What would you do if you had two dogs that did not get along?

[Castlemaid]

Have you been in this situation? How did you deal with it?
Rehome? Rotate? Crate? Training? Other?


Do you think it was the best thing to do? How did you come to that decision?
What would you do differently now? What would you do to avoid this issue in the future?

Do you think it is possible for two dogs that don't like each other to co-exist? If you only have one dog, would you consider getting another one if there was a chance that they would not get along?

No right or wrong answers here - looking for some open and honest discussions, suggestions, and stories.

[onyx'girl]

I would probably re-home the one that would be easiest to re-home. I don't think I would want to crate/rotate for the life of the dogs.
I have the dogs as companions only(not sport dogs and I am not a breeder)
If I were a breeder or had these dogs for competition it would be no big deal to crate/kennel and rotate. But for family pets, I don't think it would be fair to any one to be crated due to friction between pets.

I have two females that get along ok, but every now and then posturing or attitude shows up.
One is more submissive luckily and if she decided not to back down, there would be bloodshed.
I know females tend to not forgive when that happens so I dread the day if that ever happened.

[arycrest]

I have this problem with Slider & Mac. They started fighting a few years ago and it took me a while to pinpoint what was triggering the fights ... toys. Slider would take Mac's toy away from him and a fight would start.

I banned them from playing with toys inside the house, so those fights stopped.

Outside they can have all the toys they want BUT I keep them separated. I set up a dog pen (it's about 24x32) and put Slider in it (along with Bruiser for company). This kept peace in the family until ...

I hadn't had a fight in a few years, so late last November I started letting the dogs out together.

Things went along nicely until about a month ago when Slider took Mac's toy and the fight began. Faith entered it, and Bruiser also got into the ruckus. Bruiser dropped out, but I still had a very nasty, very bloody 3 dog fight. Water didn't work, blood was flowing, and I was scared to death.

I was wearing a cord jacket, took it off, wrapped it around Slider's head like a blindfold/hood, held onto it, and punched Faith & Mac in the head until they backed off. I walked Slider back to the pen, removed the jacket, washed the blood off everyone and had a nervous breakdown.

Though it seemed like an eternity, I guess the fight lasted about 10 minutes.

They'll remain separated outdoors for the rest of their lives (Mac's 10-1/2, Slider is 8-1/2).

If the problem had continued indoors, I would have kept them separated, alternating them with being with the rest of us or being locked up.

[Jax08]

Sierra and Jax can't be trusted along. We crate Sierra when we aren't here (because she likes to tear things apart) and monitor them when we are here. The main problem is if anyone gets to loud, or gets near DH, she attacks Jax.

[cshepherd9]

Fortunately I have never had to deal with this issue with my dogs at home but on the few instances I have had to take my dogs with me to my parents house (weekends or holidays) it has been an issue. My dog Dallas HATES my mom's dog so we have to do the crate/rotate method. In doing this just for the weekend I know it is an issue that I wouldn't want to deal with for the life of either dog. As Onyx'girl stated my dogs are pets so I want them out with me to enjoy.
I guess if the situtation ever arose at my house I would consider rehoming but I am praying that I never have to deal with that scenario.

[krystyne73]

I had this problem when I adopted Sasha almost 2 yrs ago. first they all got along but then as the weeks went by Sasha began testing the leadership in the pack. she attacked Meika, she had to have her eye stitched back together ( I was right there when it happened and it was one quick bite).
Meika held a grudge and Wouldn't play much when Sasha was around. Later on Macy was found with A gash on her neck needing 5 stitches. I began crating Sasha when unattended. Put her with 2 trainers over these 2 yrs. We have made great progress.
Macy being oppressed became the oppressor then we had huge fights with her and sasha. I had contemplated rehoming but I couldn't find a family that met my requirements.

I checked medical issues first, found out Macy was is pain, changed their diet.

