agressive female boxer

Question
hi, i have a 2.5 year old female boxer, who at times ( most of them out of the blue) is very aggressive with my other two dogs. its mostly over food, and anything dropped on the floor. i have many worries, i have two children , 5 and 7 months( and he is on the floor crawling). she will out of the blue just start an all out brawl, growling and bitting the other dog. we have been closly working with her. we got a chocker chain, and i have been making her sit and wait her turn at the food bowels, i have been on her if i see her tensing up, i tell her to relax , and then sit and lay down and stay, and most of the time it works. but today, she went crazy i dropped a baby bottle and when the other dog went to sniff it, she went after him. i got bit, ( not sure by which one) and then we took her to the floor and then to her cage. later when we brought her up , the other dog was licking something off the floor when she went after him again, the scary thing being the baby was on the floor and got stepped on by one of the dogs. Very scary. ( he was not hurt but still what could happen. We have been working with her aggresavly and she seemed to be doing well for about a month now, but today was a bad day and im not sure what mught have brough it on. if you could please in soem way give me a suggestion to try with her that would be great. i dont want to get rid of my dog i love her dearly, she is so sweet, and loves the kids. we just had to put down our third dog, so i dont want to have to get rid of her , i will spend whatever time i need to and do whatever it takes with her. I should also mention that she is not fixed yet. and everyone is telling me that we should that it would help. is this true? our male dog is.   thank you so much ,
worried in pa

Answer
Hi Erin,

Sorry to hear of your troubles.  

Aggression isn't out of the blue.  It may be intermittent, but you've already discovered the cause.  Possessions.  

Your girl should be spayed, not because it will curb her aggression, although it may, but more importantly to prevent pyometra later in life...this is a very serious, sometimes fatal, condition in unspayed females.  You can google the term for more information.

What do you mean 'we took her to the floor'?  Are you talking about an alpha roll?  If so, you should never be doing this unless you've been shown the proper way, personally, by an animal behaviorist and then only in the correct circumstance.  You run the risk of not only making her aggression worse but getting yourself or a member of your family seriously injured.

A crate should never be used as punishment.  It's purpose is as a safe, happy place for a dog to retreat to.  Using it as it isn't intended can also make your situation worse.  If you continue to use the crate as punishment, she will lack a space to retreat to when she feels stressed or anxious.

What is the purpose of the choke chain?  Again, unless you've been shown the proper way and timing of making a correction, you could be doing more harm than good.

My concern is that you are doing things incorrectly without knowing it.  Your bitch (and you) needs to see an animal behaviorist who can evaluate her and give you the proper tools and methods to use.  Until you do that, your children should not be on the floor with the dogs (they shouldn't be anyway for various reasons) or in the same room with them when they are eating.  Your children are your first responsibility, as you well know, and until you get this aggression sorted, by a professional, they shouldn't be at the dogs' level or permitted near the dogs' things.  It would be an extreme situation but what would have happened had the baby been bitten rather than stepped on?  Your bitch would end up being euthanized and your baby possibly severely injured.

Please get a professional, eyes-on assessment of your bitch.  When you do, be very honest about what the bitch is doing and what you've done to try to correct her behavior.

You are running a great risk right now to the safety of your toddler and baby.