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fiesty females

Posted November 28th, 2009 by 3ACDpups
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I have 3 cattle dogs :) none of them are related and 2 of them are female. We bought the 2 girls at the same time, about a year and a half ago. Most of the time they are the best of friends...they are practically joined at the hip. I usually catch them every other day having a growl at one another (one puts its head over the others and they both growl....it doesn't escalate from there though). However, it is becoming increasing more frequent...i'd say once every week or 2, that they have a massive fight. Last night they had another one. I'm pretty sure last nights was over food, and from now on I will be putting them on leads so they cannot get to each others food, but sometimes they fight and there isn't any food around. I tried to break it up, but as usual, it aint over until they say its over. And as usual, they both end up bleeding. Nothing major, but a small scratch here or there.

What i'm wondering is does anyone else have multiple dogs? Especially more than one female? Is this type of aggression normal? They are not aggressive in any way to people, or to the male dog, they just seem to have these power struggles between the 2 of them. Is there anything I can do to help the situation or am I perhaps doing something to make it worse? I am concerned for their safety (i don't want one of them to loose an ear or something) and I just flat out hate that they fight.

I contacted a dog behavior guy who came highly recommended and his recommendation was to purchase a remote training collar (one that zaps them). I am not interested in this type of solution as I don't believe it will fix the root of the problem....however I don't really know what the root of the problem is!!

Thanks :)

Comments

re: fiesty females

Aidan's picture
On November 30th, 2009 Aidan says:

It's not abnormal, but if the frequency, duration or intensity of fighting is increasing unfortunately it's not a good sign. You must consider the very real possibility that one of them will seriously injure the other at some point.

Statistically speaking, two bitches of similar age are more likely to fight than other combinations and it's quite possible that either bitch could go to a new home with another male dog and both the remaining bitch and the one you rehome would never fight again with the males that they live with (if it came to that).

There are a lot of things to consider, so I urge you to keep looking for an experienced and suitably qualified behaviourist to help remedy this situation. It would be worth speaking to a licensed veterinary behaviourist as these issues can become very serious, either all of a sudden, or slowly over time.

Certainly separate your dogs while they are eating, this will immediately reduce the frequency of fights. I would separate the dogs while unsupervised, too. I would consider the use of a light muzzle on both bitches when they are together, depending on the severity of the issue.

Working with dogs who fight begins with effective management - tethers, crates, fencing, muzzles etc Then you have a competent vet look at any possibly underlying medical issues (another reason to see a veterinary behaviourist).

Then you address the triggers, a good behaviourist should be able to identify the triggers from your reports and some fact finding. Then you teach alternative responses to those triggers and you also teach control behaviours, emergency down, recall etc

Somewhere in all this you try to educate the owner so that they can identify signs that a fight is about to occur, what to do if one begins, behaviours that suggest deference, which dog to greet first, make sure that exercise and mental stimulation needs are being met, make sure diet is appropriate, etc

If someone just comes out and says "OK, the first thing we're going to do is put an e-collar on both dogs" they are not qualified to help you.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

Feisty Females

On December 5th, 2009 K9sbehave says:

I so agree with Aidan! Especially about the e-collar statement.
I had 2 female Dobermans, siblings, my father had one I had the other. When I moved Dad took mine till I got settled. He created a rivalry between his little girl and my bigger, pick of the litter, girl. It was mayhem! They were fine untill he would come on the scene, then they would try to kill each other. Both were coming into season, not pretty. After they were separated, different locals, they were fine. Girls can be very fractious with each other. Spayed females can act similar to males and get up in a boy dogs face also. I like my boy dogs they know who is who and where they can push or not. Most of the squabbles I see with males are full of noise and smoke! Females get so serious. Yikes. Good luck with this situation.
I'm working with a spayed boxer who has decided she doesn't like the newish (3 months rescued), neutered male Boston. It seems the 3rd dog, a very neutral spayed, female Boston who gets along well with both, may have been an unwilling catalyst. I believe the boxer started "owning" her. It has been several weeks of teaching very strong basic attention behaviors while the two dogs (Boxer and M/N Boston) are; in the same house, then in the same area with barriers, taking walks on the same side of the street, feeding within eye contact. It's been exasperating for the owners who all live in the same condo. The Boston would be fine if the Boxer would just stop looking at him like he was a meal! She has settled some for sure but, her light is not as bright as his when it comes to learning. She was very neglected before she was rescued. I applaud this young family for working so hard to help these dogs. Oh yes I am also using some Bach Flower remedy for jealousy on the boxer.
K9sbehave.com

My aunts has 4 dogs, three

On January 31st, 2010 dew19 says:

My aunts has 4 dogs, three of which are all spayed females. The oldest is a 9 or 10 yr old american bulldog, followed by a 2 yr old boston and a 6 mo old boxer/saint bernard mix. I think that it helps that they have a nice age gap in between them. they get along well but there are definitely more scuffs amongst themselves than they've ever had with her 4 yr old rottweiler male. The bulldog doesn't like puppies, she's kind of grumpy. She doesn't hurt them but she doesn't like rambunctious little puppies so growling from her towards them when they're playing is a usual occurrence. The boston is very playful/motherly to the 6 mo old boxer mix but that doesn't stop them from having it out on occasion.

So I think it takes time. My one trainer said to compare them to 16 year rival cheerleaders. lol.

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