My dogs are giving me the absolute irrits at the moment.
We have a beagle (who just turned 3) and a boxer (who is nearly 3). About 8 months ago they started fighting at meal time, so we separated them at that time.
Now they are fighting over absolutely everything and only stop when either DH or I go out there and scream at them. We are scared that DS will be out there and be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get in the middle of a fight and they will bite him (they are perfect dogs - just turned into nasty buttheads at the moment with this fighting crap)
The boxer (male) has been fixed so we don't think its a hormone thing. She (beagle) has been fixed as well.
Any ideas how to stop them bloody fighting? seriously, it sounds as if they are ripping each others throats out when they do it, and you can hear it all over the neighbourhood.
If it keeps continuing, I don't think we'll have any option but to get rid of one of them (just would be hard to decide which one) but they are obviously not living together very well anymore (honeymoon is over apparently!! only took two years)
Any help would be GREAT.
Or if you are looking to adopt a boxer or beagle....
Aww please don't kill them, they just don't understand.
When my dog and my Mum's dog were living together we had the same problem...and you have two VERY food orientated breeds with a Beagle and a Boxer!
Do you have time to feed them one at a time and make one sit and hold him/her by the collar (or even give it a pat) while one eats in peace, and vice versa? This is what we did for my dog and my Mum's dog and eventually we didn't have to hold them anymore.
Eventually they will realise that they actually aren't any real threat to each other's food. At the moment it seems like they see it as a survival situation and don't realise that they are BOTH going to be fed. It's a heirarchy thing that they are trying to sort out between themselves but unfortunatley as you said it could be dangerous for your family.
Also your Boxer is still a puppy in the head. They are notoriously slow to mature mentally, as was my Labrador. At 3 years old she was still really hard to handle. A lot of larger breeds take a bit of extra time to 'grow up'.
hun, at times we've had three seperate "pairs" of dogs - two little females, two large females and two large males - each in their own yards. each "pair" have fought - not over food, but as their way of playing - they were just like over boisterous kids that would scrap for fun and then go off and play quietly together! when we lost one of the males and one large female, the two remaining dogs got to share a yard, and same thing. not sure if it's just their breed (cattle dogs) but to them, play meant rough housing. we ended up giving the female away (she wasn't a working dog whle the male goes in the truck with DH) - and have had no dramas with them. i HATED the sound - it always scared me even though i knew they were playing - and i was worried about having kids around them
i'm not sure if training will help, but perhaps it's an option to look at. i know how terribly hard it is to get rid of one of your fur babies (and we ONLY did it cos she went to my bro's house) and really hope it doesn't come to that...
FWIW - our little dogs still play fight, but are so very gentle around kids - it's a jealousy thing for them - one gets patted before the other, and when they go to play, they scrap! they do the same when they get together with mum's dogs (from same litter) - so i can't offer a solution, just an understanding ear...
Unless they are hurting each other and growling it is just play. My sister's dog and Mum's dog used to playfight all the time, it was not an overly attractive sound (plenty of sneezing and huffing) but there was no growling and rarely did they get hurt. There were only a few occasions of yelping, and that would be when we would separate them.
I'm about to kill them!!
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