I have two 3 yr old golden retrievers (brothers from the same litter). They are both neutered. They usually get along really well, however, we have recently had some bad dog fights which are almost impossible to break up. We've tried the blanket over them, hose, etc. Eventually they stop but not before one or both are bleeding. So far their injuries have not been serious or even required vet care. The only thing we feel starts them is when one invades the others personal space. They are usually very friendly towards each other and sleep next to one another. I believe this is a dominence issue, however, I'm not sure how to curb it as it does not happen consistently. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Was reading through and found yours. I too have a problem with agression between brother and sister who are only 4 1/2 months old. I see no one replied to you. Have you found out anything on how to address this problem? Would love to hear from you
Sorry, I cannot help you, but I can tell you this is a more widespread problem than you would think. One of my brothers used to run a boarding kennel. There was a discount for boarding two dogs together. My brother stopped the discount when he found the two dogs "that always get along fine" would fight in the kennel. It may have been the closer confines of the kennel and the fact they couldn't get away from one another that precipitated the fights, but he was taking no chances. One dog, one run; two dogs, two runs.
Your younger dogs, Swampyann, may be trying to figure out the pack order. As for your boys, Lori, I hope you've seen a vet about it (not just cleaning them up but checking their overall health). Does one always start the fight? Do they accept you as their leader? Did something change in their environment: new people, home improvements, less contact with family, family member sick?
I think it is all about the pack order. Do you think I should ignore or step in? When it gets out of control I have been stepping in and growling at Sarah (who is the leader). Then Jagger acts as if he is the one who got in trouble.
I am not the one to take this on. The only dog I didn't keep was because I didn't really realize what was going on. I had a dominant year-old with a submissive seven-year-old. I wanted the older one in charge but, at the time, had absolutely no idea of how to do it. All I knew was that I could stop a fight by leaving the area! After years of numerous visits to the vet (and one to the ER for me), I found another home for the younger dog. Today, I would handle it differently and keep both dogs.
What would I do differently? I'd work on my position as pack leader, but I would also be careful to treat the dogs in pack order. I didn't and I think that is why there was the constant fight for dominance when I was around. I think I confused them by always greeting the first I saw, feeding them at the same time, playing with them without regard to pack order.
MaxHollyNoah, with her pack that includes foster dogs (therefore often in flux) is the expert on this.
Unfortunately I cannot answer this question because I have no experience raising 2 puppies from a same litter. All my current dogs and past dogs including foster dogs are added one by one from different litters and they are mostly adult dogs.
I thought about the sibling issues and I have come to a conclusion that it might be better to have them decide who is dominant rather than we manipulate it. I just went to take care of 12 7-wk old puppies (10 of them are from a same litter) this morning. We have rescued these puppies and mama dogs and they are now separated from their mamas.
Those puppies are all different sizes (some are bigger than others and eat a lot more) and I realized each one of them has different personality. Some are stronger and bully and others are more laid back or submissive. When puppies are with their mama, there is a strong competition about who gets the nipple that releases milk the most, and also sometimes mama doesn't have enough nipples for all the litter. Therefore, there is a natural order that was made through competition.
On the other hand, adding an adult dog to the existing pack is much more complecated, especially when we don't know the history of each dog. Therefore I always manupulate the order so that the dog with us longer is in the higher position. We can do this because we, the owner, is the top leader and each dog is obedient to us. I would not let a new comer challenge the older dogs.
I have a friend who have one red and one blue heelers (both male) from the same litter, that constantly get into fights and one of them even got bit through his ear. These dogs are so cometitive to each other and they even mark inside the house and my friend has a lot of complaints.
In my opinion, raising 2 puppies from a same litter is really a challenge because of the following reasons:
1) there is an assumption that the two puppies are getting along well since they came from a same litter
2) there has been a clear competition from thier birth as I mentioned above so they are more likely to challenge each other, or in some cases there is very clear hierarchy and a dominant one gets more and more dominant and submissive one gets very submissive. The submissive dog might end up with a separation anxiety.
3) owners of puppies from a same litter tend to think that they don't need to pay as much attention to the puppies because they are entertaining each other. This will sometimes result lack of socialization to both people and to other dogs.
4) it is really a challenge to train two dogs at the same time, especially puppies that they don't even know what their names are.
swampyann, I am not trying to discourage you. I just want you to be aware of these challenges and I hope you will make time to spend with one dog at the time in daily basis, such as taking them for walk one at a time, or going to different puppy classes, etc. Each of them needs to learn to be left but he/she will get his/her turn if waiting nicely.
This is getting too long and sorry, I am not practically answering the question at all.
I have been always wondering if there needs to be a clear pack order or a dominant dog when you have multiple dogs. I would like to discuss that in a separate post sometime. :confused:
