Dogs Fighting

Hey guys, need some advice. Last year my alpha dog went to the Bridge (a little terrier mix female) and since then, my other two big dogs (Max & Annie) have been battling. Most of the aggression seems to come out over food, toys, and especially over jealousy over me. Last night hubby was in bed and I was watching TV. Both dogs were kind of curled around the bottom of my chair. The male started to growl, and the fight was on. I had to get in the middle and yank them apart. The male was still snarling so he was put outside for a "timeout". After about 1/2 hr., I let him in and then they were buddies again. What the heck is going on? They are both "altered".

Gee! Teena, I knew that kind of scene very, very, very much. I also have two dogs, and the alpha one also bit my other dog. Gee! what a site that was. Its very lucky of you that neither of the dogs got hurt. Mine did. The smaller dog was bitten on the neck by the alpha dog, and it bleeded. Gee, its really horrible, and u can jst imagine the alpha dog holding onto the other dog w/o any notion of letting go! And worst of all, this happened twice in one day. UGGHHH!!! Until now, I have no idea bout what to do with them. I placed one into a kennel temporarily just to prevent such thing to happen again. I just don't know what gives, since they are buddies before. Everything just happened so quickly. I sure hope that this wont happen to them again and also to your dogs. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/confused.gif http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/frown.gif http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/mad.gif

[This message has been edited by ellensy (edited February 17, 2001).]

Sounds like the dominant dog has gone...to the Rainbow Bridge...and the position of dominant status is now open. And there's 2 contenders for the title. My thoughts...and I'm no expert...would be to acknowledge one as dominant & encourage it with things like feeding it first. I'd look for the one that seems to be backing down most in these fights....that is, falling into a lying position (i.e. submissive pose). That's NOT the dominant one. But when there's danger of them hurting each other while this dominance balance is being worked out, I'd check it out with an animal training expert. Maybe your vet knows somebody.

Actually, a better idea is this: YOU be the dominant dog. Carrie posted a wonderful solution on another forum here - see http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/Forum2/HTML/000100.html for her suggestion, which seems ideal!