Dog Community

2 males and sibling rivelery

Posted : 3/6/2006 12:12:08 PM

I have 2 male dogs, both just turned a year old. One is a border Collie (Spencer) which we got first. A few months later we ended up adopting a male about a month youger than him, a mix of (it seems) Vizsla/ Lab we named Gordie. They were a great combo b/c Gordie was tough enough to tolerate Spencer's rough play but he didn't seem to need to be top dog. Spencer had constant distraction and he left our cats alone. They got along great and as far as we were all concerned Spencer was top dog. Gordie was such a love bug and we were all very happy.

Then a few months ago Gordie started showing signs that he was not so happy with being the sidekick. He has been showing a lot of anxiety and in general just seems pissed off a lot at Spencer, who constantly herds and chastizes him. He pulls him by the collar and bites at his neck and face. They used to play happily but now it seems a lot more like competition. There is a ton of jealousy between them as well in the house,mostly on Gordie's part.

I know to a certain degree this is normal. I am just worried that maybe the strain of being little brother to a border collie is too much for him. I know a couple that have a sheepdog and a wheaton terrier that have a similar relationship and it also seems straining on the wheaton.

I'd like to hear other people's experiences with male siblings and in particular anything involving herding dogs.

here are my boys

dogluvr

Posted : 3/13/2006 1:19:01 PM

Hello - If you look at my picture you will see a white Boxer "Rocky 6yrs" and Golden Mix "Clyde 9 yrs" and Bassett Hound on the chair "Fred 10yrs". When Rocky was brought into our family he was under 1yrs old, Clyde at that time was 3yrs old & Fred 4yrs old. Fred was always the "Man" of the house, well the Boxer breed can be very dominant and we have had a couple fights that could of been bad if we weren't there to break it up.
They all love each other they sleep together, play but we learned to be very careful when the dominancy can come into play.
Example they all eat by themselves, we make Rocky sit in front of his food until we say good boy eat your nummies.
If we are expecting company we will keep Rocky close to one of us so he doesn't rush the door and knock the others over, he always wants to be 1st.
I think your dogs will be fine but you need to catch it early, it is o.k if the younger one becomes the dominant dog, sometimes you can't help it. Fred adjusted but we also help by keeping them out of situations where they fight over it.
Good Luck [

]

Danny

Posted : 3/13/2006 11:37:40 PM

Hello there

Like teenagers, dogs go through a few stages when they try to assert themselves and reevaluate their position in the pack. The last of these predictable stages is normally at about two years of age, and for there to be one at around one year of age is very normal. Your job is, as the previous participant already pointed out, to not escalate the situation. That means, for instance, feeding them apart, giving them both similar attention, spending alone quality-time with both of them, gently discouraging behavior you do not want and rewarding behavior you do want to see (as in all training situations), NOT interfering in their little quarrels unless it gets completely out of hand. They have to work it out for themselves, and in most cases, they will do so just fine. Male dogs, as a matter of fact, normally do get along better than female dogs, particularly if they are neutered (as they ought to be unless you are a professional breeder or have extreme high value dogs). So with a little care and attention I am sure this will work out just fine. I would advise you to get a good dog training book that, among other things, talks in lenght about multidog households (for instance: Feeling Outnumbered? How to manage and enjoy your multi-dog household, by Karen London and Patricia McConnell).

Good luck [

]

scoobychick

Posted : 4/11/2006 3:55:57 PM

I totally agree with [link>http://forum.dog.com/asp/showProfile.asp?memid=13416]polymatheia[/link] in my case I have two sisters of the same age to worry about. They do get into their little fights over who the boss is. Lucky I haven#%92t had to break them up. I also do separate things with them. Like Babydoo loves to ride in the truck, so when we go to mom#%92s babydoo goes with. Just like when we four wheeler ride Midnight comes along

Like in this picture weather Midnight is on a tie out playing in the yard and Babydoo is on the otherside. Someone will break off and run over to the other Sister to play!!!!

spiritdogs

Posted : 4/11/2006 6:12:13 PM

I have a 5 year old half Aussie and a 6 month old Aussie, who herds anything that moves except if I say "leave it". Teaching the "leave it" command to your BC will make life a lot simpler :-)