My sheepdog is becoming aggressive toward his brother
They are brothers and I actually rescued his brother when he was 1yr old. They will be 2 in December and Murphy is becoming very agressive, attacking Rocko and I don't know how to handle this. They are both pretty large and getting in the middle is scary. Can somebody please help? |
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| The first question is are they neutered? |
| Murphy is not, Rocko is |
| My guess would be you've just answered your own question.
I think that the testosterone is most likely the cause for Murphy's agression; perhaps he is seeing his brother, another male dog, as competition for a mate. If you will be having Murphy neutered, having it done sooner rather than later would probably be a good thing, as you really don't want the aggressive behavior to become engrained. Perhaps others will chime in with their thoughts, too. |
I agree that you want to stop the behavior asap! Years ago I had two females (sisters) that got into it when they were about 6 months or so. After the first bout, brought on by seemingly nothing they had a 2nd heated debate which I believe would have been to the death had my husband and a friend not been there to stop it. I think they got jealous. They were both very loving dogs and got along fine with my other dogs, but not with each other. Sisterhood. 
It is very scary and I would advise NOT getting in the middle. It helps if another person is around, but the best way to seperate them is to grab the back legs and pull them apart. You also have to be careful that one doesn't think you're siding with the other. That adds fuel to the fire. The more excited you become the more excited they also become. I agree with Ron, try to get him neutered and hopefully that will end your problems. Good luck. |
| I have a 5-female, Emma, and a 2-yo male, Oliver. Both dogs are neutered. Up until Oliver's arrival, Emma never showed aggression towards anything, even when other dogs barked/growled/snapped at her. Every once in a while Emma attacks Oliver and she has been doing this since he was young. She has never drawn blood but she has come away with some fur once or twice. This tends to happen maybe once every two or three months.
The problem has now escalated. Emma went after my 14-month old daughter this past week. We have always been careful to make sure Sarah doesn't hit or pull on Emma. She's actually very cute the way she will gently stroke the dogs' fur. I know that any dog can react aggressively if they are scared or hurt -- and I grew up with sheepdogs. When this happened Emma was laying on the ground and Sarah just started gently petting her. We try to be there any time Sarah is interacting with either dog but I wasn't there and my wife was moving there from across the room. It didn't appear that there was any actual contact but Sarah was screaming, my wife was scared and Oliver started barking away (as he usually does when Emma attacks him). Clearly this is a potentially bad situation. For some background, prior to Oliver's and then Sarah's arrival, Emma was all about me and I gave her plenty of attention. She doesn't get as much attention now, partly because I have less time and partly because one sheepdog isn't going to sit around while another one is getting attention. This is clearly not a neutering situation but I do think this is about competition and showing who's boss. Any other ideas for eliminating this behavior? |
| Sounds like Emma needs to be reintroduced to the Nothing In Life is Free policy. Feed her an entire meal by hand. Kibble by kibble. Once a week. Wouldn't hurt to do Oliver the same way. It would be a good idea to let Sarah participate when you do it, thereby establishing that she is higher in the pack order than either of the dogs.
And of course, as you already know, nothing beats close supervision when Sarah is interacting with them. 
Good luck. Let us know how it goes! |
| Just my opinion, but I would not leave your child within "getting" distance of the dog until your situation is resolved. Maybe Emma was asleep and thought it was Oliver. Maybe not.
One thing I've noticed with dogs (mostly females) is that they tend to watch you repremand, teach, punish, etc..... the other critters. Then at times, for some reason they take it upon themselves to become you're "babysitter" and when they think someone is out of line, they let them know about it. Such as when you first got Oliver, snatching him up and rushing him to the door to go pee pee before he went on the floor. Say, yelling at him while doing this. Emma knows you're upset with him and she wants you happy so.she thinks....."Well, I take care of this problem." Your daughter, say you were always chasing Oliver away from her, but not Emma. She may start after him if she thinks hes headed her way. Maybe a poor examples, but I hope you get the general idea of what I'm trying to say. Perhaps someone else can explain it better. Good luck. |
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