Agression...

[BEN]

I have two boxers, they are both very good for still being young.
One is 2 and the other just turned 1. The problem I have is that the youngest is not in charge of my 2yo. He is very posessive of everything, water, food, treats, toys, attention!

My one year old is now 75lbs the same as my 2yo, he beats up on the older pup daily. It is starting to get a bit extreme. I am afraid that if this continues my oldest will get seriously hurt. What can I do to help prevent this and help them be best buds??


Thanks for any advice.

 

[vasha]

Ben -

We'll need a few more details in order to help you out more.

- Sex of the dogs?
- What kind of injuries the eldest dog has?
- What happens when they are fighting (or just rough housing
maybe?)

I'm sure there are more details needed, but that's all I can come up with now

VaSHa

 

[cashisking]

Are they altered, ie fixed, nuetered????

 

[Adelle]

Ben it sounds like your 1 year old is resource guarding, you can do a search on this site to find out more about resource guarding. I have the same problem with my boxer guarding resources when I have foster dogs, his main issues are with food. A high level of obedience training and management of the problem will help. When I say management I mean that the dogs never get food or treats when they are together. Seperate them by crate, baby gate or even in different rooms when you feed them or give them treats. In my house Finn only gets treats in his crate. If they are also fighting over toys - remove the toys.

Another part of this may be a dominance thing, which dog is the alpha between the two of them and are you feeding that dog first, greeting that dog first etc. If you are not you could be causing some of the trouble. Resource guarding is not a dominance thing but its another possibility to look at.

But do a search on resource guarding and give us some more details, like sex and whether they are both neutered etc and I am sure you can get some good advise here.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Hopefully you'll find this helpful.

http://siriusdog.com/multidog.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/2525/multidogs.htm

I also suggest getting a copy of "Mine. . . A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" By Jean Donaldson and a copy of "The Dog Listener" and/or "The Practical Dog Listener" both by Jan Fennell.

Good luck.

 

[hyost]

Ben, thanks for asking this question. I have a 1 year old, female and a 3 month old male. Usually, I hear of the older dog getting irritated by the puppy, but in my house, it's the toal opposite. He;s only 3 months old and gets very upset at my older dog if she wants to play and he doesn't. My youngest shows some food aggression, only with treats and bones and especially attention. Nothing bad has happened yet, but I feel that he will try to be the dominat one when he is older. Again, I'm interested in hearing all the replys to this thread because I have a feeling that I'm going to be in the same boat in a few months. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.

 

[SammynDqtz]

With an aggression problem, you might want to get a trainer to help you out.