Dog Fights...

[dyet]

Hi

Have some doggie issues. We can't seem to get a hold of them.

Here's the story;

We have three dogs.

Max - 12 Year old male Lab/Shepard X - very good disposition, loves kids, loves people in general except for tha occasional squirrel.
Still has lots of character but doesn't play most of the times, likes to watch us, while sitting on the couch.

Maddie 9 year old female collie/Keshond X - very dedicated companion to my wife, loves to play, and very possessive. Visitors coming to the house can be noisy at times. We never had a problem with her taking to visitors.

enter... the new pup...

Rico - 7 month German Sheppard - very good disposition, friendly loves to play like any normal pup. Has taken to Maddie like a mother, loves to play with her.

What our problem is Maddie at first loved the pup and played with her but now within the last two months, Maddie is distancing herself with the pup..now it will attack and rip fur out of the pup. Rico(the pup) always goes back. I am thinking wanting to get acceptance from the female???.. i dunno?

We scold Maddie telling her bad. But she doesn't listen to anything we say anymore, almost like she is in a world of her own?.. When she is outside
and we tell her to come in and she won't come in, you have to physically go out and grab her by the collar to get her in the house. She doesn't listen to us anymore. Healthwise, she is very overweight (she is on a diet) She had a spell with vommitting and diarreha, but that seems to have subsided. Right now, her urine is extremely yellow but her poop seems to be fine and she hasn't vommitted in awhile.
We did take her to the vet and got her checked out and they did a whole series of tests they all came back except one showing that her kidney levels are a little elevated. Nothing to be concerned about. The vet wanted us to do more tests like MRI etc. But the vet told us that we could spending well into the thousands for treatment. We are not prepared to do that right now.

Basically, the vet thinks that with the new addition of the dog its tough on Maddie's system both mentally and physically???

We have spent more quality time with Maddie, trying to walk her, just being with her. But everytime the other dogs come around a dog fight ensues.
Luckily the other dogs don't fight "that much" just enough to protect themselves and back off.

Now, the older dog Max stays in the basement because he is scared he is going to get attacked.

The dog fight are always in the morning (once we get up) and in the evening. Never during the day...which is odd.

My wife and I are at wits end. We are wondering what we can do?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Dave

[luvofallhorses]

It takes awhile for them to get along. how long have you had Rico? it took forever for my dogs to accept Buster, now that we have a new pup and they are still getting used to having them around.

they are older, too but telling Maddie "bad" is not going to help the situation, if anything it's going to escalate things. say a firm NO, don't yell just be firm.

they don't understand. they were at your house first and now they have to share it with another dog, it's like them accepting a "kid" dog. and it's totally normal for them to do this, because the pup is gonna harrass the other dogs and think it's "fun" when they know it's not. it does screw up their routine living conditions, it just takes TIME for them all to get along because like I said the pup is gonna harrass them and it's perfectly normal.

don't say "BAD" because it's normal they aren't being bad, they are just taking the new living situation normally. so just give them time and don't rush them to like each other. do you have a crate? Maybe when the pup gets out of hand, you can crate him and crate and rotate your dogs when they get out of your hand.

[Giselle]

Maddie 9 year old female collie/Keshond X - very dedicated companion to my wife, loves to play, and very possessive. Visitors coming to the house can be noisy at times. We never had a problem with her taking to visitors.

We scold Maddie telling her bad. But she doesn't listen to anything we say anymore, almost like she is in a world of her own?.. When she is outside
and we tell her to come in and she won't come in, you have to physically go out and grab her by the collar to get her in the house. She doesn't listen to us anymore. Healthwise, she is very overweight (she is on a diet) She had a spell with vommitting and diarreha, but that seems to have subsided. Right now, her urine is extremely yellow but her poop seems to be fine and she hasn't vommitted in awhile.


We have spent more quality time with Maddie, trying to walk her, just being with her. But everytime the other dogs come around a dog fight ensues.
Luckily the other dogs don't fight "that much" just enough to protect themselves and back off.

Now, the older dog Max stays in the basement because he is scared he is going to get attacked.

The dog fight are always in the morning (once we get up) and in the evening. Never during the day...which is odd.

My wife and I are at wits end. We are wondering what we can do?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Dave

Hi Dave, welcome to PT. It sounds like Maddie has some possession and leadership issues. Above, in a quote of your post, I highlighted all the red flags.
1) Maddie is possessive. If you know that, don't coddle her. Spending quality time with her is alright, but be sure you aren't coddling her after or before fights. That is the best way to get a possessive dog to strike out at another dog.
2) Maddie doesn't believe you or your wife are leaders. Thus, she takes it upon herself to fulfill that role. She SHOULD listen to you. It doesn't matter that she used to listen to you and she's not anymore, she should still be listening to you right now. If she won't, you should work on basic obedience again and imply Nothing In Life Is Free (http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm).
3) I highlighted the last bit about your other dog being fearful because, to me, it sounds like he notices a lack of leadership as well.

Interesting thing about the attacks being in the morning and night. Do they usually occur as you're feeding them? If Maddie is indeed possessive and it tends to happen around mealtimes, you need to crate or otherwise isolate Maddie during meal times and keep a vigilant eye out for any attack behaviors. Also, HOW do you feed?

Hope that helps! My dogs fought a lot when I first brought them home, too, but it's up to you to nip it in the bud as a strong leader. It gets easier over time, too

[dyet]

Hi!

Thanks for the suggestions and replies, i truly appreciate it. So we are getting a behaviorist to come into our home next week and see what they can help us with our problem.

I talked to the behaviorist already and he mentioned that he could help out with the problem and he assured me that, with a commitment from us, you will notice improvements right away.

So my wife and I are glad there is a solution!

I will most definitely let you know how we make out!

Thanks again!

Dave