Sibling Rivalry
Now all of the sudden, they are at each other constantly. There is growling and snarling (on both of their parts) whenever they are near each other, which is every waking hour. They are both getting extremely possessive of me. If one is near me, the other has to wiggle their way inbetween, so they are closer to me. I know this sounds sweet, but it is not. I don't believe its done out of love for me, but contempt for each other! They are definately on each others nerves...and consequently, they are BOTH getting on my nerves! Any ideas what's going on here? Any ideas how to regain the peaceful co-existance we used to have? Deborah, Pirate and mean ol' Molly |
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| Hello,
My sheepies are the same way (hence the nickname "The Monster's). It seems to come and go in spurts. It's due to them trying to establish dominance in the pack. I personally thought they would've worked it out by now, but they still go at it (although the time between episodes has increased). They've lived together for 1 1/2 yrs now. We can go 2 months w/o any excitement, then all of a sudden Buckley will lay in front of the hallway entrance, blocking gracie in or out. Gracie wines continuously until Buckley gets tired of listening to her or I do and make him move! Then anytime we are giving Gracie attention, Buckley wiggles his way in between us. If he's laying next to me and she walks by, he'll growl real quietly and low pitched- just to let her know he's there. It's crazy- but then 1 week or so later, they're back to being somewhat normal. I've always been told they'll work it out amongst themselves- what we're supposed to do in the mean time to keep our sanity is beyond me 
Not much help, but know you're not alone 
Cindy & The Monsters |
 Hi All, new to this forum but am owned by two OES and am having the same probs. they are at each other nearly all the time now, it wasnt to bad in the beggining and I would have thought after nearly a year one of them would have taken the lead role , but it hasnt happened, usually its over me i.e when one gets closer than the other etc. have tried ignoring them but that dosent really work as they are both show dogs and I dont want any damage to either, have tried seperation but again cant do that for long, I think one is just approaching the terrible 2's and the other is 15 months so a bit close in age, normally they are ok, but know and again for no obvious reason they start at each other and if i'm not in the room its a full blown fight, why wont one of them back down, any tips anyoneHuggles B-eye |
| I need alittle more information to help. What are their sexes and are they spayed/neutered? |
| I have a 15 mon. OES spayed and a 3 yr. old spayed Dalmation and since the day we got Abigail she has been the Alpha and has showed Mimmi who is boss. Mimmi is a sweet dog and bows to Abigail, but last night it got real bad.
Abigail attached Mimmi while no one was around them and riped Mimmi's ear. There was no food around and I'm not sure what triggered Abigail to do such a thing. I've seen Abigail attack Mimmi for no apparent reason. Are all OES crazy like this? When my husband tried to seperate them Abigail released Mimmi and then went for her again. My husband said, Abigail showed her teeth and him and when he yelled at her she calmed down. I put Abigail in the room and gave her time out. I'm hoping this will work. Any suggestions? |
| Not ALL OES are crazy like this - but some dogs just don't get along with others!
You need to assert your position as ALPHA! I would recommend reading the book, The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation, by Jan Fennell and/or the book The Dog's Mind: Understanding Your Dog's Behavior, by Bruce Fogle, Anne B. Wilson. They both have excellent information relative to pack behaviors and aggression, etc. If you haven't already - I would get Abigail enrolled in obedience class (positive reinforcement only)! The other issue I would consider is seeing if there's a medical reason behind Abigail's "outbursts". Have her thyroid tested! Make sure she's on a lower protein diet! Also - see if you can determine what they are fighting over - ??? dog toy, bones, etc. - and remove the stimulus! It's not an easy situation to live with - I've been through it before too! It's like walking on eggshells wondering when the next fight will occur and hoping that noone gets hurt! I hope I've helped somewhat! Best of Luck! Kristen |
| I think I am a little confused...is b-eye and Abagails mom one and the same or not? It sounds like two different situations in each post, that is why I was asking.
In b-eye's situation with 2 show OES, I would assume being show, they would not be altered. If this is 2 unaltered males, I would think that could be the reason for neither of them backing down. It has also been a very long bad week for me, so I might have everything very confused and not know what I am talking about. 
With Abigails Mom situation, I agree with Kristen, she gave wonderful advice. I am mom of 2 sheepies, and they are not crazy, well at least not in a bad sense of the word. LOL Welcome, all of you, to the forum. I wish you all the best! Stormi and co. |
| I too was confused Stormi! They are two different people - with the same problem. I hadn't seen the "show" part of b-eye's post - so you are right - they won't be altered and that's probably part of the problem! |
| We have the same behavior with Lennon and Sofa. They try to dominate each other, trying to take away toys from the other and sometimes a deep growl when they are not in the mood of being with each other, but everyday living is very calm and the incidents don't usually go further than tugging toys and trashing around the house while they play and run. They are good friends, play a lot, groom each other and Lennon even offers a tug toy to Sofa to play with when they want to play, they even exchange food plates from time to time without problems, but there's the ocassional humping and play fighting if we let them.
