Too much "fighting" between puppies?

[calicoray]

I hope someone can help me here. My babies Deuce and Duchess are 9 days apart and they "fight" CONSTANTLY! I know its healthy for puppies to play and boxer pups are especially boistrous but its getting ridiculous. I dont think either one of them is hurting the other intentionally but Duchess is torn all to pieces! Im not sure if its because she is white and I can actually see all of the marks on her but its really starting to worry me. Here is the kicker though.... SHE starts it all! She is always running up to Deuce and jumping and nipping at him and when he nips back she yelps and he quits but he bites a lot harder than she does.

Is this normal? My husband, daughter and I are always yelling at them to stop it. Are we going about it the wrong way?

Deuce is such a laid back little cuddle bug and Duchess is PSYCHO! LOL! It seems like when we fuss at her she just does it more and then looks at us and snorts and shakes her head. Its like she is fussing right back. Oh goodness, what to do!!

Any advice would be much apreciated.

 

[Kamate]

My boys are doing the same thing anyone with info that might help let us know!

 

[TwoDogs]

What you want them to learn is bite inhibition. Without seeing them interact, it is tough to say what is going on. On the one hand, Duchess could be too rough in initiating play and Deuce is giving her a corrective snap. On the other hand, Duchess could in fact be playing with an inhibited bite and Deuce just hasn't learned that skill yet.

They need to play together to teach each other bite inhibition, but you can help it along by doing some bite inhibition training of your own with each of them individually. If they bite you too hard during play, give one sharp yelp, back away and turn your back on them or even leave the room. They will quickly learn that biting too hard results in the play stopping. Watch their interactions and if you notice their play is getting to rough, physically separate them in a different rooms and redirect each of them with a toy or activity.

Another thing I would be concerned with is that they don't listen to you when you do try and interfere and you end up having to yell at them to get them to stop. Because they are so close in age, you basically have littermates, even if they are not truely from the same litter. One problem that people often encounter when they bring two sibling pups or two close in age pups into the family at the same time is that the pups form their own pack and never really build individual relationships with the humans. This can sometimes create all sorts of problems. It's not unusual to see separation anxiety in one pup when the other pup has to leave for a time. Also, since the dog/human bond is not the strongest, issues in training and respecting the humans position in the pack can arise.

If they were my pups, I would leash each of them to a different family member for periods of the day. This would solve two problems. Keeping them leashed to family members means that they only interact on your terms. It lets the humans control the amount of play and interupt any inappropriate play before it escalates. Also, the pups will build stronger bonds with the people in the family, rather than only with each other. As much as possible, I would feed them separately, walk them separately, have them sleep separately, play with them separately, and train them separately. The more you do that, the more the humans will become the most important beings in their lives and this will create a bond built on respect that will really come in handy when you need to step in and control/redirect their interactions with each other.

 

[PaulaAZ]

I've had same issue...

I have a 1 yr old female and just rescued a 1 1/2 yr old male. When he first came into the house all they did was rough-house play... growling, rolling, gnawing on each others necks, etc. It was cute til I noticed my female's (who was the primary instigator here) neck. It was raw and bleeding. I took her to the vet and he wasn't happy. He gave her 2 wks of antibiotic...special lotion...and said to keep them apart! UGH! So, I did until she healed up. Now they play but I have to stop it when it gets too much. Her neck has been fine but I still worry that they will get too rough and her neck will be hurt again. I think they've learned to settle it down amongst themselves. Hopefully your two will learn also.

 

[SwadersGirl]

I'm in the same boat!!

I have a 7 month old girl and a 10 week boy that do the same thing. I was concerned with how vocal Dobie was since Cuya was always so quiet, even when playing with other dogs. Dobie goes to her as much as Cuya goes to him, so we're kind of at a loss too. We've read/seen/heard that "it's just how puppies/dogs play" and that we "need to let it happen". We try not to separate them unless it's getting too high pitched, or unless there's a yelp. Dobie has a "hole" in his ear from where Cuya tried to drag him across the yard by it. And I'm worried that since they play so rough together, they might not know how to play with others that don't box... I'm sorry I can't help, but you're definitely not alone!! I'm really excited to know it's not just my babies that are doing this, and to see what some solutions are!

 

[pelow]

Same Issue

I currently have 2 four month old boxer puppies a female and a male. They are from separate breeders but you would think that they are siblings. At times I wonder if World War 3 is going on in their room. We have the same problem as everyone else. They are playing to rough. The female is so quiet and calm while the male is a typical boxer. However the female is the one who starts all the fights. When you take them outside to play they get to running at each other and tackle each other dragging someone across the yard. I am afraid someone is going to get hurt or worse break a leg. I have also noticed that they treat our 4 year old pitbull the same way. They get to playing and get to rough and he jumps the baby gate to make an escape from the room. I just figured it was typical boxer however, we previously only had one boxer and not two. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[SwadersGirl]

It works for us...

So, as I said earlier, my husband and I were having the same issues with our pups getting a little rough when they play sometimes. Well we started noticing that even when they were playing their roughest - completely ignoring our attempts to calm them down - if one of our cats moved they went completely still and became attentive. The sound of their tags against each other caught the pups' attention every time!

I thought it'd be a long shot, but still another option that we had to explore... When we went to the petstore to get their food, we stopped by the cat isle and got this little back of bells. I guess they're to put on a cat collar. When we got home, I put all 3 or 4 bells on a ribbon and tied it tight. Again, feeling it was a long shot, we waited for the play to get rough and loud. As soon as it did, I just shook the bells enough to make a little noise. AND IT WORKED!!!! Immediately Cuya and Dobie completely stopped and just looked around. They waited a couple seconds and then went back to playing nicely again. We're still trying to correct them and distract them before the play gets too rough, but now we have a solution to it if the play does get out of hand!

I had to share! I don't know if it will work for anybody else, since I don't know if other pups react the same way to cats or if theres any cats in the other homes... But I had to post it just in case! Let me know if you try it and how it works out!! Good luck!!

 

[LILYLARUE]

When my three get to fighting, I seperate them and make them sit for a "time out". Even in the same room, just opposite corners. Sometimes they just sit, sometimes they lay down. But when I release them to play again, they play nice. Energy level is lowered and they now know what time out means so they seem to not get that agressive too often anymore. It hinder's their play time.

Even though none of my dogs are trained very well in a sit-stay, when I'm mad they sure do listen.