Dear Alecia, We have three dogs: a male and female mini Dachshund, and one female Sheltie. The two Doxies were bonded and together for two years before we adopted the Sheltie (we found her half starved alongside the road).
At first the two females fought, but gradually warmed to each other to the point where they all three played together, also ate together, and were fine.
In November of last year, the Sheltie brought in a frozen rabbit carcass, the two females got into a terrible fight over it, and that was the beginning of a feud that exists still today.
We have had them all on Prozac, as suggested by the vet, and they are somewhat better. But we must keep the two females apart or they will fight. We had a $500+ vet bill right before Christmas when the female Doxie got her throat torn open. I am sick about this! Our house is full of baby gates and plywood pieces to keep them apart. We love all of these dogs and want to see them together again! Any suggestions? Bucky, the male Dachshund is almost 6 years old, Ruby, the female Dachshund is 5 years old, and Sophie, the Sheltie, is estimated to be 5 years old. Sophie was terribly starved when we found her, and we did have problems with her trying to hoard food. She is much better about it now, we have had her for three years. –Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
You are so wonderful to have opened your home to Sophie. The situation you have going on seems to stem from Sophie being extremely protective (and rightly so) about the carcass she found. She was very vested in protecting her food and Ruby seemed to think it was her right to have the food as well.
My suggestion here is that you need to be in total control of all food sources. This will have you going back to some retraining as each dog must sit and wait for their food until you put it down. You will want to do this with two people as you have three dogs.
Each dog will wear a leash and you will have your other half behind the dogs with the three leashes on the floor just in case any dog needs to be corrected. Ask each dog to sit and stay. All dogs must be focusing on you. If any of the three reacts to the other, simply walk that dog away from the situation and bring them back, ask them to sit and stay again.
If you stay consistent with each dog that anything other than paying attention to you will bring them away from their food and you will follow through on it each time, your dogs will learn very quickly that you mean what you say and that you are in charge. I would recommend this for every meal for at least 4-5 days. Remember that you are the leader of them and in charge of the food so exude that energy with total confidence.
In addition, I would use Bach Flower Essences in the dog’s water to assist in releasing the underlying emotional challenge the dogs are having. I would use: Vine for Aggression and Star of Bethlehem for release old traumas. Place a dropper full in each water bowl 2x a day for 18 days.
Be their leader, stand in your power with confident authority and slowly you will be able to wean the dogs off Prozac and rebalance their energies.
Paws Up!
Alecia
Alecia Evans, PDT, MA
Alecia Evans is the inventor of The Walk In Sync™ Humane Dog Walking and Training System with her exclusive 5 Minute Manners Makeovers using the Walk In Sync™ Harness and Accu-Grip Leash, along with her Walk In Sync™ 3 Easy Steps to teach any human/dog duos to Walk In Sync in just minutes.
The former host of the award-winning GrassRoots Aspen TV Series, The Whole Animal-An Alternative Approach to Animal Care, Alecia takes a natural approach to dog training and health care. Her work has been featured on Fox and Friends, The Sandra Glosser Show, NY 1, and in Aspen Magazine, DogTipper.com, The New York Daily News and Woof Report.
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