Aggression Help

[whipmaz]

I have a 5yrs and 2yrs old male whippets both which I have had from 8weeks old pups

Over the last 6months they are starting to be very agressive towards each other and to day they have had a ding dong which was very nasty and up setting

We always make sure the eldest dog is always treated as top dog but I think the young one is trying to take over

Any advice would be much apreciated because the falling out seems to come from no where

Many Thanks

Whipmaz

 

[FeeFee]

Are they both entire?

 

[whipmaz]

Are they both entire?

Hi

Yes they both have their bits

Would you castrate the young dog ?

 

[TTT]

If you have no plans to breed them, why not neuter both? What circumstances causes them to start fighting? Food, toys, beds? Do they socialise well with other dogs?

 

[FeeFee]

Are they both entire?

Hi

Yes they both have their bits

Would you castrate the young dog ?

Difficult to answer without knowing a more - and it's very difficult to comment on this sort of thing over the internet without seeing the dogs and their behaviour first hand and getting some insight into the cause of the aggression.

TTT's questions are good ones - are there any obvious triggers for them kicking off? Is one of them the 'aggressor' or are they both going for it? What is their relationship like at other times? Do they fight to the point where they are seriously injuring one another, or is it noisy spats with lots of teeth showing but no serious injury?

Because of their ages and because they are both entire males my guess would be that the older dog has been the natural boss up to now, but the younger one is now fully mature and wants to take over the job. It may be that the younger is the more natural 'top dog' and by reinforcing the older in that role you are making things worse - but that really is just speculation - it could be caused by something completely different, eg by one of them resource guarding.

Neutering one or both might well help, but to be honest my advice would be to get a good behaviourist involved and get their view on this, as getting it wrong could potentially make things worse. There is a list of APBC members by area here: http://www.apbc.org.uk/help/regions

Good luck - it's horrible when dogs don't get on, I really hope you manage to find a way to sort if out :luck:

 

[whipmaz]

Hi All

Many thanks for the advise we are off to the vets on Friday for a check up with the dogs and booked in to see a behaviourist at the weekend

Like you have explained it looks like the youngest dog reaching 2 he is trying to be top dog and we have got to be carefull how we handle it

Keep fingers crossed XXX

Thanks again

Maz

 

[FeeFee]

Good luck - please let us know how it goes :luck: