Amaya Attacking Kuso

[xxshaelxx]

Okay, so a few weeks ago, Amaya started attacking Kuso. We had three incidents in two days. One that lasted ALMOST a minute while I scrambled to open the window to scream at them, another that happened RIGHT in front of my face, and then one over food.

The first one, I don't know what happened, just that it lasted quite a while, and Kuso was fighting back, but screaming, and at the time I didn't know, but now I'm pretty sure that Amaya attacked him.

Then the one that happened right in front of my face, I don't know what happened. I was playing with a toy between them, and all of a sudden there was teeth flashing and nasty snarling. I broke it up right away, and I'm pretty sure Amaya started it (it just happened so fast that I couldn't tell).

Then the one over food, I was cleaning out the fridge and had a container of turkey sitting on the ground. Amaya nosed off the lid and Kuso came to investigate. Amaya immediately attacked him, and Kuso did nothing to defend himself, but just screamed his head off.

Since then, there hasn't been a problem, except a few growls and angry faces (Amaya to Kuso). Well, tonight I was driving home and had Adam on the phone. All of a sudden, I'm hearing screaming, Adam yells "HEY!" and he accidentally hangs up on me. Apparently, for absolutely no reason at all, Amaya attacked Kuso. Now, I can't say this is exactly what happened, but that's what he said, no toys or food involved, apparently.

I've seen Amaya play with Kuso, and I've seen her turn her back on him when she doesn't want to play. I've seen her join in on picking on him, instigate picking on him, but all play. Kuso has been caught several times humping her, and has also displayed aggression towards her when he has food and she's in her crate next to him (so basically for no other reason to just start growling and snapping).

So anyways, I'm at a loss of what to do here. I'm not going to get rid of either of them, but how can I train Amaya not to attack Kuso? Especially when 99% of the time she is fine with him?

[CorgiPaws]

I would say first and foremost: eliminate the trigger.

If she's attacking him over food, never have food with them together.
If she's attacking him over toys, play with toys one on one rather than between the both of them.

Not all dogs are going to be happy about any and every situation (sharing food, toys, etc) and there are ways to work with this, but in general, I would try to avoid the situations altogether.

I would also do some Nothing In Life is Free training with Amaya. Make her work for her food, just like you've done with Kuso. Make her work for her toys. Make her see that she's not entitled to everything she wants. With that being said, she's a dog. Her natural instincts tell her to protect her food from other dogs. Once you hand her food, no one should be near her, unless you give a successful "Drop It" command first.


Slightly off topic: I really hate it when people say "Oh he's so good, I can take the food right out of his mouth." What the heck are people doing taking food out of their dog's mouths? Have they no respect?! Any time I need to get something from my dogs, I give a "drop it" command. If this doesn't work with your dog ("your" used to refer to anyone, not the OP) then perhaps it's time to go back to basic training!

[xxshaelxx]

If she's attacking him over food, never have food with them together.
If she's attacking him over toys, play with toys one on one rather than between the both of them.

Amaya doesn't really play with toys. Since getting Kuso, I can't even get her interested... I was actually squeaking the toy in her face trying to get her to play with it, and Kuso came up, and I didn't think too much about it, but continued to try to play with Amaya. So I can understand the fact that she snapped at him, but that's not to say I'll tolerate it. As for food, I feed them in their crates, so they're never really together with food. He does run into her crate when I'm trying to give her the food, though, and I always pull him out. And I didn't think about it with the food sitting on the ground, because I thought the lid was on tight, AND they had been helping me clean up together. (I had turkeys in the fridge and didn't realize they were leaking, and they leaked blood all over the back and bottom of the fridge, so they were helping clean).

Not all dogs are going to be happy about any and every situation (sharing food, toys, etc) and there are ways to work with this, but in general, I would try to avoid the situations altogether.

I'll definitely try to avoid the situations from now on.

I would also do some Nothing In Life is Free training with Amaya. Make her work for her food, just like you've done with Kuso. Make her work for her toys. Make her see that she's not entitled to everything she wants. With that being said, she's a dog. Her natural instincts tell her to protect her food from other dogs. Once you hand her food, no one should be near her, unless you give a successful "Drop It" command first.

I actually have been doing this with her. I've been cutting up her food once a day and giving it to her in pieces, making her sit, lay down, stay, then come when I call. It's actually proving to be a big hassle, because she's lost a LOT of interest in food and there have been several nights where she's only got, like, two pieces, because she just plum gets bored and doesn't want to listen. So I've taken the food and put it away. Also, Ryou ran up to her last night and stuck his nose in her face and she just continue to eat like nothing was happening. If Kuso comes near her, she gets REALLY stand-offish and aggressive.

