My two female dogs are fighting till they draw blood due to jealousy – is there any solution?

Seriously? 🤪🤷

We've always had at least two males for a good few years now, even three back when our good old Lab was still with us... and never any trouble (except for right now, a few tiffs because the Cocker has been a bit "grumbly" since that incident) but otherwise they're pretty... cuddly, they're just best mates really ^^

A behaviourist will assess how the girls are acting (it’s actually very common for two dogs of the same sex to stop getting along at some point) and give you some pointers. They’ll also look at how you’re interacting with them; there might just be a little oversight that you'll be able to sort out yourself.

You can't go on living like this—for the sake of your family and the dogs themselves.

By the way, the offer still stands for anyone interested in this – you’ll be the testers.

Mind you, there’s about 15,000 words of documentation to read, but it’s a pretty easy read.

Otherwise, this is what the damage looks like, even 9 years on…

This is my husband’s finger after his hand was mangled having to separate our Cocker Spaniel and a German Shorthaired Pointer we’d taken in for the umpteenth time (he’d been abandoned! The local rescue was full, so we kept him with their blessing, of course).

At that point, we went from 3 to 4 dogs!

I saw what was wrong STRAIGHT AWAY, but with the Cocker already an adult and the Pointer too, both with their own different histories... there wasn't much we could do because the Pointer completely ignored the Cocker's "seniority" (he was smaller, sure, but he was there FIRST).

We corrected him EVERY TIME, but there was ONE time too many over the food bowl... the Pointer grabbed the Cocker by the throat and wouldn't let go... Blood EVERYWHERE!!!

I was holding the Cocker on one side, my husband was trying to pull the Pointer off on the other, and by putting his hand between their mouths: BANG. Hospital for my husband and the emergency vets for the dog... the Pointer didn't have a scratch on him, just red mist in his eyes and ready to go again...

Phew... we tend to rescue dogs "within the family", so he was able to go and live with my in-laws.

Where he lived happily until a fortnight ago (I'll do a separate post on that: HE FELL INTO A DRAINAGE HOLE COVERED BY LONG GRASS!!!)

So thank goodness we had a Plan B, because every single day, that tension in the house... Brrrr!!!

After that, the Labrador and the Mastiff treated him with total contempt (don't even get me started on the Cocker!)... you’d have the Pointer on one side and the other 3 in another room, and at the slightest eye contact, there was growling coming from all directions...

The atmosphere in the house... Wow.

Same during walks: Pointer on the left, the other 3 on the right in "we hate you" mode... and if we tried playing together, like going for a ball in a big open field, it’d start ALL OVER AGAIN the moment they reached the ball, not to mention the non-stop grumbling during the walks... it was a nightmare.

If it hadn't been for my in-laws, we would have called in a behaviourist, but things were already looking pretty bad from the start and, above all... it was the "whole pack" that would have needed sorting out. But we would’ve done it, for sure... we’ve NEVER taken a dog back to the rescue.

I think you REALLY need a pro to spend some time at home with you and the dogs... seriously.

Either that, or someone you trust implicitly that you'd feel okay rehoming one of the two with...

Trying to handle it yourself is going to be a real struggle.

😞

Hi there,

Of course, this is definitely something you can work on :-)

You can start by having a look at this video, which gives you an idea of possessive dynamics and managing interactions (https://youtu.be/0m22Dt_uQuQ)

Assuming you're comfortable with English, of course! :-)

The basics: it's the owner who should initiate contact, not the dog. You should never let a dog claim or block access to their owner's space by leaning against them to form a barrier.

Don't give affection to overexcited dogs, and don't let them crowd people by jumping up, crawling all over them, and so on.

These are the real fundamentals for managing interactions when you have a group of dogs with a possessive or aggressive individual.

I once had a foster dog who was an absolute nightmare in this regard; when he first arrived, he was constantly snapping at my own dog, blocking her from the furniture, corners of the house, people... he was like a total psycho!

But after a week of applying simple rules and a bit of active moderation, the two dogs were able to live together for months without a single hitch (until my foster was rehomed).