Quote:
Originally Posted by krazyaboutkatz
Male dogs fight for dominance usually and for the most part, they quit when the other dog gives up--speaking of a one on one battle, a pack fight is a whole different thing. Males will look and sound like they are killing each other, but often do no actual physical damage. Most often they go back to being buddies once the "who's the boss" issue is resolved. I've only ever had one male I couldn't reintegrate into the main pack after a fight and that was a pack fight, not a dominance issue.
Females start to fight for any number of reasons, but they fight differently than males once they start. They fully intend to hurt each other and will not stop, even when the other dog is unable or unwilling to fight back anymore. The worst fight I've ever broken up was two female malamute mixes, littermates. If Stuart hadn't been home to help me, I have no doubt that Kayleigh would be dead. I've broken up 15 dog pack fights alone, but I could not seperate those two females. Females hold grudges. They tend not to go back to being buddies once they've had a battle. They tend to look for the next opportunity to try again!
I have 8 females in my pack. Only the seniors are ever left in the same area when no one is home to supervise them.
Altering an animal does not change the basics of their personality. It has many benefits and may calm things down. I couldn't keep unaltered dogs in the pack setting my dogs live in. It would be chaos all the time. A dominant male will still be dominant after the big snip. A female who doesn't like other females will feel the same way after she's spayed.
Interesting about the cats. I'd never heard that about groups of female cats and I dont' find that here. 5 of my 9 are females. My only one with territorial issues is a male! Course it is one of the girls that sets him off most!
