Dogs After A Fight

[02Dogs]

Hi,

My girls have had 3 fights in the past week, both dogs receiving decent damage. Their issue is resource guarding people and position/territory. We're working on focus and NILIF until we get our training strategy next week, however, can I do anything else to settle them down?

Was thinking about trying Bach flower remedies

- Aspen, larch & rescue remedy for the oldest

- Chicory & holly for the youngest

Any other suggestions to help my oldest's nerves and improve my youngest's attitude would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Edited December 8, 2014 by 02Dogs

[persephone]

The younger one may well see the 'disappearance' of the older dog as victory - and will be seeking to reinforce that . IMO.

I really hope you do NOT introduce them with muzzles on - all the fear/anxiousness/aggro and dominance will still be there - but with no way of resolving it

perhaps use leashes for taking dogs inside/outside ..

You may never be able to have them together again - it depends on the professional's assessment, of course.

If you build runs- you can not have an adjoining fence - that will build frustration and aggro. on teh one hand - and increase stress on teh other .

It's always a horrible situation . Thinking of you.

[02Dogs]

The younger one may well see the 'disappearance' of the older dog as victory - and will be seeking to reinforce that . IMO.

I really hope you do NOT introduce them with muzzles on - all the fear/anxiousness/aggro and dominance will still be there - but with no way of resolving it

perhaps use leashes for taking dogs inside/outside ..

You may never be able to have them together again - it depends on the professional's assessment, of course.

If you build runs- you can not have an adjoining fence - that will build frustration and aggro. on teh one hand - and increase stress on teh other .

It's always a horrible situation . Thinking of you.

Thank you, it really is a horrible situation :-(

We have walked them on leads together, however, I will only do this when my husband is home.

Sorry I should of said re-introduced them off lead. Due to the speed and intensity of their fights we have to muzzled when they're re-introduced off lead, we can't risk them injuring each other again That's why we have purchased the muzzles now to slowly get them use to it so they're comfortable and relax while wearing them before they go near each other with it on. And that won't happening until we've completed the training program and the trainer gives us the go head.

*sigh* if I could only speak dog

[persephone]

the professional will help you understand ,and 'speak' more dog , hopefully :)

[cowanbree]

Are they both desexed? Sadly in my experience once bitchs start to fight it is always an issue and while you can manage it they will never be able to be trusted together again.

If they are fighting to the degree that they are causing serious injury rather than just a bit of noise and hair pulling it is time to give serious consideration to rehoming one in my house. Unless it can be resolved nobody including both dogs are happy.

[02Dogs]

Are they both desexed? Sadly in my experience once bitchs start to fight it is always an issue and while you can manage it they will never be able to be trusted together again.

If they are fighting to the degree that they are causing serious injury rather than just a bit of noise and hair pulling it is time to give serious consideration to rehoming one in my house. Unless it can be resolved nobody including both dogs are happy.

Yep they're both de-sexed.

We have a trainer and she is pretty positive about improving the situation. It is just going to take time and consistent training from us.

Re-homing is not an option. Weather or not they can be together off-lead again, we'll be able to manage and ensure the girls are happy.

[WreckitWhippet]

You don't have SBT's by any chance ?

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

The youngest (beta) is now acting very dominant

Youngest rushed the crate as I opened it,

Youngest body blocked the oldest from getting out of the door

Any suggestions you take from here - I suggest emailing them to your chosen trainer for her ok or for her to clarify if not ok.

So my suggestion is as part of the NILIF - that you require some impulse control from both dogs but especially the younger one.

Eg

Crate manners

only gets to go out the crate if you can get her to hold a sit in the crate while you hook the lead on. If her butt moves off the ground you say "oops" and shut the crate door. Wait 30 seconds and try again.

Door manners

dog must sit at the door and wait for you to give permission (including opening it) without moving. If you get this right - eventually you can have two dogs sitting at the door when you have it wide open and you give one permission by name to go out and she goes out, then you give the other one permission by name and she goes out.

I do this with my dog when we're going out the front door. She thinks she owns the entire street and was lunging and barking at anyone in the street - including her friends (my immediate neighbours) not just strange dog and owners going by (but them too).

Now she has to hold a nice calm sit before I open the door and if she gets the least bit excited in the process of going out - we go back in and I shut the door and we start over. So now she is much much calmer at the front door and doesn't go over the top excited before I've even opened it and we've had some good calm response to strangers going by on the other side of the fence (good), while she still barks at people who ring the door bell (good). She regains control of herself much quicker.

If you allow the dog to practice being over excited and rushing lunging and barking and growling in attack mode and you reward that by letting her go where she wants to be, out the door or out of the crate... then this behaviour is going to get worse (I found out the hard way - it's bad to ignore this).

If you require good calm behaviour (NILIF or Premack) then reward the calm behaviour with the dog getting to go out (or anything else she wants eg dinner), then the dog gets better at this.

With the dog being in the crate and you want to practice this before you reach dog toilet hour. Ie practice bringing grumpy dog out of the crate calmly and going for a toilet run - way way befor the dog would normally go for the toilet run because it might take a while to get the calm response you want after the dog has been getting away with rushing out.

The main thing is you're looking to reward and encourage good choices the dog makes - rather than suppress the bad choices by force or give the dog no choice at all. Note you don't want to give the dog an opportunity to make a dangerous choice - so the house door behaviour would need to be done on lead, so you have control over where the dog goes but the dog still gets to make a choice.