Will they be friends again?

Question
I have 3 dogs a 2 year old beagle (m) 2 years old basset (f)and a 1 year old shepard (f) and we were living happily mostly there were normal fighting to be the alpha dog but nothing serious well the beagle and basset escaped our yard in a bad storm and were gone 3 days and when we found them again and brought them home they are no longer friends with each other the shepard and basset fight constantly they can't be left alone together.  They are fighting bad enough that the shepard had the basset by the neck and was shaking her and my husband had to get in between them to get them to stop and even than he had to physically separate them and there teeth were still bared.  I gave the basset a bath thinking the smell was different but it didn't help.  I don't know what to do but with 3 small children I can't have them fighting all the time.  Do you have any ideas on how I can fix this or do I need to find a new home for one or two of the dogs? Our beagle is at a friends house for the time being and we haven't tried to introduce them beacuae of how serious they fought before we had issues with the basset and shepard...  

Answer
Hi Cassandra;
I would guess that they were traumatized by that storm.
That muct have been a terrifying experience for them.
If humans experienced this kind of trauma and fright, and then changed so drastically, it would probably be said they had a nervous breakdown.
Dogs and other animals can have the same nervous problems humans can have.
A terrifying experience can certainly unhinge them too.
If they were my dogs, I would keep them separated, for their own safety, and use animal massage to get them calmed and rational again.
Your Veterinarian may want to prescribe something to help keep them calm.
My English Setter and my son's Lab/Chow mnix were at my house, when w had a sky ripping thunderstorm.
They were so terrifyied they were both going into shock.
My grand daughter and I gave them massages to calm them, for 5 minutes.
Syhe massaged the Setter, and I massaged the other one. She was only 5, and a frightened dog is more apt to bite, and the Setter had been close to her since we got her at 7 weeks old. Jenny held her on the way home, when we bought her, and they had been almost inseparable for the year we had had Silky.
The Lab might get to ba a handful, so better it bite me than Jenny.
Anyway.
5 minutes was all it took.
They both lay daown at our feet, and slept the rest of the storm through.
Silky lived to be 14 years, and she was never bothered by storms or thunder again.
It cured the Lab/Chow too, as far as we know. My son had to give him up a couple of years later.
I have used this Tellington-Touch method of animal massage for years.
It is great for relieving pain, helping with mobility when they are stifened up with arthritis, and one massage can really calm an otherwise overly aggressive dog.
Go to this site, and read what can be done with these massages, and you can order a video from there to learn how to properly do the massages.

            www.lindatellington-jones.com

You don't say if they are males, females, and if they are neutered and/or spayed or not.
If they have not been, I would have that done right away.
Un-neutered m,ales are more likely to vie strongly for the alpha position.
Neutering would cut down the aggression some, and the massages should do a lot more.
Ok, now I see the().LOL
Didn't know what that was at first.
Both females. Same thing though. Are they both spayed?
If the Beagle is not neutered and they are not spayed, it could be jealousie from that.
If they are all altered, then it is just a matter of training, disclipline, and getting the personalities straightened out.
I use time-out for punishment.
When they do something bad, they get a half hour or so in time-out.
The smallest bathroom in the house. There is only enough room for them to lie there on the bath mat and contemplate their sins.
My friend's Yorkie was a spoiled, brat, and allowed to fly at other dogs etc.
His "mommy" used a timid, pleading voice.
Aunt Charlotte grabbed him up, looked him in the eyes and chewed his little butt out, and put him in time-out.
He had always gotten along with my dogs, best friends.
We took a year and a half old Sheltie, and Mighty Mite decided that dog was NOT going to be here.
He was brought to visit a couple of timea a year, and thought of this as his other home.
It took several times, but he finally learned.
I tried to let my friend disclipline her own dog, and he would fly into Ladie's neck. When he really brought blood, that was all I was going to put up with it.
He is 9 years old now, and that was about 4 years ago.
He stills does as he pleases when he is at home, but when he is at //////////my house, he behaves himself.
I don't hit, but I hold them so I am looking them in the eye, and I really chew them out.
I tell them it is NOT tollerated, and they will go to time out till they can learn to behave.
You have to really lay into them.
If your child does something that, if they did it again, they could be killed or maimed, you would not sit down and reason calmly. You would chew their little butt out and impress on them that you would not tollerate such behavior again.
Do that to the dogs.
Now, it could be a little bit on the shepherd's part, that she thought they were gone and she was the only dog now. When they came back, maybe she didn't like that.
I do know, that I have brought several here that were not going to share the home with others.
I foster for rescue groups.
I lay down the law and raise my voice as loud and as fiercely as I have to to get it across that I am the alpha, and they are just more of the children and have to behave the way I say.
I don't give them a choice.
I make the house rules, and they go by them.
You use tenderness when it works, and you use "lay down the law" when it is needed.
The first time I grabbed up Mighty Mite and chewed him out, he looked like he knew he had plowed up a snake.
He was really taken aback, and his ears perked up.
Now he just has to be asked if he wants to go to time out, and he straightens up.
He would like to dominate, but that is just something I don't allow.
I don't care for shin-kicking children or animals. LOL
Dogs are pack anomals, and so are humans.
They need the same kind of structure.
A family, with an alpha male and female ( mom and dad)Beta male and female ( who is in charge when mom and dad are not there).
the rest of them are just little peons, and have to go by the rules.
Because dogs and humans need the same kind of family structure is whay dogs are such perfect pets for humans.
That little sheherd needs to understand she has to mind mom and dad, and so does the Basset.
You don't say which one is the aggressor, or if they are both equally aggressive with the other.
In my house, the one who starts it is the one who goes to time-out.
When they are in there, they can hear all that is going on that they are missing out on, and the do know, by the tone of voice, and the segregation that they did wrong and are being punished.
My dogs act like they would rather be beaten that have to go to time out.
After a few times, they just have to be threatened with it.
I don't like crates, and don't use them, but to keep them separated at night to avpoid such a conflict when everyone is asleep and can't get to them that fast to break it up, ( and so the family can get some sleep), if that were the only way to separate them at night, I would use it.
Sending one away from home just reimnforces the other one that they are the favored one, and will do nothing to teach that one to get along.
The one that feels banished probably feels they wer sent away because they were at fault, and they are abondoned.
I don't wait until they actually go together.
A little growl is looked over, but more growling or any sign of being nasty, I jump on the one causing it, and correct them, tell them "NO!!!!", and threaten them with time out.
If they do it again, they get grabbed up, and put in time out.
They are little angels when they come out.
It may take a week or so of constantly putting one or more in time-out, but it shouldn't take much longer than that.
If they have never had an obedience class, whether at home or at a training place, I would recommend it.
Petsmart and Petco have weekend obedience classes, and I recommend them.
They are taught as group classes, with an instructir, and the owners handle the dogs.
It really helps to show them who is boss and who they have to mind.
It also teaches you how to command them to get what you want.
Bad dogs are made, not born, and if you have the patience and desire, they can be turned into well bahaved, family companions, who respect and care for each other.
I recommend the massages too.
I can't praise them enough.
I have had such goiod results, and they are the best training tool I ever found.
Charlotte