Male Attacking Female
Last Friday the female had her leg operated on due to a hidden bite I didn’t see that got infected. For the most part they get along, but won’t play. We walk together, they sleep in the bedroom together, play together, etc. And then out of nowhere he will go after her. The only way I usually know this is by her crying. By the time I get there it is over. There is no indicator when this is going to happen. Both dogs have been through obedience training. The male is sneaky enough not to do it in front of humans, because he knows he will be corrected verbally. I’m afraid something worse may happen if I don’t get this under control. They were alone for less than a minute this morning when I heard her crying. When I got there he stopped and she was limping holding her front paw up in the air. She is the sweetest dog and it just breaks my heart that these things are happening to her. The male is also very good with people, but he has trouble with dogs. I’m down to either a shock collar, which I recently bought, but have not tried yet or a muzzle, because I never know when it will happen. I’m out of ideas. Will they ever be able to coexist together? Am I fighting a losing battle? Any and all advice would be appreciated. |
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| Wow... I'm sorry for your troubles.
It sort of sounds like you know you have to do something. Perhaps one option that you didn't mention was rehoming of one of your dogs. If you still want multiple dogs, perhaps the boy could be rehomed; if one is enough, perhaps your girl could be rehomed. Perhpas rehoming one or the other is the best solution since your male dog may never be happy with another dog around. I don't know if this is necessary, just an option you hadn't mentioned, although I'd strongly guess you've thought about it. I have no answers for you, other than to offer my moral support. I'm sure others will jump in with some opinions and advice. |
| Have you sought help from an animal behaviorist? They might be able to help you subdue the aggression your male continues to exhbit towards your girl. Have you checked with your vet to make sure that there wasn't some sort of medical problem with George that might cause aggression- such as an undescended teste which wasn't removed, or a thryoid problem? Both of those medical issues may cause agression. This is sort of shooting in the dark, but they are ideas for you to explore. Good luck!
Karen  |
Wow, I'm sorry you're going through this.... and your dogs too 
It sounds like it's not a very happy existence and if it's been going on this long, I really don't know that it can be corrected. A dog with dog aggression often remains that way. I don't have any advice to offer... other than talk to a professional, see if anyone has ever successfully gotten a dog aggressive dog to get along with other dogs and how they did it.... Good luck! |
| I had a dog- agressive dog, and hated it. He learned to get along with the dogs of the hosuehold, but no other ones. I had to keep him separated when fostering, or if it was a long-term foster I had a daily routine with step-by-step approach I used to be able to manage it.
The worst thing to do is the correct the dog for doing this. That makes it worse, and he associates the other dog with causing the problem with you. Dog's don't have the ability to look at their own behavior and analyse it. They just react. In your case, I do not have much hope for it ever to work out so you are totally comfortable and the dogs are both happy and safe. Sometimes the chemistry between 2 dogs just doesn't work. I would suggest re-homing of one of them at this point. |
| Hi,
I put in some thought after reading your post the other day and even though I am a dog savy person, your post has stumped me. I used to do education pet talks for the Humane Society for three years and would talk about dog behavior and why dogs do certain things. Dogs have a code of law that most abide by, such as males don't attack females (not counting the usual establishment of heirachy in the household) , adult dogs don't attack puppies (not to be confused with dicipline). Like people this isn't a 100% code as again like people some break their code. Your scenerio seems a bit unusual as the male dog is actually harming the female. This too is puzzling as most dogs learn as pups to inhibit their bites and not to actually harm a littermate. The mother dog usually runs over to investigate and breaks it up if play gets too rough. However as you didn't notice the bite when it occurred it may have been he got to rough and as a result she was injured unintentionally. In multi-dog households, one dog will usually emerge as alpha and the other acknowledge it. With two dogs it's not as apparent and with male/female households most of the time it may even go back and forth. If an older female is in the home...it's been my experience that most times it's the older female that rules the roost. The human should always be the alpha to all the dogs or you'll have chaos in the home, should the alpha dog think he/she makes all the rules. This might be the key. When Panda came into my home aprox 2 years ago, he was readily accepted by Merlin but Blue the old dog was not happy having a new brother. He constantly attacked Panda whom wouldn't hurt a fly and is submissive with other dogs. Merlin started siding with Blue and so everytime Blue will try to start a fight with Panda...Merlin would come flying and bark in Panda's face. I under no circumstance allowed this to continue as I was Alpha in the house and let them all know it. It meant taking the Alpha dog (Merlin) and making him work for everything to show him I was boss. I don't mean this in any way that being boss is being mean to a dog. Rather, things like I went up the stairs first, I hand fed Merlin, I may him sit and kept reinforcing the "Leave it" command. Lots of hard work and patience and eventually it worked. Panda could handle Blue on his own...it was Merlin whom was the boss and so it was him I worked with. When Blue no longer had an ally in Merlin he stopped going after Panda. It reminded me of a kid acting big with other kids as he had a huge big brother to back him up. Once the backup (Merlin) was not in the picture, peace resumed in the household. I also anticipated things that may happen and prepared for it...soon as something appeared to be escalating I would immediate distract to difuse any potential situation. It also helps if you know how to read dog's body language as it may even be that the female is vying for top spot and the male is not allowing her to, although to you it could be that she is the victim in all of this. She may in fact, be the instigator! Really hard to say unless you are there to observe the interaction in person. One of the posters was correct the innocent pawing a dog may do to another - placing their paw on another dogs back may be viewed by the other dog as a sign of domination and not play. When observing my dogs I came to realize that Old Blue saw his place in the heirachy sliding and he started playing with Merlin even at his age..15! In the animal kingdom this is a common occurance....an older more vulnerable member gaining an ally in a strong member whom will protect them. Monkeys are known to do this and I suspect this is what Blue did when Panda came into the household and started playing with Merlin. Old Blue whom had not previously been interested before started playing with Merlin, until they are now inseperable and Panda is the one on the outs. I'd suggest hiring an animal behaviorist to come to your home to observe the interaction and give you possible solutions. While it's true sometimes nothing can be done if two dogs or in your case one...don't like each other. In a perfect dog world you may have two really friendly dogs whom have no interest in being alpha and just play. Or you may have one who is a bit more dominant than another and the more submissive dog feels perfectly at ease with this. Submissive dogs feel "safe" if there is a leader to make them feel more secure. Or...you could have two dogs contantly vying for top spot and neither is willing to back down and this is where fights and problems lie. With Blue and Panda they eventually just tolerated each other. Just to give you hope...only 2 days ago...when I returned home with Panda from the vets...Blue rushed to greet him with a tail wag and nose touching....it took 670 days of togetherness in the household for that to have happened when I was sure that nothing would ever make them be buddies. The tag wagging and nose touching was so astonishing to Panda that at first he jumped back...then slowly approached Blue and the two touched noses and did the side greeting both tail and stub wagging. I wish you the best of luck and please keep us posted. Marianne and the boys |
| I have nothing to add that the above, VERY DOG SAVY POSTERS have not already said, except my sympathy and concern for your situation. It sounds like a difficult spot to be in and I wish you the best!!! |
| A friend had this with her standard schnauzers (spelling??). She had two choices, get rid of one or keep them isolated permanently. She chose the later since both were quality show dogs. One lived in one part of the house, the other had the other half. They did not intentionally intermingle, if they did he'd immediately begin fighting. That arrangement lasted 7 years. (I can't imagine........)
I know sheepdogs who must be the only animal......no other dogs, no cats . I'm sorry you have this problem. |
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