[thcguy12]

My dog (10 years old) growls everytime my girlfriends dog walks by. A few times it has turn into fights where my dog was on top and drew blood. Lately if my dog attacks now the other dog gets the best of her and bites her and won't let go - usually on the neck. We have to break it up -- very scary, very aggressive. Got bit last night trying. We've had to kick them and punch them before to get them apart....really scary. Nothing else would work.

My girlfriend thinks when my dog growls don't jump up to split them up, don't call one over to distract them......she thinks they need to work it out and those things would make it worse. I disagree and think something must be done. I can't deal with more of these fights -- I know it's my dog starting them and don't know what to do.

First question: What is the best way to stop an escalating aggression situation? Yell, snap, jump up, call there name, get between them, clicker, etc?

It's not over toys, food, people, etc --- just every time the other dog walks by my dog my dog growls -- sometimes it turns into nothing....every once in a while it turns into a scary fight.

(P.S. My dog is 10 years old and lived with me the whole time. Never used to be aggressive. The other dog is newer but been living with us for 3 years now)

WHAT DO I DO?

[Sebi]

Since the dog lives with you then you are just gunna have to slap him and say no while holding his back skin.. Mine is like 32lbs and has a muscular build like a bully breed and he usually starts fights too sigh and i know how irritating it is to have to go and break them up when he is neutered..

Anywho it might be a jealousy issue? I mean they are neutered.. If the other dog has been living there for that long then he should already be used to him lol

Try what i said about the slapping and give your dog a treat and praise him for not growling, trying to get away from your grasp etc

Then after a fewbtriesbthat he does him give him treats less often sonthat he will associate him good behavior of not harrassing the other dog for a while with you giving him treats once in a while

Then of course over time less and less treats and lots and lots of praise


Also perhaps a comfort zone spray might help? Look it up on petsmart or petco

[lange]

10 y.o. is pretty old for a dog. If this behavior is new, you need to take her to the vet. New aggressive or agitated behavior can be caused by ill health, whether something in her body is off and causing issues or she is hurting from something which in turn is making her easily temperamental. Either way for now, I would treat it as such and not behavioral. Do not let them fight it out! It's not fair to the older dog right now.

Is the younger of the dogs usually coming around the older one when the growling/issues happen? The older one may be needing her space and the younger one not listening.. Please take her to the vet and have them verify whether she is hurting or ill. Meanwhile keep the 2 separated until you figure out whether it is a medical or behavioral problems you're dealing with.

If you must have them together, leash the younger dog to you or your gf in case the younger one is not giving the older one her space. You can then correct the younger one and walk her away when she acts pushy.

Don't stop the growling either..,,,Growling is language. It's only a way of warning, not of attack! If the older one growls to warn the younger one to leave her alone and the younger one keeps pushing her boundaries, it is actually the younger one misbehaving...
I hope that makes sense!

Come back and let us know what the vet finds. Best wishes!!

[Sebi]

You think 10 is old....


Anyhwo.. If you see that the younger dog is indeed bothering the "very old 10yr old" dog then yes it is the super young dogs fault


However if the younger dog is simply passing by without bothering the elderly dog then the older one needs to understand that growling is not okay because in your case the older one is harming the young one

And i dont know about other ppl but thats not okay in my book.. Be it a language between them or not...

If you now your dog well then you should know a change in his behavior that may have to do with his health therefore a vet check up would be appropriate

But you must understand that all the vet will do is check their physical areas and charge you for that and they usually tell you nothing is physically wrong

Thats why i said it might be jealousy or something psychological that the owner is best suited for

But then again judge wisely how you proceed to correct or help out with our dogs behavior

Thats all i am contributing to this thread.. Good luck

[lange]

This from someone who says their method doesn't even work on her own dog since it keeps having the same issues.

"Mine is like 32lbs and has a muscular build like a bully breed and he usually starts fights too sigh and i know how irritating it is to have to go and break them up when he is neutered.. "

Go figure.

Contribute where you want. No one is stopping you. Why you want to feel defensive is on you.

[CorkyMax]

Vet check sounds like a good idea but as soon as I read about not being able to stop them once it starts---Luna's answer to dif. posts came to mind---Blow a bull horn (Was it a bull horn?) and hopefully startle them!

[NYCpethound]

Originally Posted by Sebi

You think 10 is old....


Anyhwo.. If you see that the younger dog is indeed bothering the "very old 10yr old" dog then yes it is the super young dogs fault


However if the younger dog is simply passing by without bothering the elderly dog then the older one needs to understand that growling is not okay because in your case the older one is harming the young one

And i dont know about other ppl but thats not okay in my book.. Be it a language between them or not...

If you now your dog well then you should know a change in his behavior that may have to do with his health therefore a vet check up would be appropriate

But you must understand that all the vet will do is check thenycpack.com their physical areas and charge you for that and they usually tell you nothing is physically wrong

Thats why i said it might be jealousy or something psychological that the owner is best suited for

But then again judge wisely how you proceed to correct or help out with our dogs behavior

Thats all i am contributing to this thread.. Good luck

Some people would advocate those kooky 'dog whisperers' and people who claim that they can translate your animal's thoughts into english. Lol...obviously that's not going to help.

I think it's probably something psycho-somatic. I've had this problem before with a border collie I trained. She would go into growling hysterics, usually unprompted. We found out that she was a rescue and had a prior abuse problem but also was, unbeknownst to the owner, passing kidney stones at a frequent rate and had an inflamed bladder. Yikes!

Anyways, best of luck to you. I hope the dog's behavior can be fixed quickly!

[thcguy12]

My dog was recently diagnosed with arthritis where she could barely put any weight on her back leg. She is getting better (more weight on leg) but still limps and is a lot slower than the other dogs who are both only 3 years old.

It's so weird because today they are great. Laying around together.

[GreenLizzard95]

Is there a lot more activity going on? Anything change activity wise? Dogs can be pretty territorial maybe your dog doesn't want to relinquish turf. I've let my dogs settle things in the past as it would be in nature... that being said...I would intervene if they were both in heat or if it get's really nasty.

Good luck.

[lange]

Originally Posted by thcguy12

My dog was recently diagnosed with arthritis where she could barely put any weight on her back leg. She is getting better (more weight on leg) but still limps and is a lot slower than the other dogs who are both only 3 years old.

It's so weird because today they are great. Laying around together.

I think it's more reason to validate that it's not a behavioral problem from the older dog but instead stems from health issues. With arthritis, the pains can be worse on certain days more than others, which would make a dog testier (less patient), ditto for even a person.

I would seriously just treat the issue like I wrote before. Everything you've mentioned points to health issues being the culprit on the tension. The growl is just a warning saying, "Im not feeling well. Leave me alone." The other dog should just respect the growl as such since they are dogs of the same family. They need to respect each other as such & if they can't you should step in and correct the younger one to give the older one space. Dogs read each other better than we do & know what is going on with each other so don't think they cant understand each other in those moments. Hope that helps &
good luck!