Slightly off topic: I really hate it when people say "Oh he's so good, I can take the food right out of his mouth." What the heck are people doing taking food out of their dog's mouths? Have they no respect?! Any time I need to get something from my dogs, I give a "drop it" command. If this doesn't work with your dog ("your" used to refer to anyone, not the OP) then perhaps it's time to go back to basic training!

O.o I hope nothing I said gave you this opinion. Just wondering, though, why DID this come up?

[RawFedDogs]

How old are these dogs and how long have they been living together? Has there been any blood during these altercations?

[chowder]

I had a female chow who became more dog aggressive the older she got. She was fine with her sisters until she got about 2 years old. Then they would have the occassional fight. The fights got worse and more frequent as she got older until there was always blood drawn.

We tried a variety of training things but in the end, keeping her seperated as much as possible was the only thing that worked. I think she was just overstimulated and paranoid and wanted to be alone. Some dogs are like that, just like some people are like that and the best thing for them is to let them have their quiet time. Once we let her be alone, she was a sweetheart.

I hope you find out what works for your baby before a whole lot of trouble. It's not easy to have dogs that fight. We tried everything when they were fighting, and you just can't physically seperate two chows that are fighting!

[EnglishBullTerriers]

Owen and Titus are like this too. It started out with just little things, but now it if full blown agression!! Only towards each other though!! I have had Owen around other dogs, intact and not, and he is fine... as long and they don't walk up to him with the 'fight face' on.
I agree with Chowder, You might just have to seperate them when they get into one of those situations/modes. I know its hard, but it sounds like they just need a 'time out' or cool down time to recollect themselves and get back to normal.

[xxshaelxx]

How old are these dogs and how long have they been living together? Has there been any blood during these altercations?

Amaya is ten months old, Kuso is four months old, and they've been together for about a month.

As for everyone else, it sounds more like dominance issues between same gender dogs. DX My friend had that problem with her two great danes, and they would draw blood every time, too. I had to separate them once, and one of them had a great big cut on her upper gums the bled PROFUSELY! It was scary. They were just fighting for dominance, though. Amaya and Kuso are two different genders.

Also, if it makes any difference, we did get Kuso while Amaya was in heat, and she just finished, like, two weeks ago. It usually makes her EXTREMELY cranky...

[EnglishBullTerriers]

Amaya is ten months old, Kuso is four months old, and they've been together for about a month.

As for everyone else, it sounds more like dominance issues between same gender dogs. DX My friend had that problem with her two great danes, and they would draw blood every time, too. I had to separate them once, and one of them had a great big cut on her upper gums the bled PROFUSELY! It was scary. They were just fighting for dominance, though. Amaya and Kuso are two different genders.

Also, if it makes any difference, we did get Kuso while Amaya was in heat, and she just finished, like, two weeks ago. It usually makes her EXTREMELY cranky...

You should def. keep them in seperate corners when she is in heat unles you are breeding them. If not then you will end up with either puppies, or fights.
I don't care if you spay/neuter, everyone has different stands on that, but if you are keeping them intact, when she is in heat, keep them apart. I have a friend that has a house of 1 intact male pitt, 1 intact female pitt and 1 intact male pomeranian and they are all 'ok' until she goes into heat. Then all three have to be in seperate corners until she is over it. Then all is back to normal.

[CorgiPaws]

O.o I hope nothing I said gave you this opinion. Just wondering, though, why DID this come up?

Nope nope, nope... not directed at you, or anytone in particular.

Just rossed my mind in reference to aggression over food. A lot of times I post things for "lurkers" rather than strictly to OP's. Sorry if there was any confusion.

[xxshaelxx]

You should def. keep them in seperate corners when she is in heat unles you are breeding them. If not then you will end up with either puppies, or fights.
I don't care if you spay/neuter, everyone has different stands on that, but if you are keeping them intact, when she is in heat, keep them apart. I have a friend that has a house of 1 intact male pitt, 1 intact female pitt and 1 intact male pomeranian and they are all 'ok' until she goes into heat. Then all three have to be in seperate corners until she is over it. Then all is back to normal.

Um....I only have one intact dog. Kuso came neutered because he was from a shelter, and Ryou got neutered early on, because we were still undecided about whether or not to breed Amaya. The only intact dog at this house (one of my friend's that I'm watching for her) is kept away from my dogs, because he has dog aggression issues around any other dog but my friend's other dog.

Nope nope, nope... not directed at you, or anytone in particular.

Just rossed my mind in reference to aggression over food. A lot of times I post things for "lurkers" rather than strictly to OP's. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Okay! Phew! I was, like, "OMG! Did I say something?!" haha. The only time I mess with food that way is when training Kuso to be easy, and I hope the food in my hand and tell him to be easy, and if he starts biting my fingers, I pull my hand away and tell him "no." So that way he learns not to snap at my hands! Because it hurts! haha. But the food isn't in his mouth then.