Advice for 2 fighting dogs..?

Question

Bare with me. I'm very good with dogs. All of my dogs are completely obedient to me and I never have to lay a hand on them. They 'know' to listen and respect me, and we always get along. No abuse or hatred goes on around them. Just showing my scenario that I am a dog lover.

I've had one dog for going on 9 years now. He's large (probably 100-110lbs) and the 'dominant' one. He's an outside dog. He's been an 'only dog'. That is, until dog number 2 came in.

This dog was found abandoned on the side of a 4-lane. Extremely tiny when we found him. Little did we know, he was going to be a monster of a dog. This dog only has 6 people that can get near it. It looks like a definite mix of something with rottweiler in it. Again, I'm always nice to my dogs, but THIS dog is very aggressive, and I don't know why. This dog 'tried' to win 'dominate' fights with my older dog many times, and lost.

So, we made it a house dog. Again, this dog would NEVER hurt me or my family, NEVER. I couldn't make him bite me if I tried. Truly odd. So, he's about 1- 1.2 years old, and we get a puppy pit bull.

These two dogs get along. They get along great, no fighting. The pit bull would let anyone pet it. Completely not aggressive. I swear, I can't explain how big of a baby this dog is. Now, nearly 2 years of them living together, my sister brought in a female dog.

Probably 2 months old at the time. This is about when the dogs started fighting. Oddly... they only fight about my mom. They will not fight around me, my brother, etc., only around my mom. The 'aggressive' one will come up to the pit, get quiet, hold his tail still, and get ready to attack.

If I am around and see it, I can say NO and they will not fight. My mom on the other hand, favors the aggressive dog, and always blames their fighting on the pit bull.

I don't know where I'm going with this, but why does this dog attack the pit bull (who again is not a threat) when around my mom? The pit has been beat up (because he doesn't want to fight) probably 2 or 3 times, but now it's getting bad, and I can't stop them. The pit is now bigger than the other dog, and he's fighting back harder than ever to save his own life.

BTW, there is nothing I can do to break them up in a fight. The pit bull is now at the point where he has more power and endurance, but the other dog is just SO damn aggressive. So, it's truly brutal, and yes, I blame this on my mom. It's like she's blind to the world when they are about to fight. And, again, they have NEVER fought when they know I'm around. Is it the new female puppy? Is it something to do with my mom?

Please, no 'aggressive pit bull' b.s... This pit is truly a baby. The other dog has always been extremely aggressive to anything other than family. Thanks for any ideas..

Mrs. N™ · Accepted Answer

Never say never. Dogs are ANIMALS and go off of instinct, they do not have logical thinking or feelings like humans do. Therefor you can never 100% trust any animal.

You do not know the history of the stray you picked up. He could have been abused, fought, lost for so long it depended on it's instincts to survive. There are many factors that you do not know.

The aggressive dog might see this other dog as a threat even though you don't. Animals are nothing like humans, they have to dominate, there has to be ONE dog in control.

Plane and simple, if you continue to keep both of these dogs, one of them is going to end up dead. If all members of the household cannot control both these dogs then you are going to have issues.

♀Ünicandy♀ - There goes my Heart · Answer

From this quote "If I am around and see it, I can say NO and they will not fight. My mom on the other hand, favors the aggressive dog, and always blames their fighting on the pit bull." it seems the more aggressive dog KNOWS it has your mum's back-up and support to attack the other dog - whether she physically encourages it or not.

Are they neutered? Often, bringing a female into an entire male household will cause fights as they each want the "mating privileges" to this b***h.

How does your mum do in generally treating the dogs? Is there any way you could help her to adjust her body language etc in order to keep the dogs calm whilst she's around? If she really doesn't like the pit and he puts her on edge, its possible the other one picks up on that - he feels that she is uncomfortable and therefore thinks there must be something "wrong" with the pit and so attacks.

Sandgroper · Answer

You need to get in an animal behaviourist, as your family is giving the dogs cues, that is affecting their behaviour.   An animal behaviourist will check out your dogs, but also how your family works and interacts with the dogs,  will give you great advice on how to treat the dogs to re-adjust your problems.
Get all your dogs sterilized, it helps in 50% of cases with male dog aggression, so worth doing, but you need to do all of them.  Also, don't get any more dogs,  you never get more dogs if you are having problems with the dogs you already have, you should never have got a third, let a fourth.

melissa k · Answer

Yes, it has something to do with your mom if this only happens in her presence. However, what exactly is going on can only be determined by a professional trainer or behaviorist after seeing the dogs and family together. Your vet should be able to refer you to someone who will come to the home to meet with the family and try to help you get this under control. That said, your mom needs to be on board. If she isn't willing to change her behavior with the dogs then you aren't going to make much progress.

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Advice for 2 fighting dogs..?

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