I have a three year old female with very high prey drive and a one year old male with solid drives all around.
My female used to be very dog aggressive but using level 20 prong correction(per the article) seemed to cure her. It took about five yanks that completely took her off her feet to get her to listen to me. She's still wound like a tight spring when we see a dog but she doesn't release.
Now to my problem. About six months ago she went after my male right after I had given them each a treat. I was right there and able to break them up real quick with no damage done. Since then I haven't given them treats when they're together and that seemed to settle that problem. She still picks at him a little every once in a while but he ignores it and nothing ever happens.
Today while I was at work my wife had both dogs inside. The female was closed in our office and the male was following my wife around the house. He had his lead on but the female didn't.
My wife was going into the office and my female forced herself out the door as soon as it was cracked open. She went straight into my male for all she was worth. My wife grabbed the lead and tried to pull the male into another room but he was to strong and she couldn't separate them.
My wife shut herself in the bedroom and was really freaking out. I work over an hour away from home and our dogs were still fighting in the other room. So she called 911 first and then me.
The dogs were finished with their fight by the time the police arrived. They made sure my wife was alright, told her to keep the dogs separated and went on about their business.
Thankfully, no permanent damage was done. My female has both of her ears chewed up a little and a couple of shallow puncture marks on her chest. My male has some deep punctures right between his shoulders and another set of deep punctures on his left flank. They're draining fine so he should be ok too.
After this novel, finally to my questions. Does this look like a case of not quite corrected dog aggression or does it look like something else could have set off my female? Also, if it turns out to be dog aggression, am I at the point that an e-collar is the best method of correction?
Todd it sounds like a situation where its not quite clear whos is Alpha among the dogs. Which one is the oldest? It seems that the female is either upset because you are treating the male like hes the alpha or on equal grounds with her.
I have a male and female dog this type situation seems to work better the like gender dogs. But I also help set the Alpha role, I usually will give the Male Alpha his treat 1st, he goes through the door second after I go through, his food is placed in his blow 1st, and hes leased 1st. All this to set the pack in the right order.
They don't fight when I'm in sight, they do play fight and rough house but they never have the wounds your dogs have.
I'd suggest giving the female her treat first, placed the leash on her 1st or on her if 1 or the other has to wear a leash. I'd pet her 1st, feed her 1st, if she feels like queen B she won't have to prove it, so often.
There could be other factors here, I'm not there to witness how these fight start. But I will say that if it not put in check, it will continue maybe even esclate, if she feels her position is threaten, by you treating the other dog like he is Alpha.
Todd, my 7yr old JRT does NOT like my 4 month old GSD. I found a very simple solution to the problem. Unless I'm with them, they are NEVER together. If your dogs aren't under your complete control, they should never be together.
Bob it seems that one or the other are always with the dogs, its just that only Todd is able to stop them from fighting, because they are too strong for his wife.
I would used Bobs suggestion but I'll add that until this is resolved, I would leave only one dog out at a time when the wife is by herself. I'd asked her to work each dog in short Ob sessions and play with them one at a time.
When you are home I'd try to adjust and form a Pack order with soild rules. Its sound sorta mute, but it is the way they live in the wild there is a pack order, the domestic dog still has the traits of his wild brother, the Wolf.
John you are right, but I was not trying to bust his balls. But I guess he needs to recongnize.
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I don't allow my female to pick at my pup. She still tries when we have them together but I jump in right away with that "level 20" correction that takes her off her feet. He still ignores her "picking at him."
Also, We have been keeping both dogs apart since this mess started. The time I spoke of in the original post - They were apart as well but the female forced her way out of the office when my wife cracked open the door. The only time they're together is when I'm home and the pup is on an anchored lead and I have my female on a lead in-hand.
What have I been doing to try and fix this problem? I put my male pup on an anchored, fifteen foot lead and bring my female near him on a standard leather lead with prong collar. The second she looses control and goes for him, I start with a "NO!" and yank her back as hard as I can. I'm pulling her back so hard that she literally leaves her feet and lands a bit behind me. She'll usually go right back at him two or three times before she'll get the idea. Then I put her through sit, down and stay.
It's only been ten days since my original post and I posted on the night after all of this originally happened with my wife. I ended up taking him to the vet due to swelling and he needed a drain tube plus antibiotics. I've only been doing the above with my dogs since Monday because I wanted to give my pup a chance to recover a bit.
Also, since the fight, my wife never has both dogs in the house when she's home alone. Remember that before, they were separated, but my female forced her way through a door that my wife was going through.
Our vet suggested that this might be a jealousy issue more than an aggressive one. We've been working on that end of things as well. Our female is first and last in everything from petting to exercise. She also gets more attention when both dogs are together with us. We were already doing all of this since we brought the pup home but we've stepped it up a notch.
I'll post another update if there's a change or if this goes on for a while with no changes.
Todd what I mean by seperated is one crated, and the other out of the crate or secured separation. Just being in seperate rooms is an "accident that happened".
Having one tied out and the other on leash builds up frustration in both dogs, one is tied up and can't run. The other is angry because she can't get to him, today.
I'd do the same thing sorta but have your wife hold the border collie leash. Start by you guys walking by each other with the dogs on your left leg and 5-6 feet away from each other (nobody feels trapped). Then gradually build this up to a sit 5-6 foot away and off facing each other. With you guys (U & wife) acting calm and talking. But keeping an eye on the dogs.
If I have two dogs that don't get along and the owners insist on keeping both dogs, I try to get the owners to only allow the dogs out together in obedience positions (preferrably down) also I do not allow the aggressor to even look at the other dog. ie. Leave it. The dog is corrected for even looking at the other dog. If the dog is not looking at the dog, she can't be aggressive to it. Of course you have to build up to this from distance. The standards can be relaxed after both dogs are comfortably down together, in other words neither is wound up like a spring as you described, but content to be down. At this point I would let them up for a minute or so, then back down or in crates. When I put my dogs on a down, I expect them to be able to hold the down comfortably for an hour or more with major distractions.
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