Puppies fighting!

[Bob Graves]

I have two pups a little over 6 months old, 1 male, 1 female that fight like crazy. The female seems to be the instigator, the male is pretty mellow in comparison. She just keeps it up until he snaps, and then it's all out war. I only notice this behavior at home while they are getting their daily romps in the yard, (half hour in the morning before work, 1 hour after work before feeding time) I have not seen this when I have them out in the field working with them at all. My friend has two 4 month old pups, and we have had them all together playing with no problems. She just messes with her brother, and he is quite a bit bigger than her. I would ignore it, and pass it off as puppy stuff, but it's getting more severe as they get older. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Bob

[Big Dog]

I would try this first. Put a shock collar on each of them and watch them. When one of them starts growling light him or her up. I hate fighting dogs and will cull a dog for fighting no matter how good he is. If that doesn't work and you have the space then I would separate them. If you have an older dog that doesn't put up with crap it wouldn't hurt to kennel the young fighter with them. After she gets skinned up once or twice she may stop. Bark collars may help also as the vibration caused by the growling will generate increasing levels of shock until they quit. Hope this helps

Big Dog

[Emery]

I would be careful with shock collars on dogs so young... You could seperate them when she starts instigating. Put her in the kennel as negative reinforcement. Maybe she will get the idea that when she acts up, it cuts down on her yard time.

Good luck,
Emery

[harvhounds]

Hey Bob,
In my humble opion I'll bet it's just a puppy thing they are establishing who is going to be boss pecking order type of thing.Are they hurting each other?In my experance they will keep at it no matter what you do so best bet is to let them work it out.I did my last dogs two at a time and it's twice as much work and twice as much fun!Molly hangs from the ears of my much bigger hounds and lives to tell about it.When they have had enough they let her know and she backs off.
Sean

[Bev]

I tend to agree with Harvhounds on this one. Puppies start growling at one another as early as 2 weeks. They're so tiny it sounds like a bumble bee. As long as no one's going for the throat and not letting go, I'd let them work it out. Squabbles always sound much worse than they are - even if the blood flies from a cut ear, it's usually over with in less than a minute.

If they drag on with it, spray some water on them (or if indoors, keep a squirt bottle handy) and tell them loudly to knock it off. I will allow the pecking order thing to a point, but when it becomes tiresome or one dog is conceding and the other is just being a butthead, I will down them right now. No matter what they decide amongst themselves, the toughest dog in your kennel should belly up to you and that's a perfect time to demonstrate it. You are Alpha Supreme and they all need to know it and observe it in action. Good luck!

[Bob Graves]

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it. I'm hoping it's just puppyhood games, time will tell. Playtime went well tonight, they chased each other trying to get a stick from one another, a game of tag more or less. I might have stumbled onto a fix here, just got to give her something to chew on other than her brother. Thanks again.

[mdbeagler]

Pups always fight its just a way to establish who's going to be top dog. My pup’s fight from sun up to sun up, they usually grow out of it after a while.