Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 1/4/2010

Question
At the beginning of the year we had three dogs, two little mixed breed dogs and Quinn a husky cross whom we have had since he was a puppy. There were also two cats, (actually my sister's house) and then I moved in at the end of June with my cat so now there are three cats.
The one little dog Cuddles developed a brain tumour and had to be euthanized in March. Then in October the vicious dogs of neighbours diagonally behind us managed to break into our next door neighbour’s yard. Through a gap in our fence (which has since been repaired, they pulled Spinna our little jack russel through and killed her by ripping her throat out. It was very traumatic!!
In November we got from Animal Action  two "rescue dogs", both estimated between 9 months to just on a year. One "Tala" is an "Africanus" breed and the other "Gina" mixed breed with possibly "boerbul" in her so she is twice Tala's size. They are both bitches and although we don't know their full history, come from abusive backgrounds. We also still have Quinn the 2 year old husky cross that we have had since he was a puppy. He is a beautifully natured dog and very placid.
For the most part the three dogs seems to get on extremely well and romp and play a lot, but there are the odd moments of aggression between the two dogs, normally jealousy inspired. Tala has attacked Gina several times, the last time Gina fought back and there were a good few not too serious bites. There has been peace for about 3 / 4 weeks, then on Thursday we took Tala to the vet as she has been limping quite badly with her right leg. When we came back, as we stepped through our pedestrian gate, both Quinn and Gina launched themselves at us to greet us and Tala and then backed away up the steps. Suddenly without warning Gina turned around and launched herself at Tala and grabbed her by the neck. It was terrible. She would not let go and I could see blood so I literally waded in, grabbed her jaw, forced it open and flung her away from Tala. My sister and I were both bitten (lightly thank goodness) in the process and Tala was seriously injured with two large gashes in her neck. She had to spend New Year’s eve at the vet and we went and fetched her the next morning. They are both very wary of each other now. there have been a couple of attempts at romping, but it is still a very tense situation. We do not know what to do. We kept Tala separated and inside for the first two nights, but let her sleep on the enclosed veranda again with the other two last night. No signs of any trouble by this morning.
We have a really big garden, the dogs are allowed in the house during the day, but sleep on the enclosed veranda (with outside access at night.
We also have 3 cats but have kept the cats inside and separated within the house from the dogs since we got the two new ones. We are slowly trying to bring them together under our supervision the goal being to be able to let the cats also run free during the day as they did before.
To be noted is that for the two nights Tala was kept inside, the cats were allowed to roam the house and Tala didn't react to their presence at all. Gina however, is so big and very boisterous and in our common time together is inclined to want to nudge and paw the cats. As she is big we are wary of letting the cats out at the moment without our supervision.
Another problem is that Tala is either not house trained or there are psychological problems. She has pooed in the house a few time, and also on the veranda at night even though they have unrestricted access to the garden.  More commonly though is Tala’s constant weeing on the carpets inside as well as on her dog bed. Often we do not catch her soon enough to reprimand her. It is unusual we know for dogs to wee on their own beds. Two examples this weekend of weeing were: a) For the two nights she was kept inside, my little niece and I slept on the couch to keep a check on her. On Saturday night we had given her a raw hide bone to eat. She finished this and promptly got up, went over to her dog bed and weed on it in front of us. She weed on the passage runner on Saturday as well. I washed this yesterday and put the runner down again when it was dry. Prior to taking the dogs out for their last run last night and putting them out for the night, we had given Tala a little dog food so as to be able to give her the prescribed medication.  We then went straight outside calling her and the other dogs. On her way out, she walked towards the door, squatted, weed on the newly washed passage runner and then continued out the house. Her messing in the house especially the weeing part is 99 % of the time on the mats or carpets.
We do not want to give up on these dogs, especially as they come from abused backgrounds. But life is very stress filled at the moment.
Do you have any advice on how we can handle the three main problems namely; the aggression between the two bitches, Tala's weeing in the house and the integration of our dogs and cats so that the cats can resume their normal routine. I would be grateful for any advice.


Answer
OK I have no clue if these two female dogs are neutered or even if your male dog is, but this type of aggression is usually territorial and/or sexual.

I wouldn't trust either of these dogs with the cats at any point. Rescue dogs are such for a reason. Many times it's because of a displaced owner. Many times it's due to this kind of behavior that was not dealt with properly before it got out of hand.

I am not a behaviorist and even if I were this goes beyond the scope of any answer in here. You need to get these dogs fixed if they are not, then they both need some severe behavioral training. I suggest you call the rescue site and ask for a recommendation or your local ASPCA should have the names of trainers and classes.
The house soiling is a good indication of a dog that was allowed to run rampant and never trained.

You don't know for sure if they came from abusive backgrounds, and even if they did, you have your hands full trying to undo a lot of damage in the form of no training.
You would be amazed at the difference a well behaved dog can be. But you MUST have them trained by going through a class or hiring a personal trainer. These dogs are beyond what a novice can do at home.

Another thing, don't ever try to manually separate two fighting dogs again. You can be killed this way. Yes, they can turn on you in their blind fury and rip out your throat. So keep yourself safe and turn the garden hose on them instead. That will usually break them up.

It's not worth risking your life or limb for that. Good luck with these two. You have your work cut out for you.