Constant supervision helped a lot in our situation, fighting and rough playing are not encouraged in the house unless I initiate it. Plenty of excercise seems to calm them down, the are up the walls if they don't go out for a couple of days. If you separate them, they are immediatly whining and barking because they are apart... Crazy dogs. The only real problem we have is when we open the door and they bolt away to the park. They follow a ritual: Run like crazy, Lennon on front, then Sofa passes him, he roars at her and both stand up and growl and roar to each other, get an 4 legs again then run again to repeat it for 2 or 3 minutes. Then everything is OK. When they do that, they look very agressive to each other and sound really menacing, but once that passes, they are the sweetest dogs, they play, share a ball, fecth and let themselves be petted by the neighborhood kids. Do you have any idea why they do that? And how to avoid it? We've tried letting one out, then the other but it does not work. I don't want our neighborhood to be afraid of them, and I don't want them to hurt themselves when they jump like that. |
| My two girls do this a bit lately, but I think Dancer must be getting close to her first heat, and so is asserting a little dominance over Sky. It hasn't been out and out fighting, just nipping at each other and playing more rough than usual. Hopefully it doesn't escelate past that. |
| saulmr...I got a chuckle imagining your two doing that on the way to the park. It sounds like they are just arguing on who is going to be first. When Jules (our sheepie) and Jenny (our border collie mix) run together Jules has to cut Jenny off and she growls at her if she gets ahead. She tries to herd Jenny by being the leader. She will actually stop dead in her track sideways to block Jenny. It is so funny but they do sound menacing. |
| Sorry guys if I was a bit vague, yes they are both intact, being for the show ring, I've read The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation, by Jan Fennell from cover to cover and still cant find a solution, at the moment they are lying side by side asleep,,peace lovely LOL I know they say the answer is to have one of them snipped but surely in the wild i,e with the alpha this kind of thing wont be the norm, and I know other people who have no probs, they both went to training but were not keen as in too many dogs all crushed into tiny space. they are generally well behaved Digby the baby is very happy to please, Bilbo Baggins the 2 year old is normally so laid back he is almost horizontal LOL, they get fed seperatly but can fight over a treat so am allways carefull when I give treats, I've had OES before and never had this kind of problem,
just dont know how to solve this one 
Huggles B-eye |
| Hi Everyone,
Oh wow could I relate to this post having three dogs in the house...and the same as all the other posters there is peace for a while then all 'ell breaks loose when I've think they've established whom is dominate. In my case Blue the older 15 year old dog lost his Alpha position to Merlin. Merlin is still a rowdy teen so it's not the best to have him in the top spot but he's the most dominate of the three. Blue and Panda each get along with Merlin but will submit to him and each vie for second in the chain of command. Yikes...no peace on some days. Although I don't have all the answers..removing the triggers is a biggie..no toys left on the floor, and as food is an issue with Blue..the other two eat outside. I think each of us have to figure out what is the trigger for our sheepies. My trainer had a great suggestion for stopping the getting into each others face when trying to get my attention. Each had a hand...let me explain. Merlin always gets the left hand, Panda the right....never an exeption. Even if I'm with them at the park alone and they go to the wrong hand for a pet...I extend the other one out and they believably do get it and walk around to the correct hand. This prevents them from getting into each others face when wanting pats from me..this way they are not facing each other but one will be on each side and I can pet both at the same time. If they do both come at me head on and I know they may be a problem I simply get up and walk away from them. Hope this helped a little. :O) |
weezie wrote: saulmr...I got a chuckle imagining your two doing that on the way to the park. It sounds like they are just arguing on who is going to be first. When Jules (our sheepie) and Jenny (our border collie mix) run together Jules has to cut Jenny off and she growls at her if she gets ahead. She tries to herd Jenny by being the leader. She will actually stop dead in her track sideways to block Jenny. It is so funny but they do sound menacing.
Weezie, you just described my problem! Fortunately, for getting to the park all I got to do is open the front door and off they go, bolting they way out. You are right, they sound and look very menacing, but they never hurt themselves and if Sofa gets tired of that, she starts chasing Lennon... That looks funny. Anyway, have you had any chance trying to stop them from doing that? |
b-eye wrote: Sorry guys if I was a bit vague, yes they are both intact, being for the show ring, I've read The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation, by Jan Fennell from cover to cover and still cant find a solution, at the moment they are lying side by side asleep,,peace lovely LOL I know they say the answer is to have one of them snipped but surely in the wild i,e with the alpha this kind of thing wont be the norm, and I know other people who have no probs, they both went to training but were not keen as in too many dogs all crushed into tiny space. they are generally well behaved Digby the baby is very happy to please, Bilbo Baggins the 2 year old is normally so laid back he is almost horizontal LOL, they get fed seperatly but can fight over a treat so am allways carefull when I give treats, I've had OES before and never had this kind of problem,
just dont know how to solve this one Huggles B-eye Time may help matters! It's best to not interfere too much - as long as noone is going to get seriously injured! That, however, is easier said than done - because your instinct is to get them apart and stop things before they escalate. They need to work out their pecking order and if this were "dogs in the wild" noone would be interfering in that. However, dogs in the wild often got hurt in this process - which you don't want to happen so use your best judgement. Do you spend "seperate" one on one time with them? You may want to try working with them on training issues seperately. It may help that they aren't fighting over your attention. Good Luck! I know how difficult this situation is - I've been there before (and my dogs were neutered!) Kristen |
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