i have two female dogs. 1 is zoe, she is a lab chow mix who is fixed
& is 5 years old & i have had her since she was 12 weeks old. 2 is
karma, she is an AKC lab, not fixed & is 3 years old, i have had her
since she was 8 weeks old.

the two of them always got on fine. zoe was the alpha female by
virtue of the fact that she was there first. they were always playful
& wrestled but it was never a fight.

last saturday we had a house full of company & the dogs were in the
mix as usual. all of a sudden they just went for it. my husband
separated them & put them outside. they ran around & played like all
was well. a few days later my husband went out of town but i still
had company. i let the dogs out in the morning & then brought them in
& voila! they went for it again. i could not & would not separate
them. when they stopped i put them out. there was some blood on the
kitchen floor.

this bothered me & i went out to see where it was coming from. you
could literally feel the tension between them. i have a fenced yard
that has a partition that separates the yard in two. i put one dog on
each side so i could check them out. there were teeth marks on both
but nothing major.

since that day they have had 3 other fights. i have no one @ home now
& am worried that either 1 will kill the other or i will never be able
to have them in the house like i always have.

do you think karma is trying to be the alpha female now? she is
thicker & stronger & has the bigger teeth. is there anything i can
do? any help is greatly apprecaited.

In article
,
evilyn wrote:


do you think karma is trying to be the alpha female now? she is
thicker & stronger & has the bigger teeth. is there anything i can
do? any help is greatly apprecaited.

Why isn't Karma spayed? Hormones are very influential. Bitch fights
can indeed be fatal.

What training have you done with either of them? Are they left alone
unattended? Outdoors? Indoors?

The first step is to keep them separated unless you are supervising and
willing to separate. The second step is to call in someone to help you.
The dogs need training and structure at a minimum. Unless Karma will be
bred (and you've done all that you need to in order to do that
responsibly), she should be spayed for long term health and well being.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"evilyn" wrote in message:

since that day they have had 3 other fights. i have no one @ home now
& am worried that either 1 will kill the other or i will never be able
to have them in the house like i always have.

Do NOT leave them together, unsupervised. If you are not able to manage
them without anyone getting hurt, keep them separated at all times. Get
in-person help with a trainer who is experienced with aggression.

Unfortunately, bitch fights can be serious and deadly.

Suja

karma is not spayed because we do intend to breed her. arrangements
have been made thru the breeder we got her from. they are alone
during the day, outside, on separate sides right now. they used to be
in the house & had no problems. why would they all of a sudden start
acting like this? they've been together for 3 years & were always
peaceful. they both have had training & are generally very well
behaved. i have had dogs all my life & have never experienced this
before. i can prevent it by keeping them separate but my real concern
is why? why are they fighting now all of a sudden.

On Aug 26, 3:25*pm, Janet Boss
wrote:
In article

Why isn't Karma spayed? *Hormones are very influential. *Bitch fights
can indeed be fatal.

What training have you done with either of them? *Are they left alone
unattended? *Outdoors? *Indoors? *

The first step is to keep them separated unless you are supervising and
willing to separate. *The second step is to call in someone to help you.. *
The dogs need training and structure at a minimum. *Unless Karma will be
bred (and you've done all that you need to in order to do that
responsibly), she should be spayed for long term health and well being.

--
Janet Bosswww.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

In article
,
evilyn wrote:

why are they fighting now all of a sudden.

Karma has matured. Plain and simple. You need some in person help.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

thanks for all your help. i called my vet who reccomended someone.

On Aug 26, 3:53*pm, Janet Boss
wrote:
In article
,

*evilyn wrote:
*why are they fighting now all of a sudden.

Karma has matured. *Plain and simple. *You need some in person help.

--
Janet Bosswww.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

evilyn spoke these words of wisdom in news:3bc47f27-
:

karma is not spayed because we do intend to breed her. arrangements
have been made thru the breeder we got her from. they are alone
during the day, outside, on separate sides right now. they used to be
in the house & had no problems. why would they all of a sudden start
acting like this? they've been together for 3 years & were always
peaceful. they both have had training & are generally very well
behaved. i have had dogs all my life & have never experienced this
before. i can prevent it by keeping them separate but my real concern
is why? why are they fighting now all of a sudden.
If I had a dog with dog aggression, I would consider that a good reason to
remove it from any breeding program. That type of temperament shouldn't be
bred and passed on.

In article , diddy none
wrote:


If I had a dog with dog aggression, I would consider that a good reason to
remove it from any breeding program. That type of temperament shouldn't be
bred and passed on.

Excellent point.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

well it thought i would post an update.........

the dogs are no longer fighting. the guy my vet recommended came over
& basically told me i had to get control of them. in the past at home
we pretty much let them run loose in the yard & in the house. they
had some rules but nothing major (house trained, not allowed on
furniture or people, things like that). that's changed. i did have to
muzzle them initially but that only lasted 2 or 3 days. they are fine
now.

some where in one of the posts the comment was why would i breed karma
if she was agressive......she isn't as a general rule. you can do
anything to her you want & she never snapped or reacted. there was
just a problem that is now worked out. zoe is not agressive either
but she is much less patient & would walk away when she had enough of
whatever it was.

so anyway thanks for the suggestions & opinions. all is well now.
they stay in the house with me like i like & we have nice
conversations ^_^ & its all good.

On 2008-09-10 15:26:04 -0400, evilyn said:

the guy my vet recommended came over
& basically told me i had to get control of them.

We've had issues between our females and over time they seem to have
been minimized with constant watchfulness, more training, and the
removal of toys, which triggered Bella's resource guarding.

There have been a lot more walks and a lot more direction by humans.

When you first posted, you did not seem to know what the triggers for
the aggression were. I hope you will pay close attention to the dogs
and look for the causes. It will make things a lot better if you know
the triggers.

There's a book you might want to read: Mine! A Practical Guide to
Resource Guarding in Dogs by Jean Donaldson.

Donaldson has a very direct style of communicating.