Bitches Not Getting Along

[poodlemum]

A friend of mine got 2 litter sister Standard Poodles - they are now 16 months old, both de-sexed (I think) and have started having dominance issues. She has asked my advice on how to deal with this but I've rarely had 2 bitches together - my foundation bitch was VERY dominant & would not tolerate another bitch in the household. I did, at one time, have 2, but they were about a year apart in age & got along together ok (I only had them both for about 6 months).

My gut feeling is to advise her to re-home one of the girls - they had a recent fight which got pretty serious. Has anyone else had this problem and, if so, how was it resolved?

[persephone]

You will find discussion on this in this thread - CLICK HERE

Not good news for your friend . She could also get some professional help ....

[WreckitWhippet]

She could seek professional help, but it's not going to solve the situation, just help to manage it. The bottom line is, unless they are prepared to seperate and supervise when together, then it's best to rehome one of them.

[OSoSwift]

EIther manage it - as in they are always seperate, or rehome.

I had two bitches together and one day it all rather exploded and for the next four years they were in muzzles if together with very firm control.

Having to live that way was VERY stressful as letting one out accidentaly when the other was out would have been a disaster, and having only one person in the house allowed to move them around etc.

This is one reason why I recommend people do not get litter siblings, but also match their dogs carefully.

[tdierikx]

Separate them... forever...

My 2 adult girls have only had 4 fights over the 5 years they have been living together - and the last one was a doozy! I have them separated. It's fiddly and fussy and a right royal PITA to make sure they don't ever run together, but that's how it has to be. I can't rehome either dog for a couple of reasons - 1. I adore both of them and they are my responsibility for life, and 2. I know exactly what each is capable of if they get into a fight - it would not be responsible to rehome either of them knowing that they can be triggered to fight the way they have done.

Funnily enough - both girls are perfectly fine with other dogs when we go anywhere, and they are great with the foster pups I have here all the time. They have just occasionally decided to kill each other... *sigh*

T.

[sas]

If they are desexed then their gender is irrelevant, we rehome plenty of desexed bitches to live with other desexed bitches without any issues.

3 options as I see it

1) Get in a Behaviourist

2) Rehome one of them

3) Manage by seperation

[poodlemum]

Thanks everyone. I received another email from her today & I think she is getting resigned to the idea of re-homing one. I certainly sympathise with her - I have had the experience of having to re-home a lovely girl, whom I loved very much - she was just causing too much chaos in the household.

I've known people who've had 2 bitches living together quite happily but I usually advise puppy buyers who want littermates to get a male & a female - less chance of trouble that way (providing they are both desexed, of course).

[Dust Angel]

We had this issue once. Our two bitches after a year or two of being best friends started to behave aggressively, they then had a fight which would have been fatal to one or both if we had not intervened. That was about three years ago. We managed through separation and when the aggression began to die down started to integrate (crates near each other).

After an extremely long process we now have a very happy pack again with three bitches all together. We are always watchful for aggressive signs and any signs of dominant play sees that dog excluded from the pack, on their own outside. For the past year there has been peace and harmony. Of course that is our situation and what worked for us may not work for anyone else, it was also a long hard road. We are damn happy with the outcome though.

Do these dogs get enough exercise? That can be a MAJOR influence.

[Snowysal]

deleted

Edited August 4, 2011 by Snowysal

[Poodle Mum]

Please tell me these Std Poodles don't live in Tassie

pm me!

[LizT]

Oh I'm so glad my Cavalier girls all get on so wonderfully (luckily a very social and easy to get along with breed).

That said I did have to wait years to get my first Cavalier until my Border Collie X bitch passed away as she wouldn't tolerate another bitch and I could only keep large breed (German Shepherd) desexed males with her!! She was very dominant and there were a few "Barneys" even so, fortunately nothing so serious as to cause injury but they did put an outdoor chair through some fibro cement sheeting in a scuffle once.

Your friend has my sympathy. Are the STD Poodles both desexed??

[toy dog]

A friend of mine got 2 litter sister Standard Poodles - they are now 16 months old, both de-sexed (I think) and have started having dominance issues. She has asked my advice on how to deal with this but I've rarely had 2 bitches together - my foundation bitch was VERY dominant & would not tolerate another bitch in the household. I did, at one time, have 2, but they were about a year apart in age & got along together ok (I only had them both for about 6 months).

My gut feeling is to advise her to re-home one of the girls - they had a recent fight which got pretty serious. Has anyone else had this problem and, if so, how was it resolved?

yes we've had it, in all the dogs we've bred and owned there were these 2 litter sisters that use to break out in terrible fights and drew blood several times, pomeranians were a bit more fiery than the chis, to solve it mum housed one and i housed the other in my home. problem solved then one of them didn't turn out as a show prospect so i rehomed her anyway.

i wouldn't think there'd be anyway to really solve it otherthan letting them go for it and letting them solve it themselves, and yes, both bitches were very dominant and similar being litter sisters. never seen that before or since in any of our dogs. i've always let them work it out themselves and they usually do.

ETA: although i have an older bitch now that is 10 and a young bitch which is around 2 and the younger bitch tries to dominant my poor older bitch. both we bred, usually the older girl is living with my parents but i've had to house her with me for a few weeks and i just seperate as the younger one stands over the older one. it usually works just chasing younger one away but usually then her mother gets in the act as well. so i have to chase away 2 dominant dogs. it doesn't help much that the older bitch is usually the dominant one but is meek and mild with the younger girl.

dogs - i don't know can't work them out sometimes. the way i described that it sounds like a circus now.

Edited August 4, 2011 by toy dog

[poodlemum]

Oh I'm so glad my Cavalier girls all get on so wonderfully (luckily a very social and easy to get along with breed).

That said I did have to wait years to get my first Cavalier until my Border Collie X bitch passed away as she wouldn't tolerate another bitch and I could only keep large breed (German Shepherd) desexed males with her!! She was very dominant and there were a few "Barneys" even so, fortunately nothing so serious as to cause injury but they did put an outdoor chair through some fibro cement sheeting in a scuffle once.

Your friend has my sympathy. Are the STD Poodles both desexed??

As far as I know they are both desexed. I know what you mean about very dominant bitches - my foundation bitch was, as I've mentioned, very dominant & would even occasionally have a go at her (much larger) son!