Staffy Bitches Started To Fight

[TanyaK]

I really hope someone can give me some advice. I have 3 english staffies. 2 females (approx 4 & 7) and 1 male (approx 3). All got along together superbly. In fact, we were just bragging the other night how good it is that they all get along, good natured and all will eat together. Well, the other night, I feed to to females together in one of the girls pens and a fight started. It was instigated by the younger bitch but the older bitch of course, didn't back down. I yelled, hit, did everything possible trying to break them up with no luck. I eventually got the big hose with high pressure and it took some doing but I managed to pick one up in the air (adrenaline!!) and throw her into the other run. The older bitch was pretty beat up but she's ok now with some antibitics. I've kept them separated until last night, when my husband decided to see what happens and let the 3 of them out for a run together (as they have done for years). Well again, the younger dog went over to the older dog and started growling and mouthing her. She was trying to instigate a fight again. My husband broke her away and locked her up. What's going on? Why all of a sudden is this happening to 2 dogs that have always gotten along?

Please give me some honest frank advice as I have two children (one of which was attacked by a previous staffy that I owned and had destroyed). I will not tolerate a dog in the yard that I can't trust.

Hope someone can help me.

[Dame Aussie]

I advise you see a qualified reputable behaviourist asap. It could be that the younger dog is challenging the older one, it might not be, we can't tell over the internet.

Dogs fighting with each other does not equate to human aggression so it doesn't necessarily mean your children are in danger, but obviously the fight was serious enough to call for some professional advice.

I'm sure people on here can recommend a good behaviourist near you if you let them know what area you are in. I would keep the two dogs completely separated until you have done this.

Good luck with it.

[persephone]

This can happen, unfortunately.

please keep them totally separated at all times .... and just enjoy one on one time with them as normal.

Contact a good professional.. CLICK HERE for the one who sprang to mind .

You may be interested to read some of the stuff in these threads

CLICK

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CLICK

[Greylvr]

Well if you want frank advice I can give it to you. The dogs are maturing and it is very common for this to happen in this breed. When you have more than one you may at one point have to do the shuffle meaning they may not ever be able to be together. We have to remember these are gladiator dogs and what is bred into them for many generations cant always be trained away.

It common actually and I would be very careful now that they have started fighting. If it was me I wouldnt have them together again not worth the risk IMO. They are your dogs and you can do what you feel is right but these dogs are built to do damage and the risk would be too high for me to allow them to be together again. Sometimes it just takes 1 fight for them to "turn on" meaning learn what a fight is and keep it up.

[persephone]

The dogs are maturing and it is very common for this to happen in this breed.

It is not possible to accurately say what is happening , from behind a screen , really.

This could be the case ..

One could be hiding an illness/injury

One could be pregnant

One could have developed this over time ....and been activated by something simple ..

Unless both have been seen in the flesh by a professional, and vet checked thoroughly ..whatever we say is only a guess..an informed guess maybe ..but still only a guess.

[SoL]

You are asking for trouble feeding the dogs together. You need to feed them in separate runs with the doors closed. You need to put them in their separate runs when you go out. Just imagine if this fight had kicked off and you weren't there (BTW as you have learnt, not much will stop a fight once it has started other than getting in there and separating them yourself or using a break stick, shouting just gets them more whipped up and hosing doesn't touch them). Unfortunately bitches aren't called bitches for no reason and chances are they will bear a grudge now against each other. You will need to have rotational play. It sounds like the younger could be staking a claim for alpha.

Is one bitch due on heat soon? They, like us, get hormonal, but the main contributing factor that I can see is food.

Dog aggression does NOT mean a dog will be aggressive towards humans. However, I would put them all through some discipline/obedience training and up the ante on their exercise. I know that if I haven't run my dogs for a day they all get a bit snappy with each other. After I run them ragged they're content to be together.

If you want to try a behavouralist then great but to be honest I think you will be having rotational play and isolated feeds from now on.

[Greylvr]

The dogs are maturing and it is very common for this to happen in this breed.

It is not possible to accurately say what is happening , from behind a screen , really.

This could be the case ..

One could be hiding an illness/injury

One could be pregnant

One could have developed this over time ....and been activated by something simple ..

Unless both have been seen in the flesh by a professional, and vet checked thoroughly ..whatever we say is only a guess..an informed guess maybe ..but still only a guess.

Didnt say it was happening just stated that is is common in the breed to start fights when they mature.

[Staffyluv]

You need a good behaviourist to assess the situation and dogs.

For the safety of all your dogs, I would highly recommend keeping them separated until you get it worked out.

It does sound like the younger bitch is challenging the older girl but it could be for any number of reasons... Food, pecking order, illness, attention from the humans... It is I possible to tell from this.

Where are you located (sorry if you have said, I am on the iPad and can't see while I am posting), maybe the good people of DOL can recommend a behaviourist for you...

As said above, they don't call them bitches for no reason...

Please keep them apart for their own safety..

[Sandra777]

In addition to what others have said - I would suggest a behaviourist with experience in bull breeds.

Staffords can be hard-wired slightly different to other breeds afterall they were originally bred to fight and it is still in the genes of some.

Feeding two adult Stafford bitches together - you are one brave brave person!

This sort of fighting is extremely unlikely to turn into any sort of human aggression however if they were to start another fight and your children tried to stop them it could be very nasty.

Keep the bitches separated AT ALL TIMES until you have got some on-the-spot advice.

Good luck

[tdierikx]

Some excellent advice so far... a qualified behaviourist is the best step at this point... and until you have a better solution, keep the girls separated completely.

I have 2 girls of my own (a Lab and a Rotti/Pittie cross) - and it ain't the bull breed that will start the fights, nor will she finish them... but she won't back off either. I have kept them separate for the past few of years with no dramas - and also have 2 other dogs and foster for rescue, all of them have no issues with either of the dogs that have issues with each other, so the swapsies routine is only for those two. It works just fine even though it's fiddly, but once you get the routine happening it's all in the course of a normal day.

One thing I never do though, is to feed any of my dogs in close proximity to another - separate rooms is the go at my place.

T.