I have an 8 year old Staffy bitch(Hollie) which I have had since she
was a pup. She is absolutely brilliant with my wife, 3 kids and I
(although as an adolescent she was very destructive).

Six months ago we decided to get a second dog and selected a
Bullmastiff bitch (Chrissy). She was typical for a pup and both dogs
got on really well.

Now she is six months old and is now the dominant one but she always
seems to be bullying Hollie(staffy). Anything Hollie sniffs or does
Chrissy is there pushing her out of the way, the slightest resistance
causes fighting, Chrissy has to be the centre of attention. When
Hollie is asleep she will go and sit or lie on her and on many
occasions has gone for her across the room for no apparent reason. I
have to split both of them into separate rooms when feeding (I have
had dogs in past and never had to do this before).

They have both argued quite a bit but the Hollie keeps coming off
worse and can't relax anywhere and seems depressed and quiet, she
seems more worried about the Chrissys presence than what I am asking
her to do.

I'm getting really worried about this behaviour and don't know what to
do for the best, I don't want any of my family caught up in a dog
fight.

can anyone offer any advice please, I understand that the dogs have to
work out their positions in the pack but it seems to have been
decided, but Chrissy hasn't worked that out yet, or is she just
bullying?

Thanx in advance
"Woody"

"Woody[UK]" wrote in message
om...

[..]

can anyone offer any advice please, I understand that the dogs have to
work out their positions in the pack but it seems to have been
decided, but Chrissy hasn't worked that out yet, or is she just
bullying?

Thanx in advance
"Woody"


Are they insured? Either way, I would sort this out would be with the help
of a qualified pet behaviour councillor - which your pet insurance should
cover.

Have a look at the http://apbc.org.uk/ site and locate a counsellor near
you, then go along to your vet and ask to be referred.

Diana & Cindy

--
Cindy's web site
http://cindy-incidentally.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk

(Woody[UK]) wrote:
can anyone offer any advice please, I understand that the dogs have to
work out their positions in the pack but it seems to have been
decided, but Chrissy hasn't worked that out yet, or is she just
bullying?

She's at the right age to start jockeying for position with your other dog.
IOW, it's a normal phase of development.

However... you have a delicate situation. Not only are they both bitches, but
they're both breeds that are of higher probability to do real damage to other
dogs. Bitch fights are often more serious than fights between males also.

The best advice I can give you is to hire a behaviorist to come into your home
and work with you one-on-one. Meanwhile, when you're not directly supervising,
keep them separated. Good job in feeding them separately. I'd also make sure
there aren't any valuable resources for them to squabble over (like rawhides).


Another facet of this is teaching Chrissy who the *real* boss is in the house -
you. And that's best done in the kind, gentle, fair way outlined at this
website: http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

--
Family Dog Trainer
"It's A Dog's Life"
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html
Get Healthy, Build Your Immune System, Lose Weight
http://www.re-vita.net/dfrntdrums

From: (Woody[UK])

I'm getting really worried about this behaviour and don't know what to
do for the best, I don't want any of my family caught up in a dog fight.


Rehome the Bullmastiff. If you don't want to do that, find a good
behaviorist. Yesterday.

Debbie

"Debbie S" wrote in message
...



Rehome the Bullmastiff. If you don't want to do that, find a good
behaviorist. Yesterday.

you took the words right out of my, uh, fingers.

i'll never understand why someone would get two dog aggressive females and
then think they'll "work it out".

*sigh*

-kelly

on 2005-01-19 at 18:17 wrote:

i'll never understand why someone would get two dog
aggressive females and then think they'll "work it out".

oh, they'll work it out, alright. therein lies the problem.

--
shelly
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette
http://cat-sidh.blogspot.com/ (updated dailyish, apparently)

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 11:10:58 -0500, shelly
wrote:

on 2005-01-19 at 18:17 wrote:

i'll never understand why someone would get two dog
aggressive females and then think they'll "work it out".

oh, they'll work it out, alright.

That is just *exactly* what I was going to say. I had one aggressive
female (Dal) and a dominant female that would die before she'd back
down (Sibe). We tried just about everything, and had we kept them
both, I am convinced that one would have killed the other. These were
fights that caused injuries every time.

Mustang Sally