Dogs Fighting

pboae

lv1109, I just wanted to say how much admire your dedication. I know other people who live in a similar way, and it's unbelievably hard work. I don't know if I could do it. You have to be so aware of them every minute of the day. I have the utmost respect for anyone who manages to cope with it.

G-G_4

What a shame, I hope you manage to sort it out..

We tried to mix a second dog with our first a few years back, a Jack Russell cross and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.. well for the first 24hrs they got on great (boy and girl mix btw), but the 2nd day was awful, the new dog Taz (female Staffy), started attacking Max, it was awful.. As soon as we closed the door to go bed she would run at him and attack.. The final straw was when I was filming my OH playing with Taz and Max was next to me, and she was snarling at Max from the other side of the room!

I'm afraid she went back to the RSPCA, it broke my heart.. but, she did get rehomed to a no pet family the next day and we tried another older dog Molly and they have been getting on great for 2 yrs..

Keep trying, because if you get it right then it is well worth it..



x

lv1109

Thanks for your kind words pboae, I really appreciate them. You are right it is hard but hey, the things we do eh! It is all worth it when they are all curled up by my feet, loving me because I am their Mum! That is the most frustraing thing about my dogs - they get on alright most of the time (she says, touching wood with her fingers crossed), it is just the isolated incidents that cause so much grief and heartache.

Sorry to hear about your situation too G-G, but you are right the hard work is worth it.

GoodMoodFood, if you can persevere with it, then just be aware that it will be hard work and there will be no "overnight" cure. It is a slow process, and I still do not 100% trust my dogs when they are all alone together.

Wearing them out with the long walks is excellent for me, aswell as the dogs, because it keeps me trim so I can eat like a pig knowing that I will walk it all off! Thank goodness for small mercies!

lv xx

GoodMoodFood

Hi Everyone!
Your ideas are brilliant!
:T :T :T

You've really filled me with confidence that we can get this problem sorted. Their both (usually) very timid and very friendly!
I definately think the first fight was due to hormones. Ive been doing alot of research and the first fight started because the female 1yr old who was just neutered tried to 'hump' the other female. And of course the other female just turned around and basically told her to F off lol! But it was hormones which confused the 1 yr old due to her operation.
The second one i think was a protective thing. The 1yr old jumped up for attention first and i think the 2 yr old just turned round and thought im not allow to do that so why should you!

The puncture wound my 1yr old received is the only way i can describe it. It not really a puncture wound as in a hole, its more of a scrap. very very tiny and not very deep. I think the majority of it was noise but i think everyone just got scared by it, including the dogs themselves!

I hate muzzles. but i was maybe thinking of using them as a training method. If they do snap or anything whether it be snatching food and not taking it nicely telling them no and putting the muzzle on for 5-10minutes. Water seemed to work we'll with the 2yr old so i think we'll keep using that for now and use the muzzle as a last resort.

The dogs dont sleep together anyway. They sleep in seperate rooms so thats not a problem. We give them alot of exercise anyway.

Today was good. I took the 1 yr old out for the day, and my sister took the 2yr old out for the day. Both got lots of attention seperately, lots of exercise and both are now asleep! The 1 yr old and i went for a picnic at a dam near by and we met lots of doggies, which she said hello to nicely and then she carried on her way (i was very proud of her, running around with the other doggies! Playing nice!)

No males have been around for a while and the seem to be getting better. We keep an eye on them and both have collars on. We pulled them away by their collars when they were fighting but i have since learned this isnt very good as you can risk injury to yourself. An effective way without using water/loud noises is to get a lead when they start fighting and if you can put the lead around their tummy/chest and string the part you clip their collar to through the handle and pull the dog away. If someone else is around they can do the same with the other dog. You pull them apart from behind without risking injury to yourself. I havent tried this yet but it sounds better then pulling them apart by the collar!

