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Hi everyone. I've written this list before
about overly aggressive behavior between Bonnie (14 mo old Pyr) and my older
dog, Sadie (8 yr old Rottweiler mix?) who has always been alpha dog. As
Bonnie has been getting older the fights have been getting worse between these
two. When Bonnie was younger she's back off when Sadie would get
aggressive. Now, she jumps right in and when I try to pull Sadie back,
Bonnie comes forward to continue the fight.
I've had a couple of incidents started for no
apparent reason (no bones, food, or toys in evidence). Once it started
practically right in my lap. Thankfully, I had a friend over who got up
and grabbed Sadie while I grabbed Bonnie and we broke up the fight. Since
then I've bought a muzzle and started muzzling Sadie as soon as she starts
growling, trying to remind her that I don't approve of her growling, as alpha
household member. Sadie, even with the muzzle on, still tries to fight and
posture over Bonnie. I realize that part of the problem may be that as
Sadie gets older, she has been trying to take over alpha position in the
household. She's even growled at me a couple of times, before I could get
her to settle down. Muzzling her seems to help, but only if I get the
muzzle on her very quickly once it starts (assuming I'm in the room and the
muzzle is handy).
My concern is that I don't want to see either dog
get seriously hurt (or myself). I also don't know what to do when they start fighting when I'm the only one
here. I can pull one off, but cannot hold off both dogs. I've had
several suggestions from friends, including letting them fight with Sadie
wearing the muzzle, since Bonnie is likely to take alpha position
eventually. Another was to muzzle both, lock them in a small room such as
the bathroom, and leave them there for several hours until they realize they are
going to have to live peacefully to satisfy me. Another suggestion was
simply to kick the **** out of both dogs and make both submit to me. Of
course, I really don't like this idea, since I know how Pyrs tend to react to
negative reinforcement. However, given Sadie's probable dominant breed,
this would probably be an effective way to settle her down (but still not a
preferred way to end the problem for me).
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to settle
this? I would appreciate your help.
Thanks,
Tammy :)
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