[Tnc22]

Needing immediate advice.

I have one dog, a newly spayed husky mix female, that is randomly super aggressive to just one particular dog in our house. We have three. One bigger than her that she never ever bothers and one smaller. She will attack the smaller one, again, randomly, for no reason. Today they were just playing in the yard, he walked by her and she was on him. Punctured his head (not terribly bad) and busted his ear which bled like a stuck pig. I am at a loss. I don't know what else to do to stop this. If there was something he was doing that upset her I could stop that behavior but there is literally nothing that he does in particular to correct. Note that I live in a rural area, live an hour from any major city so driving an hour each way several days a week for any kind of behaviorial training is just not doable right now. Any and all help appreciated.

 

[Knute]

Keep the two separated 24/7.

 

[RonE]

Keep the two separated 24/7.

Blunt but if you unable to get any behavioral training, this is really the only alternative.

I'm in Minneapolis dog-sitting for my son's two dogs. It was going to be for ten days but he's stranded overseas until at least April 16.

I can't stay here that long so I'm packing up the dogs and driving them five hours to my home. The problem is that one of them, the big, young cattle dog mix, has already demonstrated that he can't be trusted with other dogs. He barely tolerates the one he lives with.

So I'll keep him separated. I've had some experience getting dog-aggresive dogs to tolerate specific dogs, so I'll work on that, but it's an arduous process and I'll never leave him alone with my dogs and I'll never be able to teach him to generalize and tolerate ALL dogs.

Having multiple dogs in a household that can't be safely left together is a huge PIA for a month or two. In the long run, it's incredibly sad.

 

[LeoRose]

Separate them, and keep them separated. If possible, have at least two barriers between them, but always have at least one. It's a royal pain, but it beats vet bills (best case scenario) or a dead dog (worst case scenario). I've had to do it twice now, and hope to never have to do it again.

You may need a referral from your regular vet, but it's possible to find a behaviorist who can do phone or video consults. Probably the best place to start looking is the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists website. American College of Veterinary Behaviorists