[lbonini1throw]

Hello, I am a life-long dog owner and breeder and have come into a serious issue as of late.

I own 13 Beagles, 6 girls and 7 boys. I have long since stopped breeding Beagles and thus have gotten them all fixed, but these have come from times when I have bred my dogs that I have felt a connection to the puppies.

I run into a problem recently where 5 female dogs will gang up on one female, push her to the ground and bite, stomp and try to rip at her. It's a very aggressive thing and it warrants having to separate the dogs with water. I cannot understand why they all gang up on this dog, they have lived with each other all their lives, the only thing I can think of is that this dog is a bit slower than the others but I don't understand why else this may be happening...

They function daily normally, it's just this becomes a random issue whenever she may find herself behind a closed door or just randomly during times of rest... what could be causing this aggression and how can I stop it??

Thanks...

 

[DaySleepers]

Bitch fights are serious business. Fights between females are both more likely to escalate and cause serious damage, and have a poorer success rate for rehabilitation. I can't begin to guess what started this, but it's very common for bitches who fought once to do so again.

The first thing I would do in your situation is separate the 'victim' from your other dogs, at least the females, for her own safety. I would also bring her to a vet and get her a full workup - very occasionally you hear about dogs turning on their housemates because they're "off" or ill in some way that the dogs can sense (smell, probably) but isn't bad enough for humans to notice yet.

If she gets a clean bill of health, you need to contact a veterinary behaviorist or a certified behaviorist who uses up-to-date, science-based methods (reward based, no nonsense about being a 'pack leader' and 'dominating' your dogs) and has experience with aggression. The CCPDT or APDT are good places to start. Some behaviorists will even do skype consults, which is obviously not ideal but better than trying to deal with a serious aggression issue alone.

It's entirely possible that you may need to do crate-and-rotate with this dog for the rest of her life to keep her safe, or rehoming her if that will allow her a better quality of life. Behaviorists can do a lot, but as I said, aggression between females is one of the more difficult issues to tackle, even when only two dogs are involved.

 

[Lillith]

I agree with Daysleepers. I kind of doubt that theres much else you can do in this situation other than crate-and-rotate or re-home either the dog that is picked on, or the instigator.