How to Keep Dogs in the Same House From Fighting
Unlike humans with aggressive tendencies, dogs can't enroll in anger management classes and sort out their feelings. They can, however, learn to get along with their canine housemates. It just requires some home training. Sound simple? Well, not exactly. Dog aggression is a complex problem that varies from situation to situation. Controlling it involves several factors to consider, steps to follow, and of course, trial and error. OK, it takes some work, but here are some tips to get you started.
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Instructions
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Familiarize yourself with the different types of dog aggression. For instance dominance, fear-induced, food guarding, owner protective, possessive, territorial or play escalation.
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Establish the cause of aggression by observing the onset. Is it over food? Did it start off as playing?
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Try to prevent a repeat once you suspect the cause. For instance, supervise your dogs when they eat and train them not wander over to each other's bowls.
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Try to determine whether the aggressive dog simply plays rough and acts pushy, or is seriously aggressive. One way is to observe a fight that breaks out. Dogs that don't want to inflict damage grab around the ears, sides of the neck and shoulders. True aggressors aim for the front legs, the throat, the belly and the eyes. The non-aggressor may grab the aggressor by the ear and hold on, so that the aggressor cannot get to his throat.
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Reward the victim of aggression. For instance, by giving just him a treat or petting only him.
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Reward the aggressor for ignoring the victim. For instance, in the case of a dog that habitually redirects her aggression on her more passive housemate when she can't get to another dog that passes by the fence.
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Take the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em approach" if the above steps don't work. The traditional school of controlling aggression is to clearly establish who the top or "alpha" dog is by greeting, feeding and letting the alpha dog out first so that the more submissive or "beta" dog will follow his lead. However, keep in mind this doesn't always work with a truly aggressive dog.
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Tips & Warnings
Take your aggressive dog to the vet for a checkup to eliminate the possibility of a medical condition being the cause of aggression.
Opposite sex dogs or dogs of different sizes do not guarantee a "match made in heaven."
Never pet an aggressive dog to calm her. By doing so you are reinforcing the bad behavior and thus allowing it to continue.
Separate aggressive dogs from other dogs whenever they are unsupervised to avoid a dangerous situation.
- Photo Credit Photo by Neil Edwards
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Comments
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Our dogs are related, both male, and they just now started fighting right after their 5th birthday. One is neutered and the other is not. Both of them are agressive towards eachother, reaching for the legs and throat. :L Mehhh
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Hey everybody! I have a 4 year old pure bred golden retriever, a 6 month old male frenchie, and a 2 year old female frenchie. The Golden (Lilo) has always bickered a little with the female frenchie (Lucy). But, in the last month Lilo has gotten Lucy in the eye twice (luckily only around the eye lid and the lid itself). The vet said it sounds like you need to find a home for one of them because they both want to be dominant. The male is submissive and everyone gets along with him. Anyway, I don't want to get rid of either of them but I also don't want the frenchie to lose her eye. The cause is usually about food so I know how to prevent that but this last time it was due to attention seeking. Often times it happens when people come over and they all want to greet the person. If anyone has any suggestions please help...Thank you so much!
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my dogs are labs about a year old they are brother and sister and have always gotten along but I recently got them both fixed and now its causing them to fight, as soon as they see eachother they start to growl and take after one another. one is male and the other is femile. I don't know what to do I need help!
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Are they fixed?
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Not really too helpful an article. Just some common sense stuff. I am having a really difficult time with my weenie boys who have been the best of friends for two years. After some disruption in the household and a minor injury to one of the them all hell broke loose. It was just around me but it has escalated and they can't even stand to look at each other. They are both agressive, but one more so. They walk on leads fine together most of the time but inside it is a free for all if they get within reach of each other. Like others here, my heart is breaking. They are headed for the snip next week, hopefully that and with continued "pack" training they will learn to once again get along.
