Feuding Males

Question
My boyfriend and I live with his two dogs - Ace, a 2 year-old australian shepherd, Titan, a 1 year-old lab/dane mix - and Max, my 8 month old german shepherd/lab mix. Ace and Titan have lived together in peace all their lives. Max was introduced about 5 months ago. All three got along well until about a month ago, where we noticed Max exhibiting some aggression towards Ace while in our presence. He stopped that after about a week, but now, Ace and Max gang up on Titan. They are at the point of on-sight attacks, and while no one ever sustains serious injuries, Titan is scared to death and is losing hair in clumps he is so anxious around the other two. They are impossible to separate, but will stop on their own shortly after the attack starts. When Ace is removed from sight, Max and Titan seem to be fine. When Max is removed, Ace and Titan are fine. However, when all three are together, all hell breaks loose. What is going on here and how, if at all, can we regain control in our home? Please help!

Answer
Dear Anna-Maria,

Thanks for including a lot of very pertinent and specific information about your problem.  One thing I don't know is whether any of the dogs are neutered.  If they are not, I'd recommend that you neuter Max first, since he seems to be the variable here, and then the others.  Male dogs generally get along a lot better when they are neutered.  It's a good idea to neuter all 3; I've seen neutered dogs attack intact dogs (out of jealosy?) so it's helpful to keep the playing fields even.

Neutering them will improve your situation but it will not necessarily solve the problem (which you know already if they are indeed already neutered).  There are a lot of dynamics at play here, particularly because none of your dogs have actually reached full maturity yet.  Ace may be there but I often receive calls from dog owners whose previously "fine" dog changes, right at the 2nd birthday.  So what I'm saying is that each dog is growing up and experiencing personality changes individually and this could easily be causing the issues you're facing.  They are so close in age that they are possibly vying for position as pack leader, and even if one takes that place for a day or two, another is likely to challenge that position as they grow up.

You can ignore all the pack stuff however if you are leaving food, rawhides, treats, or any animal-based toy (such as bones or pig ears) around.  Dogs will fight over food, and sometimes over non-animal-based toys such as plush toys, kongs, nylabones, squeakies, etc. so watch them carefully to see if any of these things are causing the attacks.

When an attack starts, be ready with a few sports-cap water bottles and squirt the attackers in the face to stop the fight.  You should also give a command such as "No" or "Stop" when squirting, and eventually you'll only need the verbal and won't need to hunt around the house for your bottle.  Praise all getting-along times any time you can.  If they're all in a room together not fighting, praise each one regularly.  This will cause your squirting punishment to be all the more contrasted to "normal" times.

These are not end-all tactics.  I think ultimately you need the help of a qualified behaviorist who can meet the dogs, you, and observe the situation in your household.  Go to http://www.apdt.com and find a good behaviorist in your area, check references and follow your gut instinct on who to hire.  

Thanks for writing and good luck!
Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysUSA.com