aggression

Question
Hi Patti, I have 3 rescue dogs. 1 male sheppard pit mix ( very sweet. 1 female husky, 1 female rottie mixed with what I think is austrialian sheppard.  both females are spayed. they all live in the back yard together. the rottie is aggressive to the husky. the rottie will mount the huskys back. I do stop her but she continues. I secretly observe them playing, when the husky out plays the rottie , the rottie gets mad and wants to fight.  now the fights are getting really bad. the husky is not wanting to fight, she even attemps to give up but rottie continues. today the rottie started a fight it was real nasty.  I turned the hose on them full blast in thier face, to no avail. they both have some nasty bites. the rottie was going for the face as the husky has so much fur, the huskey had hold of the rotties leg. it seemed like they would not stop. we finally seperated them. I just dont understand why the rottie is so aggressive to the husky.  what can i do to break up the fights. the water didnt stop them. although the husky never starts the fight, shes tired of being picked on. the male stayed out of it. will it get worse, will they fight to the death. do I need to get rid of one of them. the male is un-nueterd.

Answer

Hi Bridget,

Yours isn't a problem due to your dog's breeds, the problem is having more than one female dog in your "pack". It doesn't matter whether or not your females have been spayed, households with multiple female dogs are more likely to have problems with aggression, than when there are multiple neutered male dogs in a household.

You are correct to separate your two female dogs. You need to be diligent about this, as the problem isn't going to go away. Not only is this stressful on you, and your human family, it's also stressful on your dogs. Many people who have two female dogs end up rehoming one of the two dogs. This is a fair and valid way of resolving the problem. The other option is to consult with a dog behaviorist. If just reading about how to fix this problem worked, you probably won't have the problems you're having now. Your vet's office, or a local boarding kennel may be able to give you a referral.
Until you can consult with a behaviorist, continue to keep the female dogs separated. Having the females wear a basket style muzzle could be helpful too. Basket muzzles are the most humane, they allow dogs to pant and even drink water while it's worn.

Also until you can consult with the behaviorist, obedience training for all your dogs can be very helpful. If your dogs have already been through a class and understand commands, practice with them on a daily basis. A good drill is to put all your dogs on a "sit/stay," then call each one to you individually for attention or a treat. Always call the most dominate dog to you first. Not respecting the "pack" ranking can set the dogs up for a fight.

Many people do manage to live with a situation like yours, and keep their dogs safe. It requires training, diligence, and a rather vigilant lifestyle, but it can be done.

Best of luck,
Patti