[herron]

seems weird right?...they are usually so laid back...but my problem is with my three english bulldogs...ages 5, 4, & 2 yrs. lately the oldest and youngest 2 dogs are having nightly fights when my husband and i sit down to finally relax. sometimes the fights are over toys, but most of the time we can't see an obvious reason. more frequently they start to get aggressive from across the room and then leap at each other to attack. the middle dog usually just watches and rarely gets involved.

we can usually seperate them without problems, but we are both heartbroken over their cuts and bruises...these are our children!! my main concern is the increase in frequency and severity of these fights....any suggestions?

[blackgavotte]

I'd like you to tell us more about your dogs. Age, sex, neutered or not, personalities. Have you spoken to breeders? Sometimes its a simmering thing that two dogs have, and we may not be aware of it until the fireworks start. They have been exchanging looks and signals, but we don't always watch for them, or at the right time. The signals are there, nevertheless.

Sometimes it can happen that this might not be resolved fully, and you may have to rotate these two dogs. But you need to tell us more about them and what you think could be happening. You may have more insight than you think you do.

[herron]

all three dogs are female, ages were listed in previous post...5, 4, & 2 yrs, all neutered. all three dogs were obtained from different breeders, none are related.

the oldest, keegan, is definetly the alpha female. she requires the most attention and is usually the first out the door and obtains the best seating positions in the house. she never challenges the middle dog, kali, for kali's toys, but will fight over nylabones with the youngest dog, stella. she often eats by herself at night, once me or my husband arrive at home.

kali is the passive type. she is rarely involved in these fights and often just watches with interest. she has a few special toys that she has claimed for her own, but is never challenged for them by the other two. she eats whenever she wants but always before stella. kali also has special medical issues, she has sub-aortic stenosis and has been on a beta-blocker for almost 4 years....we are happy that she is doing so well!

stella is the youngest of the group. she is normally the sweetest of the three and loves to be a lap dog. she is also by far the dumbest of the three...taking the longest to train...it took her almost a year to learn how to go up and down stairs!! she is often very clumsy, running into walls and finding it hard to get footing on the hardwood floor. she is the one who fights with keegan most. she can be possessive of a toy that she is currently playing with. she always eats after kali.

my husband and i know that these fights probably come from a dominance issue...probably the youngest trying to change her role in the pack. they are less often about toys, food, terrority aggression types. again my concern is the increase in frequency and severity. i really don't want any serious injuries to any of us.

thanks for your interest and help!!!

[blackgavotte]

Hi, thanks for the extra info. There have been other threads in the forum about fighting, and there is some common knowledge "out there " that indicates that female fighting is usually the worst, the longest, and sometimes never solved. I have seen it a few times over my years with my own dogs and if I could not separate the two girls involved, I had to get a new home for one or t'other. I only had to do that once. Sometimes two dogs are perfect together, they know and understand their place and one another's signals. dog language. But adding the third dog can be tricky. It does indeed sound as if possibly Stella is wanting to move up, and Keegan is not going to allow it.

I personally would be keeping them separated, unless you are going to be there with them, and also even if with them, unless you have enough authority and control that you can warn them and they won't fight in your presence. Lord knows you don't need bulldogs fighting.

Stella has likely just reached the age where she thinks its time for her to be boss, so now it begins. Or it could be as simple as two dogs that just don't like one another, and if there are only two humans for three dogs, that could be the problem, plain old jealousy. You need another human !! Sorry. Couldn't resist it.

[Onlinek9]

I too have three dogs, all male. My newest and my middle were the ones fighting. At first I would take the one that started it and kennel him but this made things worse as there was a 'winner' and a 'loser'. Then I started after I broke it up making them both go into a downstay across from each other with me in the middle. In the beginning they had to stay for at least three minutes, until they were completely calm. The only eye contact they would get from me is a hard stare if needed. Then i would release them and they got no eye contact nor interaction from me for at least 20 minutes (not hard as I was MAD they were fighting! ) I did this consistently for about 2 weeks and the distance between fights has decreased remarkably. Also the severity of the fights lessened to the point where just yelling would make them stop immediatly. (before I had to physically seperate them.) They are at the point now where they both come to me to be told "down" after an altercation. And they calm themselves almost immediatly. You may consider removing toys for awhile while you work on this. Or only allow toys with supervision. Good luck!