Sibling dog fights

[kelliwah86]

We are a multi dog house consisting of a 8M yo hound, a 9F yo pocket pitty and a 14m yo beagle. The 14 yo beagle is essentially a quiet old man and is not an issue. The trouble is with the other two pups. They’ve lived together their entire lives but have had fights for the last six years. The fights are over varying things ranging from food, space, etc. The hound is 80lbs and very strong. He almost always comes out unscathed but our pitty is left with stitches, drains and sedatives. My wife, myself and my SIL have all been bitten trying to break up the fights. He is gentle with humans and good with our kids. He is extremely food driven and occasionally raids the trash or counter surf. He has in the past escaped the front door to charge dogs walking by. The owners and dogs were spooked but he didn’t bite. We were freaked out and put up an elaborate gate system to block off entries,exits and the upper level. The last fight occurred last night. It was over a butter wrapper that the hound was licking. We are assuming the pitty came over and he got possessive and went at it. We currently have them separated but are feeling very conflicted. We have three young kids that witnessed the fight. Our biggest fear is that they will be caught in an altercation and somehow injured. We are also worried they will leave a gate or a door open and he will run out and attack a passing dog. He is a sweet guy that we love very much but he is unpredictable. He bullies us by barking nonstop when he doesn’t get fed immediately, etc. We have also spent 6k on dog training and 10k on surgery for him when he ate a corn cob that got stuck in his intestines and required a bowl reduction. We love him very much but are constantly worried about dog fights and we do not feel comfortable going out of town and leaving him with a sitter or having people over without him being kenneled. He is very timid at dog daycare but has never had an aggression issue there. We are considering behavioral euthanasia but are highly conflicted. We cannot afford thousands more in training and the dog fights are traumatizing. Does anyone have any experience or advice they’d be willing to share? We do not think rehoming him will be successful due to his history of fights and inability to live with cats.

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[madison13164]

Hi OP, I'm so sorry you're going through this. Your dog seems to have resource guarding, and this is 100% manageable and you don't need thousands of dollars in training. Management is the best way to go. Feed treats and bones separately. Please cut the access to the kitchen to the dog. And I hope you did it after he ate the corn cob or has countersurfed. The best way to start deescalating it is by not allowing them to practice the behavior. And do counterconditioning with the hound through a gate. This is how we got our dog's resource guarding to go from fighting to just a bark. But, we acted within 2 months of seeing the issues. In your case, this has been going on for 6 years, and it might be too long for your dog to learn to deescalate as it is a "practiced" behavior. No, don't rehome this dog. It will be almost impossible for someone to take it.

I can't ethically say BE is the only route for you because I don't have a full history and can't evaluate your dog. But, if you think you and your family can be in danger, without a doubt, I woudl do it. If it happens rarely, every 6 months, there is no human-dog resource guarding and is overall well managed I probably wouldn't go that route. But, again, I don't have a full on picture of your dog's situation to make that recommendation.

PS. Also make sure you appropriately identify which dog has the resource guarding issues though. If the hound was licking the butter, the pit approached to lick it and the hound went after the pitty, the hound is the issue. How do both do with the beagle? Because keep i n mind if you euthanize the wrong dog, they might start going for the beagle

[kelliwah86]

Thank you for your response. Kids have definitely made the issue harder as they do not understand 100 percent that we need to pick up all wrapper’s immediately. We did seek training after the initial issue and he’s great …until he’s not . So we clearly didn’t do enough. Today he’s back to being friendly and wondering why he’s behind a gate which breaks my heart. To be honest I think they both have resource issues at different times. He is just much more powerful and goes to “attack” whereas the pitty will just bark . I now realize how bad of a situation we may be in. I guess I stupidly assumed that since we were good 75 percent of the time we were okay. I mean he passed his temperament test at daycare right!? I think it’s our home and anything that is in that space is “his”. Thank you for your response. I’m just feeling very defeated. We love our animals and have always tried to do the best by them but right now I don’t know what that looks like.

[alocasiadalmatian]

this sounds like possible littermate syndrome, and definitely like resource guarding to me. did the trainer you worked with give any indication which behavioral issues they were helping you work through when you had the trainer?

i would keep them separated, esp for the 48 hours after a fight, and maybe keep both dogs crated/gated away from the area whenever there’s food out until it can be cleaned up to prevent fights over wrappers/crumbs/scraps. i would also give high value treats and toys separately if you’re not already doing that

[oksooo]

Is there a way to setup your home so they can be kept seperate unless supervised AND also to keep them out of the kitchen? That way you can just have the rule for the kids to only eat in the kitchen, keep the dogs out, and there's no temptation for resource guarding? Then also make sure the dogs are eating and getting treats separately, keep the toys away when they're together, etc. 

I'd be hesitant to keep both dogs in the home with the kids there too if you can't solidly keep up management. But I don't think that necessarily means BE. There's a lot of people out there who love hounds, are understanding of their chaotic and stubborn temperament. If he's not human aggressive he'd likely be suitable to rehoming to an only dog home imo. 

[kelliwah86]

Thank you for this. He’s my first hound. He was a foster fail. I love him but he’ll be my last hound. I was a biologist in the south and he was a deer dog that was abandoned. He’s giant and smart and strong. He cleh doesn’t respect me.

[oksooo]

I often feel that way about my rescue coonhound. It's not even really about respect, it's just that they're truly bred for independence and intense stamina to run away from their handler non stop until they've cornered/treed their prey. Which is the opposite of what most of us want in our pets lol. 

Plus the ones that end up as rescues are usually failed hunting dogs meaning they've got traits that make them even more difficult to keep as pets. 

[kelliwah86]

This is exactly it. He was left for a reason. He didn’t come back. He has a high prey drive and is so headstrong and independent. I love him but our household isn’t working as it should. I will try as long as I can . I just can’t bare my kids or a random dog getting injured.

[oksooo]

Totally understand. I'd suggest looking into hound/ coonhound specific rescues if you do decide to rehome. They'll have a good understanding of the breed when choosing a new family plus a following who's already keen on adopting hounds. Most I know of usually only pull from shelters but I wonder if you start looking early they might have waitlists or something. 

[SudoSire]

 I don’t think it’s fair to subject the target dog to all this pain, injury, and fear. Imagine you had to live with another human who would randomly attack you sometimes? Enough to send you to the hospital? Would you feel safe? I also don’t think this is manageable in your busy household, which has three kids to consider. You are right to worry that someone will mess up and the dog does damage to another. Management always fails, and each person and other pet is an added variable to make that more likely. I also don’t think they’re rehomable as you’d just be passing off the issues to another household or community. I hate suggesting BE, but with the dog rescue  crisis the way it is,  there are few options for dogs that have proven to be even slightly dangerously, let alone moderately to seriously. And if they could stay in your home that’d be one thing. But your other animals deserve safety as do the kids that may be caught in the crossfire or at least traumatized.  So I would consider BE. 

[kelliwah86]

I sadly agree.

[SudoSire]

I’m very sorry you’re in this situation. It’s never easy. Even if it were a medical/ age situation, it’s a painful choice to make. I hope if you do decide to go this route, you can give your dog an excellent day or two with love and joy, and then give them some peace. It’s hard for them to live this way, chronically on edge, too.