Female Great Dane agression

Question
Hello,
I have 3 Great Danes (yes, I love that breed!) a 5 year old spayed female, Haley. A 3.5 year old un-spayed female, Zoey. And a 1 year old neutered Male, Zoose.  Recently (January) Zoey and Haley got into what I thought was started over a new toy introduced over the Holidays.  One may have caught the others ear or something, not sure, but it was the worse thing I have seen.  Zoey latched onto Haley's neck and would not let go.  My Husband and I managed to pry Zoey off of Haley.  Zoey showed NO fight to go back after Haley, or after me or my husband, the agression stopped immediately.  She in fact freely let me open her mouth.  Haley was fine, however it was a couple weeks worth of healing, it was a very deep triangular shaped wound where stitches could not be used and weeks of antibiotics.  

Once Haley was healed, I was hesitant, but slowly let them outside together and all 3 play together again. Just this past weekend, we were all playing stick in the yard, and Zoose generally runs circles around the girls with the stick in his mouth waiting for one of them to try to steal it.  Him and Zoey played a little tug of war and then started the wrestling that all of them do (kind of like horses up on thier hind legs, trying to take each other down to the ground, grabbing necks, play growling etc.)Zoey grabbed Zoose's neck, looked normal but then Zoose squeeled, but Zoey wouldn't back down even after several squeals.  I just called them and ran in the oposite direction to get their attention. That worked this time.  My fear is, that I will be too scared to let Zoey play freely like I have for 3 years now.  I refuse to give up any of them, so I am looking to fix it before it gets worse.  I thought at first that since we introduced a 3rd dane, that Zoey may be struggling with dominance issues, since she is the only one not fixed.  But no matter what the reason is, I need to fix it.  I read about muzzles, and I am thinking of that as well.  I also heard that spaying her won't really help.  I want them around me all of the time, but I am so nervous, I now only give them a rotation of one on one time with me.  One instance was indoor and one was outdoor.  What suggestions can you give me to overcome her behavior and return to a normal 3 dane household?

Answer
Emma,

Unfortunately most of the time this type of situation cannot be fixed and you will have to live in a divided house hold. One with Zoose and Haley and one with Zoey. If you continue to put the Danes together you are going to end up with severe medical emergencies. I would suggest that you get Zoey fixed because unaltered males AND females tend to be more aggressive, especially towards the same sex. Most of the time a god breeder will caution you when considering adding another female into the home. Most of the time males will get along and females will to a certain point. Once you have had multiple dog fights there comes a point where you will no longer be able to trust the dog that is insinuating the fight, which in this case is Zoey. There would be a better chance if she had attacked the same dog, but at this point, she has attacked both. Yes, she can be struggling with dominance. Have you had Zoose since he was a puppy or did you adopt him at an older age? I would not allow anymore rough play, growling or tug of war between the dogs at all. This kind of play can coincide with aggression. If you have the ability to hire a behaviorist or behavior specialist that would be the ideal scenario. That way they can see the behavior, rather then getting a description of it. You may not be seeing all the warning signals of another issue. I am not saying it cannot be worked out, with A LOT of work it can and the right person guiding you in the right direction BUT you still will not ever be able to fully trust Zoey 100% with Haley and Zoose unsupervised. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to message me back.

Good Luck