AGGRESSION - 2 BOXERS FIGHTING

Question
I have two Boxers, Scooby (5 yrs old) & Scrappy (2 yrs old).  Have had both dogs since they were puppies.  Scooby was neutered when he was about 2 yrs old.  Scrappy is not neutered.  They are both males.  For some reason, Scooby keeps attacking Scrappy for no apparent reason and I do not know what to do about it.  They are never left home alone due to this.  Scrappy is in a cage when we are not home.  Scooby roams the house.  Scooby is so aggressive with Scrappy that if I was not here to break them up, he would honestly kill Scrappy.  This has only happened within the last 6 months, and has happened about 6 times.  When it does happen, I separate the two of them for a while and usually things are okay.  As of yesterday, Scooby attacked Scrappy for no reason, we separated them until today and when I tried to let them be around each other, immediately Scooby attacked Scrappy again, for no reason.  Please help...  Thank you, Tami

Answer
First, let me say, in my first litter that are now 9 months old, we named one boy "Scoobie" and in my second litter that is only 5 weeks old, there is a boy that looks exactly like his older brother "Scoobie" so we've named him "Scrappy."


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What you have is; Scoobie being the older (and neutering has nothing to due with their fighting or behavior-- all neutering does is stop a male from jumping a fence to find the female in heat)... he thinks he is the "alpha." He is defending his alpha position to Scrappy, who must have challenged him, and has more than once.

Alphas are always challenged, and the winner becomes the alpha.

Scoobie is the alpha. Scrappy is the "omega" since there are only two.

You have to work hard with this situation. It will require a family effort, so have a discussion about what you will do and what commands you will say.

Get a flyswatter. A big, plastic flyswatter. And use a squirt bottle full of water, with the nozzle adjustment turned to a hard stream. Get a crate-pen-cage (whatever it is) ready for Scoobie- not Scrappy.

Next time Scoobie becomes aggressive in anyway to Scrappy-- separate them using your verbal reprimand commands in a stern, dominating voice, and squirt him with the water bottle as you are running up to separate them, squirt him after separating them, and swat him with the flyswatter, all the same time- using your verbal reprimand commands in your stern voice.

PUT SCOOBIE INSIDE THE CRATE! Let him remain inside the crate for 30 minutes to an hour as long as you are home and supervising.

Since he roams the house, this will be punishment to him to be confined, and separated from the family activities.

Continue this each and every time. Do not fail. If you skip this one time, you have created a hardship on yourself.

This should be under control within a month.

But, I would certainly continue crating one away from the other while you are not at home.

Personally, I would crate Scoobie for a few days and take some of that "alpha" out of him.

Let me know how this works for you.