we intend to keep) will be kept indoors until they are older and then re-evaluated.
Our 2 female great pyrenees live outside with the stock full time. They are not pets and are not treated as such. They respect us as alpha and know very basic obedience (come, sit, stay) and stock-herding commands (gee, haw, bring em in, take em out) but are not socialized with other dogs because that would render them useless.
My male rott mix stays with me all the time except when crated for my sanity or when I am not available to supervise him (at the market, etc.)
Rescue dogs are kept in kennels away from our pets and excersized on another part of the farm. We currently have two unsocial large breed males and one cat-killing female dobie who do not play together or with anyone else, and an english setter and a cairn terrier who are both altered and play with each other. These are rescues who will be adopted out (so far so good, anyway) and they are not aprt of our pack, just dogs we couldn't allow to die in shelters because someone didn't take responsibility for thier training problems.
Let me note that there are no fewer than eight adult humans who live here full time and each have responsibility for different sets of dogs. We each have slightly different training methods, though we have all been influenced by ED and others on this list.
And, I hate to admit, I have been known to break up a dogfight by jumping in the middle of it and smacking (usually with a newspaper or piece of rope) the dogs to break them up. None of our dogs would even consider attacking me so I am lucky. I would NEVER attempt this with any dog we had not raised from a puppy.
Am I doing this right? What should I do instead? Thanks, D