Dog Community

senior yorkies living together

jmt

Posted : 9/16/2012 6:23:04 PM

My daughter's yorkshire terriors had some occasinal scraps, sometimes at feeding time. They have lived in relative harmony with a female sibling for at least 10 years. After their sister passed away, only 2 males were left. The older yorky had always been dominant. Suddenly, w/o warning the began to fight viciously. Many fights drew blood and would have been to the death, if not stopped. My daughter takes her dogs to the vet continuously so medical reasons have been ruled out. She is trying to get an app't with a behavioalist. They have to be separated carefully and watched so they don't make contact. Does anyone have ideas or a similar experience. Gates and leashes are all over the house and it is getting stressful. My daughter loves her dogs as we all do. I know I'm new to the community and have searched to find a site with caring, dog loving people to connect with.

jmt

JackieG

Posted : 9/16/2012 7:02:07 PM

It's not unusual to see this sort of escalation in aggression when the dynamics change, as they did when their female sibling passed away. I hope she can find a good behaviorist to get some ideas on how to lower the aggression. Sometimes this isn't successful but hopefully it can be mitigated to some extent. Sometimes the only answer is to keep the dogs completely separated or to rehome one of the dogs. It is an extremely stressful situation for the dogs and the humans that live with them and I hope your daughter can get some help from the behaviorist soon.

One thing that doesn't work is to use punishment to correct either dog. Often it makes the problem worse.

jmt

Posted : 9/16/2012 7:32:01 PM

thanks for your concern. She will never be able to send either dog away. She started with a family of 7 and only has the 2 left. She loves them too much. I live in another area of NYS and am visiting. I'm willing to take one for a couple of weeks to give her a break since neither dogs attacks other dogs or people, just each other. Her husband thinks when London(one of the dogs) returns, it could be worse.

JackieG

Posted : 9/16/2012 8:30:58 PM

This article might be helful for your daughter. http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_4/features/Dog-Fighting-Behavior-Aggression_16214-1.html

jmt

Posted : 9/19/2012 10:36:12 AM

I brought one of the dogs to my house for a few days. Both dogs are calm not around the other. London(the dog I have) is around 2 other dogs at my house w/o any problems.