dog fights ???????????

[DixieSugarBear]

I have a quick question for everyone with two dogs.  For the last three nights Dixie (5 1/2 months)has been trying to start fights with Sugar Bear(11 months).  Once it was after they had each had a treat.  Once they were sitting in front of my husband and I with each petting one of them. Tonight they were play fighting and then she started to get mad.  This is the first time I have had more than one dog. I know they will test each other from time to time. These times she has her teeth beared and is bitting.  She is very much the aggressor in the matter. This puzzles me so much because they are almost always side by side.  Any advice would be great.  I did notice when playing with Dixie today that there is a little cream color discharge on her female area.  I plan to call the vet to see if there could be any hormonal female moods going on .
 
 
Thanks,
Lisa

[GR8DAME]

Not sure about the female thing, but it sounds like Dixie is trying SugarBear on for size, like a dominence issue. I know that with Merlin and Strider, Strider is always the aggresser, and gets much rougher than Merlin. Until Merlin has enough and drops the pup like a rock and pins him. Raven is my nasty girl, and doesn't take any guff off of either of the boys.
Stella

[mastiffmommy]

Lisa, I had a nasty fight here a couple of months ago, it is in a thread "my dogs were fighting" english or bull mastiff discussion. That one pretty much left me with a bit question mark all over my face.

But I  have had more than one dog almost all the time I have had dogs. And with a male and a female that are as young as your are, my first thought was that she is provoking him, pushing her luck a bit to see how far she can go, and should she be in a pre heat that would make her more moody and I guess more tempted to push his buttons.

Galahad and Hera does that too, Hera is 17 months and Galahad is 16 weeks. they play real hard a lot, with bearing of teeth and the whole nine yards. That to me is pretty common for two hard playing dogs, but the last week or so, you can see how Galahad is testing Hera, he nibbles a bit too hard on her ear, floppes himself over her and refuses to move when she wants to get up, bite her leg and you can see how Hera is trapping up her "I told you to leave me alone" signs but he doesnt, he just goes on and on and a few times lately Hera has had to get real upset with him, in order to tell him that she is still over him and he is just a puppy who should know his place.

I usually dont interfere with it, let them figure out it by themselves, but I like to be there so should it get too rough, I can step in and be the true alpha bitch hehe. It is always a little uncomfortable though, to see how the play is changing and not quite know where it will end.

I think they will be fine though. Be in the background should you have to "take over" but it is most likely just them trying to figure out how their relationship is going to look like.

Keep us posted

Marit

[DixieSugarBear]

They play fight several time a day.  But with these fights she is trying to bite him for real.  When you pull her back she will still try to jump at him.  I know that most of the time the female will be alpha, that is fine with me as long as she does not hurt him.  They had another little one over the food this morning, this is the first time it has happened with food.  I am at a loss as to how to make it stop. I am worried that it will get worse.  I have  a small crate that is to small for her so I may go get a new one to put her is time out when she starts a fight. Thanks for any advice.

Lisa

[Jaimie]

Ace is 5 and Cha -Cha is 1 yr.old and Cha-cha is the boss.  They play VERY rough, on occasion it will get a little out of hand and I step in and break it up.  It is all part of dogs living together they all have spats at some point or another, very normal.  Dogs are constantly testing each other for the pecking order, they even do it with us.  It is part of their survival to have the fittest as alpha and the alpha must always be prepared to defend its status.  Dixie, if you haven't read it already I would suggest that you read a book on Dog language. A very good book is How to speak dog by Stanley Coren, excellent book.

Please try not to worry about it too much, it is normal for dogs to spat once in awhile.   Hope that helps

[Kermit]

I agree with everyone about dogs testing each other to see how far they can get. Just yesterday, Zoot (4 years old) bit a hole right through Nigel's (4 months old) ear over a freakin rawhide and there was blood everywhere. An hour later Zoot attacked again over a piece of kibble. Until then they had seemed like best pals, and today they are back to being best pals. My theory is that Zoot realizes Nigel is going to be bigger than him and wants to establish his status as top dog before Nigel gets any bigger. Also they are both males and Zoot is very jealous for my attention. Don't get me wrong, I was in tears after both of those fights, but I don't think it's going to be a recurring problem. I think when there's a new dog or puppy in the household there will be trials of the pecking order. It's a dog thing, I guess.
Good luck with your poochies!

[jabear]

Good luck with working out the dominance issue Dix. I can't believe your beautiful babies would put you through so much frustration and worry..silly kids. Hopefully they will work things out soon!

[DixieSugarBear]

I know why would they do this to there pooooooooor Mom.  I am guessing Dixie may be comming into her first heat.  I plan to call the vet on Monday. She is just not her self.  Last week is was Sugar Bear being sick, and now this. What is a Mom to do???

[nickerbokker]

i must admit...i stopped reading after marits post because its sunday and i dont want to read.....BUT.. ...here's my two cents.

cody was always a little "off"..he was the one golden in the world who would cause %^&$ with another dog instead of play with it....but i have always wanted more dogs, and after months and months of cody's "sad face" when i would leave for work and school, i decided to get a puppy so he had a buddy to play with (little did i know, that puppy would make my house smell like pee). 

SO, i brought home angus on december 11, and cody freaked out.  didnt know what it was, why it was walking around, didnt know why it was trying to cuddle with him, didnt know why i didnt kill it and get it out of his house.  and the day after i brought angus home (a little 3lb, 4" tall pup), cody started growling at him and bearing teeth and stuff.  i started freaking out because i mean cummon, really?  about a week and a half later, a baby wangus was walking by cody who was eating a nylabone, and cody bit his head.  it was a full on bite with blood and all, and baby wangers SCREAMED bloody murder for a bout a half hour.  i was SOO upset i didnt know what to do.  i even thought about giving him away so he wouldn't have a brother that wanted to murder him.  but i kept him for a little while keeping an eye on him and cody.  every time angus would get close to cody, he would get stiff and start to growl really low....and i would yell no and smack him a little and say be nice.  it took a couple of weeks, but he started to get better.  then one day i kept telling angus to stay away from cody and leave him alone...but he kept going over and bothering him and i was like....he's gonna get what he deserves then.....and cody growled a little bit....but angus walked right up to him and grabbed the toy cody had and they started to play tug of war.  i had to control the growling, but they actually started to play.  codys snout still bunched up with wrinkles and stuff, but he started to play and see it was okay. 

ever since....they play fight all the time.  with some real bites in there of course, and then there is always the time when they are fighting by me and i get bit.  BUT, they love eachother.  they growl, bark, show teeth, slam into eachother, lay on eachother, bite eachother...an d they are totally in love with eachother.  i am not worried about them in the least. 

the only thing i do do is feed them in different rooms.  when i would feed them together, they would eat so fast they would choke....so now i feed one here and one there, and they eat slower and actually chew their food. 

really long post....not very entertaining, not very informative, but its there none the less

good luck....let them work it out!  its what dogs do...just dont let it get out of hand

[poofynewfy]

Great advice by everyone! Things will work themselves out and they usually do. I just hope it is sooner than later.