I also bought a treadmill and run all 3 girls on it weekly. It's been pure bliss lately. Not a fight in months! The training also let me focus on my behavior also the trainer explained even though the dogs had stitches Sasha was not " dog aggressive" but nervous. Now we almost whisper in the house to keep the dogs relaxed. lol life is good now

[Rerun]

Akira is very SSA. She's great with males. She's indifferent to females if I'm there, but walk out of the room and all bets are off. The last attack happened when my SO was home with the dogs, and walked down the hallway to our room. It was almost INSTANT that a fight broke out, and it was a very bad fight. He's a police officer of 15 yrs and 6'3, and very strong, and it was all he could do to get Akira off Audrey. Akira attacks even when Audrey submits. I should also mention here that Akira was trained for leader dogs for the blind and was HIGHLY socialized and well trained. once maturity hit, the SSA kicked in.

She is terrible with Audrey, though originally fine, and began attacking her. I successfully kept them seperated in the house via reliable gates, and crate rotation when we weren't here. Akira can jump them but won't jump them to attack Audrey. Twice in a year and a half she got to her, and both times it was pretty bad - requiring immediate vet care. Once when I made a nearly fatal error of letting Akira out back when I didn't realize Audrey was out there already, and the fight mentioned above.

Tried every training technique and theory in the book. Even tried reintegrating them for months with the use of a wire basket muzzle from leerburg. It wasn't successful. Akira would be very submissive with the muzzle, but clearly uncomfortable around Audrey, and by then Audrey was scared and skittish around Akira. I devoted to a life of keeping them seperate, which was fine, but then my son came along and I began to worry about what would happen if he was in the room and Akira suddenly decided to jump a gate, or if someone goofed and left a gate or door open. It happens to the best of us. Finally, a month ago, my mother convinced me to let her take Audrey at least for awhile to ease things on us. She lives in the same neighborhood, so I still see her almost daily, and mom has other GSD's that are good with Audrey so she still has buddies and someone she knows well. Would I have given her to someone I didn't know? Absolutely not, I love that little girl dearly. But mom has another female, so giving Akira to her wasn't an option. Audrey is easy - she gets along with everyone, is a very mild mannered easy going girl. If mom ever can't keep her, I'll take her back and go back to crate and gate rotation.

I'm not looking for any feedback or options on training from anyone - I'm familar with them all, and sometimes it just flat out isn't going to work. But castlemaid and anyone else who may be having problems despite proper training, that's my story.

[Rerun]

To the question of "would I get another if they might not get along."

No, I won't get another female dog until Akira passes. She is 7 yrs, will be 8 this fall. She is a GREAT dog, just does not like female dogs, so when we add a dog we choose males. I have fostered many females, and I just keep them seperated via crate rotation. It's not an issue short term, but would I want to do it long term again, no - definitely not. It was constant stress in the back of my mind where both girls were in the house, couldn't walk them together, take them for car rides together, etc.

[krystyne73]

Originally Posted by krystyne73

I had this problem when I adopted Sasha almost 2 yrs ago. first they all got along but then as the weeks went by Sasha began testing the leadership in the pack. she attacked Meika, she had to have her eye stitched back together ( I was right there when it happened and it was one quick bite).
Meika held a grudge and Wouldn't play much when Sasha was around. Later on Macy was found with A gash on her neck needing 5 stitches. I began crating Sasha when unattended. Put her with 2 trainers over these 2 yrs. We have made great progress.
Macy being oppressed became the oppressor then we had huge fights with her and sasha. I had contemplated rehoming but I couldn't find a family that met my requirements.

I checked medical issues first, found out Macy was is pain, changed their diet.

I also bought a treadmill and run all 3 girls on it weekly. It's been pure bliss lately. Not a fight in months! The training also let me focus on my behavior also the trainer explained even though the dogs had stitches Sasha was not " dog aggressive" but nervous. Now we almost whisper in the house to keep the dogs relaxed. lol life is good now

Couldn't edit fast enough on my iphone...I had a lot of grammatical errors. Sorry!

Also, knowing what I know now, I would still get Sasha because I think she needed someone willing to devote all day to her problems. (it's wonderful watching her develop into a well trained dog)
BUT, I will never add another dog again until I have mastered the training in my other dogs first.

[LaRen616]

If I had this problem and I could not safetly keep them seperated/crated then I would keep the one that I am closest to or has been with me longer and rehome the other dog. If that dog had serious issues and I didn't believe that anyone else could handle him/her, then I would probably have him/her pts. It depends on the dog though and the problem.