How do we stop youngest of 2 female OES going after older one?

Question

Totally unprovoked. Already needed stitches from one attack. Hve been crating younger one @ nite and trying to keep them separated. For the most part 90% time no problems.

Answer 1

I'll tell you what works with us and has continued to work for almost twenty years now - we are now about ready to start with our fourth generation of our breed.

Sorry about the angst you've had already. Seems to come with the territory sometimes. :p

For the old pack hierachy thing, the fiesty one needs to learn self control. What I have done is put all dogs on a NILIF program http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm - they all have a solid background on this.

Example, a few years ago, my 1-2 yr young male had a problem with the senior male (then 13/14 years old). He needed to learn self control when other dogs wanted attention too but he would act (quote unquote) "jealous" if the other dogs got attention before he got it. So I gave him a job to do. I'd tell him down and stay (this command varied), and then I'd give the other dogs attention and treats and generally act as if it were all a normal but slightly hurried thing (hurried, earlier in the training). Immediately afterwards -- I'd go right over and give the problem youngster lots of attention, the Jolly Routine, lots of treats and play. Then release him and give lots of praise particularly when he gazed in my direction away from the other dog(s). He learned that he got a lot of attention if he was ignoring the senior male.

That's hard to put into a visual script for you here but maybe you get the idea.

My breed of dog is very independent (doesn't take direction well) and historically used for predator control so they can tend to be dog aggressive. I'm not a big strong person, these dogs are big and same as working with my equines, I have to think things through and make the right way seem like the 'easy way' to the critter involved. By teaching my dogs to ignore the imagined threat with consistent application, the triggers really do reduce. - this is not to say you can always leave them loose together but it certainly does reduce the edge to the situation and over time, barring some serious object of value, you get by just fine.

Big rule is, if you tell the dog what NOT to do, be sure to let them know what they should be doing. :)

Answer 2

Well what Dusty said pretty much covered what I was going to say. Adding a little personal touch here.

We got our current female dog 7 years ago and at the time had a 13yr old female in the house. We thought things would work but just such as yours, domination became an issue. We unfortuantely didn't recognize it at the time, but the pup was trying to be alpha while the elder was already. Unfrotunately after a brutal attack (food), we were forced to seperate the dogs, we used baby gates to keep them seperate, and tried very slowly to create an environment that would work for both but impossible. Our old girl was too stubborn to give up alpha. She passed, but now all we can do if we EVER get another dog is male, it's the only gender she will tolerate and HAS to be a pup.

One thing is to establish your alpha status though, as you are the main pack leader and you are in control.

Answer 3

This is same sex aggression and it is very common.
Until your senior dog is willing to give up the top dog status or alpha female status you are going to have problems.
They could very well kill one or the other. It sounds as though you are having some pretty nasty fights.
This dogs will need to be seperated.
I have not worked with OES so I am not that familiar with the breed to know if this is a very common problem. With some breeds you just never keep the same sex together ever as they will not tolerate each other and many will fight to the death of one or the other.
Feed seperately and train or give attention seperately I wouuld just keep the seperate as that might be the easier thing to do.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Old english sheepdogs? Beautiful breed! It sounds like there is a status challenge going on between the younger dog who sees the older dog as the alpha and feels a need to gain that status herself! It's perfectly normal and anyone who has experience with dogs will tell you that two females are the worst combination. Male/male, male/female are so much easier combinations. The attacks will most likely stop as soon as one dog (the pup) finally establishes herself as alpha but this depends on how reluctant the older dog is in giving up this status. She may be willing to concede and the pup will realize this soon and stop her attacks. Meanwhile, correcting her behavior or isolating her from the older dog is probably the best thing you could do for now until this confrontational stage passes unless you are willing and knowledgeable enough to project yourself as the alpha (as it should be) and your pup will learn quickly she cannot vie for that status without YOUR permission; she will simply learn you won't allow it but this is tough for many people to accomplish without a good trainer to show them how. Good luck!

Answer 5

LMAO!!!
OF COURSE it was "PROVOKED*!! The other one was BREATHING!

Bitc*h fights are WAY worse than dog-fights! They WILL get a "HATE" that CANNOT be changed!
Spaying BOTH *might* help but if it was so bad that BLOOD was drawn,it's probably TOO LATE!
TOTAL & PERMENANT SEPERATION !