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Beagles/fighting between male Beagles

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Expert: - 4/13/2009


Question

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I have a 10 year old Beagle, Gerald, and his son, a 7 year old, Charlie.  Charlie has always been jealous of Gerald and always pushes him away when we try to pet Gerald.  Lately, he growls and starts fighting him for no reason.  Today, both of Gerald's ears were bitten from a fight.  They are both outside dogs and until lately, there has not been a real problem.  My husband thinks there may be a female in heat in the neighborhood and Charlie is fighting because of that.  Poor little Gerald is so scared of Charlie - he always tries to be on the opposite side of the yard whenever Charlie is around.  I would appreciate any help you can give.  Neither boy has been neutered.  Thanks so much/

Answer
HI,sorry to hear the boys are fighting, this can be very scary and end up expensive and traumatic too.I have to say that the majority of the reason will be because they are not neutered so there is a high amount of testosterone pumping. Males that are not fixed maintain a high degree of dominance. I don't know if a female in heat is part of the answer as well , it CAN escalate a fight but not regularly. Your two boys are having trouble distinguising who is the ALPHA dog and somehow Charlie has decided he is, above and beyond even you two or he wouldnt fight in front of you. You guys need to reestablish that YOU are the alpha's and they are beneath you. The fact that Charlie pushes at Gerald when you try to pet Gerald is something that should have been stopped when it first started. Either the way you did react to him to stop or by not stopping it somehow this has further escalated and entrenched the behavior. As humans we often inadvertently reinforce a behavior in our dogs unknowingly without understanding what we did so don't feel bad, you are not alone. At this point my honest opinion is that you need a trainer to come in for a few sessions and work on this with you both. Whenever there is aggression it is time for one on one training, it is dangerous to try to fix this via email. A trainer will be able to see what all involved are doing or not doing and appropriately reshape behaviors. Please take any fighting as very serious and something that needs swift intervention but as I said if you dont do it right it can make it worse.

Have4Paws

Expertise

I am happy to answer BEAGLE BREED SPECIFIC behavioral questions. Please DO NOT ask CRATE TRAINING OR MEDICAL questions! I am not a vet nor an expert in the use of crates.

Experience

I currently have one beagle, a male age 5, an 12 month old Pit Bull, and a 8 year old min. poodle. I have had to let go of three of my dogs, 2 beagles and 1 whippet/rat terrier mix in the past 5 years, most recently my whippet mix. The two beagles lived to 15 and the whippet mix to 13.5, it has been hard to say goodbye to them. I have done rescue work on and off for years as well as fund-raising for the local animal shelter. I worked for a dog magazine in the past (Southern California Dog Magazine). Being a psychotherapist has encouraged me to do in depth studying of animal behavior as well. I have worked with many people to help curb undesirable behaviors in their dogs (or them!) or to form good behaviors. My life is devoted to and surrounded by my dogs........The picture you see here is Zeppelin but we also call him the "miracle dog". He was hit by a car April 2010 while out with the dog walker and had very serious injuries... 4 surgeries and $17,000 later my boy is whole again and back to loving life. He is so special to me and he weathered a lot of pain and trauma yet is still the sweet boy he always was! I also work to stop Breed Specific Legislation and help to get pit bulls adopted.

Organizations
HSUS, PETA, SPCA DONT SHOP...ADOPT!!

Publications
Dog Fancy

Education/Credentials
I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in the state of CA and am also credentialed as a Certified Addiction Treatment Specialist

Awards and Honors
Honored by the Agoura Animal Shelter for my volunteer work.

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