[Rachelh]

Hi All,

I am having a bit of trouble at home, I have two great dogs, Bruce (a lab) and Ja Ja Binks (a boxer) who, were un til yesterday, the best of freinds.
What happened, I dont know, but I was out playing with them and Bruce was rolling in the grass and I was playing fetch with Ja Ja and then all of a sudden Ja Ja ran straight over towards Bruce and took to him (attacked). I stopped the fight pretty fast as Bruce is a very submissive dog and all I had to do was grab Ja Ja and he submitted to me straight away, but then when I let him go again he went at him!
I grabbed Bruce and put him in the house and went back out to sort Ja Ja out and he was totally fine!
I let them have some time apart (like 5 minutes and they could still see each other and talk to one another through the fly wire door) and then i brough Ja Ja into the house, it was okay for about 2 minutes and then Ja Ja hackles went up and he started growling, Bruce was being submissive the e time and I dont know why this has happened!
I took Bruce away from the house whilst my partner took Ja Ja for a walk to try to calm him down.
Once Ja Ja got back it started all over again!
I reprimanded Ja Ja and put him out the back for some "time out" and in about 10 minutes I let him back in with his lead on and made him come and sit on his blanket.
He was still acting very strange and Bruce was cowering on the conrer of the blanket and not looking at Ja Ja.
After about 20 minitues of this, Ja Ja finally layed down and Bruce got a bit more relaxed, but this didnt last for long.
I got up off the couch and Ja Ja flew at Bruce again!
I grabbed Ja Ja and hit him and then put him back outside.
Anyways this went on for the rest of the night, so we ended up leaving Ja Ja out the back and Bruce inside the house.
This morning I went to let Ja Ja in and he was okay, but then it started all over again!!!
My partner has taken him to work with him to give Bruce a bit of space as Bruce is a very timid dog to start with and this has got him scared out of his mind!!
I told Rory (thats my partner) that Ja Ja needs to be de-sexed as that is probably the problem and maybe there is a bitch on heat somewhere around the neighbourhood and he can smell it and he thinks that Bruce can to (even though Bruce is gelded) and is trying to assert himselfver Bruce.
Rory refuses to get him de-sexed as he wants to breed from him, but I cant handle this anger between them if this is how its going to be.
Can someone please help me! I need to find out what I can do to make to okay again!

[Yogi]

sounds to me that you have already figured out the reason and you are most likely correct. The problem is your partner. You give no reason for why there is a need for the dog to breed. Is it a registered purebred that in anyway would help the breed by using it for breeding? Mostly likely not, until the dog is neutered you can expect this to continue.

[Lunareclipse]

First off, you really don't want to breed an animal that shows any type of agression due to temperment issues. I do think your dog might need to be fixed. Another thing, you might want to take your dog to the vet seeing as how this a sudden change in behavior. Normally a sudden change in behavior could mean a physical problem with your dog. It may not be, but have him vet checked just to be sure.

[nattiej1976]

the first thing I would like to mention is, that you had said in your post that you hit Ja Ja.......you really should not be resorting to this, it is not in a dogs understanding, they dont hit, they dont understand what being hit is, except that it hurts and it came from you, you dont want to put yourself in the position as being associated with this sort of negative experience.

Next, regardless of what your OH thinks, if you want any chance of peace in the home Ja Ja is going to have to be neutered. I have to repeat exactly what yogi and lunar have said. If this dog is showing any sort of aggression, he has no business becoming a stud.........think of it this way, if you are finding this situation hard, you could very well be putting other families in the same position you are in now if you do go down the track of breeding Ja Ja.............are you prepared to be responsible for that?

As Lunar said, deffinately check for any medical reasons that this is happening, but if the vet does not find anything, you are going to have to change your behaviour around the dogs.


A little food for thought here on the hirachy order of dogs;
A human mind set is usually of fairness and equality, but dogs have clear pack order, and it appears that of the two Ja Ja wants to be the dominant dog. If this behaviour continues you are going to have to treat Ja Ja as exactly that, the alpha dog of the two, play first, feed first, everything for Ja Ja first.

I know in your mind this seems unfair to Bruce, but in actual fact, if he is so inclined to be submissive, he is going to be happiest and most secure and safer from Ja Ja, if your behaviour with the two dogs is making it clear that Ja Ja is boss dog. if you pay attention to Bruce first, this can threaten Ja Jas perspective of the pack, and put him in the position that he will be reminding Bruce of this order repeatedly the way dogs do........by physical dominance.

If Ja Ja has to continue reminding Bruce he is the dominant dog, you run the risk of Bruce becoming more and more timid and submissive, because from Bruces perspective, if he keeps getting these reminders, his mind set will be one of, "im not being submissive enough, i must submit more".....and so the cycle continues from here, and you run the risk of Bruce retreating more and more over time.

Im guessing that Ja Ja at least is relatively young, so you still have the chance to get things to settle back down, and balance the harmony with your dogs. It may be worth considering going to a training school to learn some alternative ways of manageing the dogs together and bringing them back to a level of calm tolerance.

About Dogs - How To Manage Your Multi-Dog Home - Managing the Multiple Dog Household