Looking after dogs - fighting with my dog

lozachops · 04-06-2007, 10:45 AM

I live with my brother, he is seperated from his wife however when they were together they got two dogs - a king charles spaniel (male) and a jack russel (female). When they split up my bros ex decided she wanted to keep the dogs, and my brother allowed it. They have been living with the ex for 3 months however she has gone on vacation for a week and has asked us for a favour, to mind her dogs. We have since adopted a dog for me and my brother, a border collie cross. He is well socialised with other dogs, my best friends staffy and him have become good pals playing really well together. Anyway, since having the two other dogs here we have had a lot of problems. I can see where the problems have come from, our dog, the BC cross tried to be friends with the male KCS from the very beginning however the KCS recognised his old home and tried to claim his territory back. The BC put up with it for a while. Then the Jack Russell and the BC started getting on really weel, licking and flirting, and of course the KCS didnt like this at all, the JR was his play mate, and female too. They put up with each other for the first few hours until I started playing ball with them. The two males went for the ball at the same time and then my BC bared his teeth and it was all on. The wrestled and fought until we (my bro and I) yelled really loud and they broke it up. Since then we have had to keep the JR and the KCS in the house and our BC outside to prevent any fights although the two males stand at either side of the back door and growl and bare each others teeth like wolves for hours on end. Is this going to go on for 7 days? Is it likely they will get used to each other or is it going to be a risk to keep them together, and its better to have them seperated the whole time?

Captbob · 04-06-2007, 10:52 AM

I would keep them separated....

CrzyBritNAmerica · 04-06-2007, 11:51 AM

I'd say it's probably best to keep them seperated. Just to prevent anything serious from happening to your dog or the other two dogs. It's often hard to tell what is setting them off to dislike each other, so I'd say since the two new dogs are only there for a short time to keep them seperate...

DogueEdaddy · 04-06-2007, 12:30 PM

IMHO, you have a simple problem here, which is, you have a bonded male and female, and now you have a new male in the mix.

Most times, two males will have issues with each other, which will only get worse if there is 1 female in the picture.

Your only option is to keep the males separated. If left together, one or both could get seriously hurt.

Hope this helps.

God Bless All......Stan

Cheetah · 04-06-2007, 03:37 PM

Yeah just separate them. You said you're only watching them for a week anyway. >^^;<

sheltiemom · 04-06-2007, 05:08 PM

I'm dealing with the exact same thing right now. I am dog sitting my ex's dog, who used to be my dog, for eight days, and he is acting agressive with one of my two dogs. I watch him alot when my ex travels and this is the first time we've had a problem, but, the dog he is fighting with is new and they've never met before. There is a chance they could be trying to play, but since the visiting dog is twice the size of my dogs, I am just keeping them seperated using baby gates. They sit at the gates and whine, but when I tried to put them together, the visiting dog chased my dog and put his mouth around his neck. He didn't bite down, but it freaked me out. I told my ex about it and he said to drop him off at the kennel if it got to be too much, but so far just keeping them apart seems to be ok.

Shalva · 04-06-2007, 06:20 PM

there are ways to work through this if the dogs were going to be with you over the long term but with them only being there a week the desensitization process will take longer than the dogs will be there.... I agree with the others just keep them apart.... and next time have them go to a kennel.
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