QuestionA friend of mine owns 8 border collies. 6 whom are littermates and the 2 parents. I have noticed the siblings fighting quite aggressively towards each other sometimes producing blood from the bites. they are about 6-7 mths. old now and they are always kept together. I am wondering if it is proper to keep all of them together and also concerned about the interbreeding. none of them are spayed or neutered including the mother or father dog.
AnswerHello Susan,
This sounds like an unfortunate situation but I'm not sure there's really much you can do about it. Perhaps you could at least inform your friend about the possibility of inbreeding now that they are over 6 months old.
The aggressiveness most likely comes from them running as a pack and/or being fed meat instead of or along with their regular dog food. When feeding dogs in a large group, they will fight over food.
Unless this person is an expert trainer and knows how to handle that many dogs off leash, I would never recommend this for anyone. Each dog is old enough to be trained by now and should be constantly monitored during work-time or play-time. If supervision is not possible, each dog should be crated or separated in some way to prevent the issues you've mentioned.
Thank you for your question.
Ann Jordan
Border Collie Coach
