Agression between my two dogs

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supagran

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I have a border collie and a mini dachsie, (both bitches) the collie is 6 yrs old and the dacshie is nearly 3 - I've had them both since they were 6 and 8 weeks old. In the past year there have been two serious fights between them - first one about 6 months ago, and the dachsie ended up at the vets with many puncture wounds, one of which was very close to her windpipe! On Friday, I was upstairs and heard another fight, so shouted and ran down stairs, to find the dachsie had another puncture wound on her head, and had made a mess in her fright. I have a feeling that although the little one comes off worst she starts the fight, but they always do it when I'm not int he room. I have noticed that if the little one is in her cage and the collie comes close they start "swearing" at each other. I am so worried now that the next time the outcome might be even worse I just don't know what to do.
 
Bitch fights are always bad, it's hard to reprimand (which is the most effective way) of trying to prevent a fight from breaking out if you are not there when it happens, fights like this more commonly break out when a human, usually the owner enters the room, could they be guarding things, do you leave treats or out out for them both whislt together?
Daxi's can be fiestly little feckers so you may be right re the little one starting it with a snack or growl and then the colli retaliates.

I would remove all objects that they could claim as their own and fight for, always lock the little one in the crate when you are not there, and if you so much as see a sniff of aggression or goading from one or the other, then scould the initiator, either voice wise, removing them, or a smacked back side, you realy do ned to mean business.
 
I do think that the fights might be over food or toys, as the first one was when they were in the car cage together (which they had always been) and the dachsie hadn't eaten all her treats from when she was in earlier in the day, and the last one I think (although I can't be absolutely sure) was over a new toy I have bought - looks like a purple bone with hollow ends for treats. When I took the dachsie to the vet when the first fight occurred he agreed that she probably had "little dog syndrome" - ie is little buts acts big - she has always been treated as the non dominant dog, fed second etc, the collie always get fed first.


I always said that if the collie got aggressive towards the dachs then it would be a one way trip to the vet, but I can't do that if its the dachs that starting the fights!
 
Agree with everything Cayla says (how boring of me :p) but also instill that bones, toys etc belong to you, you give them out and take them away again whenever you feel like it, they are not the dog's to fight over and if they are the cause of fights I would do away with them completely unless each dog is crated etc.
 
We used to have a similar situation between our JRT and lurcher. JRT with little dog syndrome kept snapping and growling and generally throwing her weight about until one day lurcher had enough and pinned her to the floor chewing on her head :eek: That shut her up for a few months but then she got back into it again. We found that even the slightest thing we did to "raise her status" (i.e. sitting on our lap, letting her upstairs, even going out in car with OH and leaving lurcher behind) made her worse. It's annoying but now we give her no treats or priveleges and she spends her nights in the utility room but we have a harmonious pack again.

I even (almost) trust her with my little boy now....

edited cos I put the wrong smilie in
 
We have a problem with my spaniel X gawd-knows-wot rescue Jessie as she's so incredibly jealous; also we have little terrier George who she just couldn't stand anywhere near her when he came as a puppy last year and she would growl very aggressively at him if he was even in the room.

We found that one of the DAP diffuser things on in the room changed the dynamic considerably - they're supposed to give off the pheromones that the bitch releases when she has puppies which have a calming influence (think I've got the science correct!!). They're a tad pricey, BUT we found they did the trick and we now have two relatively peaceful mutts.

We also made sure we weren't giving one dog more attention than the other, feeding Jessie the "pack leader" slightly before the pup, treating her as leader etc; putting her lead on first, etc etc, little things but vitally important.
 
supagran said:
I do think that the fights might be over food or toys, as the first one was when they were in the car cage together (which they had always been) and the dachsie hadn't eaten all her treats from when she was in earlier in the day, and the last one I think (although I can't be absolutely sure) was over a new toy I have bought - looks like a purple bone with hollow ends for treats.
Click to expand...

Really sounds like your dachsie is guarding her stuff from the collie and this is the cause of the fights.

We've had exactly the same thing with our two (dog and bitch, so slightly less nasty than bitch fights, but still bad enough). Millie is the dominant one, but Hamish starts the fight by guarding whatever it is he has - food, toys, slippers, his spot on the sofa... he'll sit there growling for ages, and eventually Millie will lose it and go for him.

We we unable to solve Hamish's guarding tendencies, but don't allow him to be put in situations where he feel he needs to guard, avoiding the problem. There are no toys allowed in the house. The dogs are separated for feeding, and and treats are carefully supervised, with Millie being made to respect Hamish's space so he can eat in peace.
 
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