Expert: Have4Paws - 8/15/2010

Question
QUESTION: Yesterday I picked up a 1 and half year old papered beagle for my wife. She is great very loving and great around the kids, she has been house trained and I have no problems to that point.

What is a problem is what she does to our other dog, we have a Siberian husky, and the beagle "Trixy" freaks out anytime they are in the same room or outside together and attacks the Husky "Bella".

Bella more or less will stand her ground until Trixy actually attacks then Bella defends herself, once pulled a part Bella goes about her normal self and Trixy barks until Bella is out of sight.

I'm not sure what to do, We love Bella and let her in the house often since its hot in the summer months here, but with the behavior that Trixy is showing we had to keep the Bella outside. Trixy slept in the house and was taken into the front yard to use the restroom, this was the plan in the beginning to let her get used to the new home and family but we hoped to have both of them in the house that night.

They are both unfixed, I have been breeding Huskies for years and now plan to start with Beagles as well. I'm ok with training them myself but would like to have a little input on the beagle since I have never owned one before?

What do you think we can do, I have been reading online all day. Plus I work graveyards so my wife is at home dealing with the problem tonight.


ANSWER: Hi thanks for writing, well first issue is that you have two unspayed females together in the same house. There is often a problem with that combo, two females or two unfixed....so you have the double whammy. Plus I don't know if you did a neutral ground meeting of them both first to see if they "could" get along and what the history is of Trixy. Perhaps her being available to adopt has something to do with her agression issues. Not all dogs get along just like people.

I personally do not believe in backyard breeding but will spare you my feelings on it since that is not what you asked about. My opinion is you have got to get a hands on trainer over IMMEDIATELY to deal with this aggression or perhaps Trixy needs to be rehomed. When a dog has aggression issues you can bet your bottom dollar that it will escalate and eventually someone will get hurt. She is certainly retrainable if you get someone to help you with it who is an expert in aggression and are willing to go through it but for now they need to be kept separate for their own sakes. Thos is unfortunately not something fixable via email.

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QUESTION: Trixy was a friends who is a breeder AKC listed, she is moving out of country for a mission trip and was unable to take her along. She has never had a problem with other dogs male or female before.

I have been listed on AKC as a Siberian husky breeder for 5 years now and plan on doing the same to become a Beagle breeder. But where I face the problem is neutral ground meeting, that didn't happen for reasons beyond my control they were introduced at our house. I have a friend that a Trainer he has already been to the house a checked on things but has no clue on what's going on.

If I most give up breeding the Beagle I will get her fixed, but I do not know how Bella would react one dog being fixed and the other not. I have never had more then one female at a time and never more then two dogs at any give time, except after the pups were born. I have a few idea's we have been working on with them. But any input would be appreciated.


Thank you  


ANSWER: I still feel that your best bet is to get an experienced trainer who has specialty in aggression. This is the only way I think it can be handled. When there is an aggressive dog owners can inadvertently reinforce behaviors that stimulate or escalate. This is why people like Cesear Milan exist, it takes very experienced training to deal with an aggressive dog and once again aggression always escalates. In the meantime as I said, keep them apart. You can also make a bunch of shake cans and leave them around the house and the back yard. This is a classic rememdy for low level aggression, barking or misbehaving. Shake cans are soda or beer cans with about 10 pennies in them and then duct taped over the top. When the dog begins to escalate you can pitch them at her. Be careful not to let her see you are the one throwing it so she doesnt become afraid of you instead. The noise will startle her and break her concentration, dogs have very short attention spans, this usually only works if you catch it when she first begins to "posture", you must learn to be tuned into her body language very closely. If a fight has already erupted it will not do a thing to stop it, using a hose on them will be the only way to disengage them, DO NOT EVER PUT YOUR HANDS INBETWEEN FIGHTING DOGS, you will end up egtting bit, they have no idea who or what they are biting at when they are in fight or flight mode. You can avert fights if you can master the tuning in, You can see when they look each other in the eye, maybe have a low growl and also when hackles begin to raise.... or any other oddd rigid body posture, when you see that you are moments from attack. By practicing you can learn to be extremely tuned in and get to it before it happens. These two dogs should NEVER be left alone, and I would suggest keeping the beagle on a lead at all times until this situation is properly dealt with. Once again, not all dogs get along and it may not work out but the ONLY way is to have someone experienced in aggression help you and then it may be salvageble.

As far as the spaying, it will have no effect on the other dog that she is not also spayed. Spaying sometimes calms them down (not when they are aggressive) but also provides immediate elimination of the possibility of mammary cancer in a female, as with a male it eliminates testicular cancer. And just out of curiousity is either one in heat right now? Even though they are both females it could cause one to go after the other one...

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QUESTION: Ok heres the deal, we had a trainer come they put Trixy on a No bark shock collier and the problem is solved every time she goes to attack she is shocked, but I don't know if that's right. The trainer said this is a best way to solve the problem. What do you think?

Answer
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you Adam. Well.... I think that there are other ways but if this is working then I would go with it for now, it isnt seriously harming her vs the damage that a deathly fight could do so you have to weigh the alternatives. My  concerns are what happens when you stop using the collar? Eventually she will figure out that it isnt shocking her anymore..... it also isnt doing anything to teach her to be tolerant of Bella. If uyou can afford it get another opinion from another trainer. Interview them on the phone and make sure they dont use shock collars and have other means to teach her.