HELP! My dogs got in horrible fight! With each other!!!

#31
NemoAndChula said:
Just something I am wondering. Our dogs are kept indoors, in a small home, someone is always at home due to alternating schedules. Our family members all seem to be alphas.
The dogs are usually supervised when they are in our yards exercising. Is this why we have almost zero serious aggression.
Is constant supervision by human alphas the deterrent here?
I know everyone's situation is different with the indoor/outdoor. I'm just trying to find out more about what happened with Cobalts' dogs, and consider many angles.
All the feedback here has got my brain in action.
Click to expand...

It depends on the individual dogs. And the circumstances.

A dog being an dominant personality doesn't necessarily mean it will be dog aggressive or be prone to using outright violence to assert itself. A dog-aggressive dog isn't necessarily a dominant personality.

And regardless of the dogs involved, certain circumstances can lead to unique results one wouldn't usually expect from those dogs. Stress, illness and injury make severe changes to the equation.

So supervision may be the issue in some cases... But the same dogs could likely disregard the supervision in others.
 
#32
I'm still thinking about your story. Was Gypsy the former pack leader and could the lab have been simply challenging her for position because she was in a weak state? Is lab now leading the pack?
 
#33
no....gypsy was never the pack leader. All the dogs have different self defined jobs, mostly defined by their dominant breed, I think.

her "job" is to follow my car to the gate, and make sure I get out OK. She is also the one that barks exclusively at people (strangers). The other dogs, particularly the ridgeback, bark at cats and rats (I live next to a guava grove, so we get a lot of "visitors")...and they all start the hunts....Particularly the ridgeback and the doxie.

The lab mix had a weird job, he always monitored the gate, if any of the other dogs stepped even a foot out the gate when it was open, he would scold them and dominate them. None of them EVER did until recently. The lab also chased one of my neighbors dogs who got out--he ran down the road and herded her back home to HER yard and sat with her "guarding her" until the owner cam home and put her back in the yard!

But the lab is also the one who jumps the fence on the way way other side of the yard and goes on little patrols, and then comes back.

the day this happened MY gate was open for 5 minutes, and he and the retriever went on a little patrol, but came right back...it could be that gypsy scolded him somehow that was not evident to me and he just unloaded on her.

Gypsy was definitely more jacked up about going in the car that morning, and more active at the gate. She usually follows my car to the gate, sits behind it while I drive out, waits till I am backed out and headed up the road, then she goes back to the garage. That day she was pacing and agitated, perhaps because the other two were gone...she would never take off, she is too protective of me to do that.

She also is usually the first one to meet me at the gate, she always knows it is me...then the lab follows and rounds up the other dogs. My little chi/rat terrier sometimes comes through the gate and if she does, the lab always barks at her and she ends up on her back...

Now that I write this, i guess buddy is quietly the alpha dog, though in truth they do all have separate but equal tasks for themselves.
 
#34
Is Buddy the lab mix?


Now that I write this, i guess buddy is quietly the alpha dog, though in truth they do all have separate but equal tasks for themselves.

They might have separate but equal tasks but IMO there is a pecking order within the pack.
 
#35
buddy is the lab mix, yes..

and yes..its true...now that i think of it. his personality is very quiet with people, but he sleeps on my office couch, controls the gate, etc. and probably fancies that he has AWOL privileges. In his mind at least, he is the alpha...gypsy must have been asserting in some way I did not catch. :cry:
 
#38
I have slept with one ear open, so to speak...

I am not worried about the little dogs, really. They are their own little pack, and can come and go through the cat door. They really know their place with the big ones. The doxie usually doesnt go to the gate, and the chi/RT is always shadowing me, the other dogs seem to have figured out that she is part of both packs.

Its so hard because my mom is here, too, so we are really just vigilant about so many things at the moment, KWIM...my mom is 92 so we have to keep an eye on her too.

:heart:
 
#40
Thanks DdV :heart:

I basically put my new house on HOLD :sweatdrop: for this week, even though there is a TON I could be doing.

Family first, whether 2- or 4-legged :love:
 
#42
Last night I was on yard patrol while our dogs took their last run for the evening.
A neighbor from down the street walked by our yard with her 2 fluffy white adorable dogs.
MY fluffy white adorable dog crouched way down and in a flash, had squeezed through a very small gap in the fence. She ran down to the lady and the fluffs barking and jumping, wanting to make friends. The woman seemed either annoyed or semi terrorized.
I called for DS#2, and headed out the gate to retrieve the retriever, when our Doxie pushed past me, and took off to join the party.
So much for absolute control and human alpha positions.

I hereby officially shut my big mouth because I am in no position to give advice on good doggie behavior.
 
#43
OP, I had a similar scary situation with my 2 male cats a few weeks ago.

There also is an alpha battle going on in my household since the only female died in February.

I did some things I have never done before which might have been why....
-took cat #2 outside for first time by myself
-took cat #1 outside who ALWAYS goes outside with me by myself

After that, and them inside after their own little solo trips they just let loose and tore each other apart over and over for the next few days. The first night was the worse, and when I broke them up I got bit on both my finger and my inner right palm (which has FINALLY healed).

I put in feliway since I returned from my trip to CA last week and no out-for-blood battles since.

I agree, habits and patterns when disturbed can affect them in SO many ways we are not aware of.
 
#45
:heart:


NaC, that poor lady must have been terrified. Nothing like a doxie on a mission to scare the pants of people. Mine gets her hackles up and looks like she can take out a team of ninjas.

So far, so good over here. Gypsy is walking me to the gate again, and buddy is getting the alpha dog treatment.

Thanks so much for all the dog love and support. :heart:
I jump out of my skin a little when I hear anyone bark, but its all peaceful so far :tup:

bunny, I think feliway is the greatest thing since chocolate. I am catless at the moment, but is worked wonders for a nervous licking problem one of my cats had...it was cured in a day...seriously.
 
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