GoodMoodFood

Oh! I would also like to mention. They both eat one after another. The 2yr old goes first (the 1 yr old give her alot of room when shes eatting which goes for when they eat chews too) Then the 1 yr old eats. The 2 yr old doesnt really both with the 1 yr old when shes eating because the 2 yr old has already eaten. But when the 1 yr old is eating a chew the 2 yr old tries to take it off her something, not very often but sometimes and thats when warning happen. The 1 yr old will show teeth and make a quick woof noise and then thats about it.

Both dogs will allows us to fuss them and take their food away from them with no problems. We say 'ta' and they loosen the grip on the chew or back away from the food and let us take it. We fuss them afterwards and give them it back after a a reward and usually get a waggy tail

I think its just a top dog thing. Trying to get the next ranking up. We've kept it that all adults are first in the ranking before dogs and i think the dogs are just trying to work out where they are in the rankings. But when WE take the food away there ok with us, and i think thats a good sign! No noise or anything!

ixwood

pboae wrote: »

You won't get show down, unfortunately there are plenty of other people on here who like his approach as well. What Cesar Milan calls calm submissive, other trainers called shut down. His approach is worrying enough when applied by an expert, and can be downright dangerous when applied by an amateur.

Aside from that, once aggression has reached the stage of puncture wounds, its about much more than a telling off for bad manners.

Calm submissive sounds much better than "2 b!tches , it's bound to happen" to me. Cesar would be disgusted with that negative attitude.

How come his (huge) pack all live together happily? And every dog that goes in fits in and gets it?

You need to let them understand you're the boss and it's unacceptable. Improve your dog reading skills and correct any sign of dominance/aggression (herding, staring, posture, taking a higher ground etc ) as soon as you spot it. Don't let it escalate.

I've had dogs for years, and I know you can't trust everything you see on telly, but Cesar really is brilliant. If you haven't seen the Dog Whisperer, try it and make your own mind up.

As for the dogs being "shut down", that's just ridiculous. Have you seen how obviously content his dogs are? They're about as happy as a dog can be.

GoodMoodFood

Thanks Ixwood.
I will try and have a look at that. It sounds like his dogs live happily together and sounds like he has a big pack too!
They've been okay at the moment. But its such a scary situation for everyone involved to be in, and im trying to find ways to prevent it. In the morning i will look Cesar up on Utube or something and see what he has to say. Our dog trainer we went with for the 2 yr old has resently had family issues and we think his b!itch had puppies too, so hes no good at the moment (we've tried contacting him since October so i think this family issue is a close relative passing away) So i dont want to nag or anything if hes going through alot. Ill ask the vet next time we go down for advise too, maybe on a trainer.

ixwood

He really is amazing. He has 30 "problem"/rescue dogs living in a huge compound, with pools etc. He takes problem dogs in to be taught by the power of the pack.

Talking about the power of the pack, do you walk them togeather as a pack? He always walks with the dog (with the dog by his side, not doing what it whats) to start with to get the bond going. Must be a wolf thing.

ixwood

Sky 3 6pm week nights.

pboae

ixwood wrote: »

Calm submissive sounds much better than "2 b!tches , it's bound to happen" to me. Cesar would be disgusted with that negative attitude.

If it would disgust CM, then that's probably a good sign. He can call it what he likes, but it is still dog abuse dressed up to look like training.

If you are going to recommend goodmoodfood follows his advice with aggressive dogs, I hope you'll be just as quick to take responsibility when someone gets bitten.

American Human sum it up better than I ever could:

http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nr_news_releases_dog_whisperer

The training tactics featured on Cesar Millan's “Dog Whisperer” program are inhumane, outdated and improper ... American Humane... expressed dismay over the “numerous inhumane training techniques” advocated by Cesar Millan on “Dog Whisperer.”

Several instances of cruel and dangerous treatment -- promoted by Millan as acceptable training methods -- were documented by American Humane, including one in which a dog was partially asphyxiated in an episode. In this instance, the fractious dog was pinned to the ground by its neck after first being “hung” by a collar incrementally tightened by Millan. Millan’s goal -- of subduing a fractious animal -- was accomplished by partially cutting off the blood supply to its brain.