We have two dogs, a two year old male miniature American Eskimo and a one and a half year old Australian Shepherd female. The female is fixed and the male is not. The Eskie has never been able to really successfully dominate the female, before or after she was neutered. Since being neutered, our female dog has gotten more aggressive towards the male. Although the Eskie waits to eat his food until she is done with hers, etc, and is not prone to aggressive behavior whatsoever (although he is excitable), the Aussie, right after getting neutered, starting claiming areas and toys. We thought this was cute at first as she had not played with toys much except for completely destroying him. It's gotten a lot worse though and the frequency with which they are fighting has led me to keep them separated constantly, which is not a good long term solution. We have been having work done on the house and I've read environmental changes can make dogs tense. Today, for instance, my husband was playing on the foor with them with a rope, something they usually love. The Aussie growled (not playfully) at the Eskimo male, who walked away and averted his eyes. My husband didn't really understand what was going on at the time and encouraged the Eskie to play. He went to bat at the rope and the Aussie lunged at him, teeth bared, snarling, and they started to fight. Not long after, I was holding the Eskimo in my lap and he was looking at her (something I was trying to make him quit doing) and she walked up to him, looked hard back at him, and lunged at him in my lap. Both dogs are submissive to us, and the Aussie, the moment she quits freaking out at the Eskie, will roll on her back and prance around you playfully.

Also worth mentioning that the Eskie plays with a male dog the same size as he is, somewhat frequently, and there has never been a problem. I already decided yesterday to remove all the toys, although this makes me sad, and the Eskie has been actively sad-acting and has been hanging out under a side table by the sofa (usually he likes to be up on a pillow or something on the couch). Now I'm worried toy removal isn't enough because they didn't seem to need anything to spark the second fight. Anyway, they have been happening more often. Both dogs are fine when alone, used to get along, etc. What should I do? They have lived together a little over a year and this started around the time she was spayed.

Some other misc. info:
-They have a large yard and have not fought in the yard except for a little tension today when I caught them staring at each other with the Aussie not wanting the Eskie to leave the patio into the yard.

-Aussie has certain aggressive behaviors that were just play but that we have to correct her about and have pretty much since we got her - she learned to bite less hard not long after we got her but she will still occasionally try to drag him by his ruff, which makes him squeak/shriek, and we have to make her stop...this is during play.

-I don't think the male dog has ever been above her in hierarchy - he tried to mount her a couple times last year and she just bit at him and walked away. In any case, he hasn't tried much.

On Sun, 6 Feb 2011 17:56:30 +0000, alphagirl
wrote:


We have two dogs, a two year old male miniature American Eskimo and a
one and a half year old Australian Shepherd female. The female is fixed
and the male is not. The Eskie has never been able to really
successfully dominate the female, before or after she was neutered.
Since being neutered, our female dog has gotten more aggressive towards
the male. Although the Eskie waits to eat his food until she is done
with hers, etc, and is not prone to aggressive behavior whatsoever
(although he is excitable), the Aussie, right after getting neutered,
starting claiming areas and toys. We thought this was cute at first as
she had not played with toys much except for completely destroying him.
It's gotten a lot worse though and the frequency with which they are
fighting has led me to keep them separated constantly, which is not a
good long term solution. We have been having work done on the house and
I've read environmental changes can make dogs tense. Today, for
instance, my husband was playing on the foor with them with a rope,
something they usually love. The Aussie growled (not playfully) at the
Eskimo male, who walked away and averted his eyes. My husband didn't
really understand what was going on at the time and encouraged the Eskie
to play. He went to bat at the rope and the Aussie lunged at him, teeth
bared, snarling, and they started to fight. Not long after, I was
holding the Eskimo in my lap and he was looking at her (something I was
trying to make him quit doing) and she walked up to him, looked hard
back at him, and lunged at him in my lap. Both dogs are submissive to
us, and the Aussie, the moment she quits freaking out at the Eskie, will
roll on her back and prance around you playfully.

Also worth mentioning that the Eskie plays with a male dog the same size
as he is, somewhat frequently, and there has never been a problem. I
already decided yesterday to remove all the toys, although this makes me
sad, and the Eskie has been actively sad-acting and has been hanging out
under a side table by the sofa (usually he likes to be up on a pillow or
something on the couch). Now I'm worried toy removal isn't enough
because they didn't seem to need anything to spark the second fight.
Anyway, they have been happening more often. Both dogs are fine when
alone, used to get along, etc. What should I do? They have lived
together a little over a year and this started around the time she was
spayed.

Some other misc. info:
-They have a large yard and have not fought in the yard except for a
little tension today when I caught them staring at each other with the
Aussie not wanting the Eskie to leave the patio into the yard.

-Aussie has certain aggressive behaviors that were just play but that we
have to correct her about and have pretty much since we got her - she
learned to bite less hard not long after we got her but she will still
occasionally try to drag him by his ruff, which makes him squeak/shriek,
and we have to make her stop...this is during play.

-I don't think the male dog has ever been above her in hierarchy - he
tried to mount her a couple times last year and she just bit at him and
walked away. In any case, he hasn't tried much.

It's really difficult even for professional dog trainers to give
advice in situations like this without being able to see and evaluate
the dogs' behavior and interaction with each other first-hand. I am
not a dog trainer, but I have quite a bit of experience with multi-dog
households and, unfortunately, with housemates fighting. It sounds
like your Aussie might be resource guarding - she seems to consider
all the toys (and perhaps the humans) as her property. Spaying does
not reduce dog aggressive behavior in bitches and in fact sometimes
exacerbates it. You need to get a behaviorist involved as soon as
possible before the behavior escalates further and the Eskie is
injured.