9 month old sisters won’t stop fighting

Home Community Dog Behavior 9 month old sisters won’t stop fighting

This topic contains 5 replies, has 0 voices, and was last updated by  Lynnette 15 years, 7 months ago.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #457530

    Deidra
    Member

    I have 2 9-month old pups – both girls. They are border collie mixed with an unknown general breed. Let me first say that the father of the "girls" is full blooded border collie. I’m yet to figure out what the mother’s background is. I’ve looked through so many different dog breed profiles and just can’t find anything for certain. Anyway – the owner of the puppies said that she was going to take the puppies to the SPCA if she couldn’t get rid of them, so after much thought and consideration, I decided to get ONE. We had Lani for a few weeks and another friend of mine had decided to also get ONE and named her Harley. My friend then decided that she just couldn’t deal with a "puppy" – the crying, house training, etc., so I took her in and brought her home. We had already had another female dog (a boxer/american bulldog mix) prior to the puppies. Everyone got along great. This past July, I had to put Lucy down because she got very sick with Cardiomyopathy. It was very hard on all of us and even the puppies took a while to adjust. I guess when they figured out that Lucy wasn’t coming back home is when the problems started. The pups have always played somewhat "rough", and there were a few times I had to correct their behavior/playing/rough-housing, but all in all, they would play-fight and wrestle around, then lay there being affectionate with one another. I’ve always considered Lani to be the more dominant one and Harley, the submissive one. As an example, anytime Lani would rough house with Harley, Harley would just lay down and roll over or whatever. It was always Lani that was on top. They always ran together, ate together, slept together, and played together. Harley just got out of her first heat and Lani is yet to have hers. Since then, Harley seems to have little to no tolerance for Lani’s playing around. The other day, Lani antagonized Harley and Harley reacted very aggressively, standing her ground. I stood there to see if they were going to work it out on their own and when it only got worse, I took additional measures to get them broken up as I honestly feared one wouldn’t stop until the other was no longer moving. I did get bit in the process, but I got them broken up and I checked both of them over when I saw that they were both bleeding. I doctored both of them up and they have been tied up, away from each other since then. I have Harley tied to one tree with a long line for running around and Lani tied to another with the same. They can see each other and they can get about 20 ft from one another. I am even alternating their positions so that neither of them think that that particular spot is "their own". I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but I don’t know what else to do right now. I’m considering getting rid of Lani. It’s not something that I want to do, but I can’t have this sort of behavior going on with kids around. I would love to believe that all of this can be curbed and things will work out for all of us and between us. I do plan to get them both spayed ASAP. I hate leaving them tied up all the time… Any suggestions?

    #457531

    A
    Member

    well im not much of knowing about agressive dogs but you could try these aren’t my tips but there someones lol
    All dogs fight at some time or another when confronting each other or even at play when things get a little aggressive. Wayne Hunthausen, D.V.M., an animal behavior consultant in Westwood, Kansas, and also president of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, says that fighting amongst dogs, while scary to us and harmful to the combatants, is extremely common.
    There are many ways to stop these battles or even prevent them all together with proper supervision and a few training techniques. Here are some basic tips to keep your dogs from fighting and hurting each other more than they have to
    1. Stop the action in a deep LOUD voice. When you see the fighting about to start between your dog an another or if you catch the battle in the beginning stages; then interrupt the scene with an extremely aggressive ?NO!?. Your pet will take this loud thunderous command more seriously than if it where a lighter command call. Trust me, your dog will recognize when its owner means business!
    2. If there is severe fighting for a prolonged time, then use a blanket if need be to grab your dog. This move is a last resort if the fighting between your dog and another has gone on too long and you want to stop your dog from being hurt even further. Throw a big object like a blanket in top of the combatants and then grab your dog. Be extremely careful! Many dog owners have been accidentally mauled by the biting dogs, as they do not pay attention to what they are biting when all wired up from the aggression.
    3. Have your dog meet other strange dogs ahead of time. In other words, plan get togethers with your friends and their pets in which both animals will be leashed and you can control them while they learn that strange dogs are not always hostile. This is a conditioning strategy that works very well in the long run and keeps your dog from being unnecessarily threatened by dogs or other animals that it does not know.
    hope they work=]

    #457532

    Deidra
    Member

    Thanks for those tips. I’ll keep them in mind. I did let them off of their chains yesterday – to run around the yard and play with each other and to more or less "test" them to see if they had learned anything from being tied up after fighting. They actually did great together. They played and wrestled just like old times, running around the yard, etc. My daughter and I also took them both for a very short walk down the street and back trying to keep them in line and on one side. They were very curious about the outside world, so it wasn’t such a smooth walk, but all in all they did pretty good. I went ahead and tied them back up when we turned in for the night, but let them off when I got up this morning. They again did well. Just for peace of mind, I put them back on their chains before I left for work. When I get home, I’ll let them off. I just cannot supervise them while I’m not home and until I’m comfortable with them being around each other unsupervised, it’ll have to suffice this way. In addition, last night, after reading some of the NILIF (Nothing in life is free) tactics, I worked with them both on listening to their commands. Not surprisingly, Lani was much more hard headed and uncooperative than Harley. Any other suggestions that you may come across would be great! Thanks!

    #457533

    anna
    Member

    You know the answer already: get them spayed. Not just ASAP . . . tomorrow. This week at least.
    Dogs typically come into heat at 6-9 months of age. With the dominant dog now gone, the females are fighting for the alpha position now that their hormones have come into full swing.
    The faster you get them both spayed the easier controlling this now-developed aggression will be, but the longer their hormones are allowed to develop the more ingrained their territoriality and aggression habits will become.

    #457534

    Jennifer
    Member

    Hi
    I have almost the same exact problem with my two dogs. I chained them up seperatly and than i let them go they were good for a few days and then they tried to fight again, what did you end up doing? and have they stopped fighting?

    #457535

    Lynnette
    Member

    Hi Crimson Moon… the situation will DEFINITELY help once they are both spayed, that’s the bulk of the problem. After a week of their surgery, you will notice a growing calm affect on them every day. Their hormones make them anxious, and they become territorial. Another thing that will help, other than letting them run around your back yard (unless you have a lot of land), is taking them for a walk on a daily basis for mind stimulation, to help exert excess energy they have built up inside them. They will feel "satisfied" and will become tired. If you could establish a "routine or schedule", the dogs will have structure too.
    A great tv show you should consider watching on Animal Planet is called "It’s Me Or The Dog". Victoria Stilwell is the dog trainer, and her communicative skills with dogs are amazing (I like them better than the Dog Wisperer). It’s about families who have all types of dog behavioral problems, and within one day she corrects the problem/s. Then the families continue with the communicative skills for two weeks with their dog/s, and Victoria then comes back two weeks later, and the dogs are very well mannered. She rescues many families that are in your position. Once you find the solution on how to correct their behaviors, it will be fine. Just try to tough it out until then; I’m sure it’s frustrating, but don’t give up hope. Check out the link below, and please let us know how things progress!

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.