my silky terrier has become very aggressive towards her sister. beenie is five yrs old & toto is 3 yrs old.?

Question

this has been going off and on for awhile but lately it has escalated to constant . beenie herds toto and fights her for no reason. when the fight starts its impossible to break up. they are actually biting holes in each other. now i am keeping them seperated completely. i am at my wits end. could beenie be loosing her little mind?

they are both spayed since babies. i believe it could territorial, as beenie is very jealous of toto. but i have always had to show beenie more attention because of the jealousy. would it hurt to crate one or both? i really appreciate any help i can get.

Answer 1

This is really common among b1tches of similar size. Your older ***** is trying to drive away the younger one. This has only started now because around 3 years of age is when a ***** becomes emotionally mature and ready to breed (in a wild situation, we have messed up their natural cycles).

You would by far be best off trying to find a trainer or behaviourist to help with this situation, because these problems are notoriously hard to resolve. At the very least you should neuter if you haven't already.

If you are determined to tackle this problem yourself then you need a lot of persistence and consistency from yourself and any other family members. You must elevate Beenie above Toto in the pack and enforce this decision. This means that Beenie always gets greeted and fussed first, gets fed first, gets first treat, etc. You need to spend time reinforcing their basic training too - at least 15 minutes 2 or 3 times a day just doing the basic stuff.

If a fight breaks out you should NEVER try to separate them with your hands - this is how you end up getting bitten. Use a water spray and a loud 'NO' to get their attention. As soon as they stop then you should praise Beenie and give her lots of fuss and a treat. Also, you need to distract her as soon as she starts any aggressive behaviour towards Toto, again with loads of rewards for stopping. Do not make the mistake of feeling 'sorry' for Toto and picking her up or giving her extra cuddles - this will make things worse.

This is going to be tough to solve, but it is possible if you make yourself top dog and reinforce the heirarchy strictly. The key to this working is consistency. Good luck!

Answer 2

http://www.radiofence.com/shock_collars_comfort_fit_small_dog_trainer.htm

This will solve the problem quickly and directly. That problem being that you don't act as the alpha in the relationship with your dogs. This has caused them to become mentally ill (dogs are very sensitive and in need of this). It's a form of neglect and you can see the results for yourself. Put the collar on the most problem dog. Set the stim level to its lowest. When you see the behavior, look the dog directly in the eye and say (loudly) NO! Then zap them. Repeat as necessary, perhaps with a higher stim level. This doesn't hurt exactly (pinch your arm to get an idea of what it feels like to the dog) but dogs have varying resistance to feeling it (which is why there are many stim levels). You will only have to do this a few times as the dog learns to listen to the verbal prompt.

What's going on here is that alphas are supposed to maintain the peace and direct the hierarchy among dogs. You weren't doing that, so the dogs became very anxious. The two are the same on the pecking order and without an alpha to tell them that, they fight to determine who is dominant. This will continue until one or both is seriously injured or dead (make no mistake this is a serious issue....and is very much your fault). Alphas do this by nipping dogs under them on the neck. The collar mimics this. The dogs recognize it instinctually and, quite frankly, it's what they have been craving. Fixing this problem will bring them back peace of mind. Just don't abuse the collar. It's used to mimic being nipped on the neck while used in conjunction with a strong verbal command. The goal is to replace the nipping with the verbal command, pairing them via respondent conditioning. You are not to use long stim to try and pain the dog. That's not how to use the collar correctly.

Answer 3

It sounds territorial. Are these breeding dogs? If not, you might want to consider spaying them.

I know that it sounds a little cruel, but this might be the only way to stop this sort of action between the two pets. They're competing for your attention/loyalty etc and it seems that they are prepared to keep the action happening.

If you don't think you can do this, you may need to sell one of your pets, just to keep the peace. It seems harsh, but it might come down to that.