I’ve had one male boxer-pit mix for four years, and we recently got a female pitbull mix a year ago. Everything was fine and dandy, other than occassional fits, which we ruled out as a fight for dominance. Recently it’s been worse. A few months ago, she scratched him up so bad, he was bleeding left and right. Today, she nearly seriously injured him. I would’ve called the police if my mom hadn’t separated them, her leg being scratched in the process. Normally she is a very sweet girl, and they get along fine. Both fights were started by the male, but he picks fights he can’t win. This fight was started simply by lunging after the same empty paper plate that had fallen. She is much younger and stronger than him. I love her to death, but I don’t want to wake up and find a dead dog. It would kill me to do so, but maybe she needs to be with an owner that has no kids or other animals. She doesn’t start the fights, so that isn’t her fault, but we can’t keep putting him through the constant scratches and gashes.
Should we try to get train them to behave? Or should we take her back to the shelter?
Note: She usually comes out with barely a scratch, except for this last fight. Like I said, she is younger and stronger. She is barely 2 years, he is over 5 years, maybe more.
Would really appreciate any animal experts who could tell me what might cause these fights.
For reference, photos of the dogs will be attached in the comments. Both are currently kept seperated.
Answers & Comments
Both dogs are aggressive - and if you continue to let them be together you will end up with a dead dog. Rehome one of them or put down both of them.
you already know what the answer is....the female, your girl, will NOT be submissive to any dog, she would rather go down with boots on...your male is refusing to defer, this is why he continues to test.
but he will lose to your female,. she has the drive, the strength of her youth, the determination to be dominant...in canine species as the wolf, the female rules,
your male obviously refuses to relinquish what nature has ordered.
it is your choice, who has to go........
You need to consult with a trainer - someone with credentials.
I know that I would not expose my older dog to a younger dog that has "issues."
In MY State once a dog injures an other dog one of them is ordered removed from the home.
In my county it is illegal to keep two animals together when one is getting injured. You may be violating laws by allowing this to keep going.
I don't know why this is a question. You brought a new dog into your resident dog's yard and dismissed previous fighting as "dominance" displays. Now you're dumbfounded that the behavior has continued. Did you really expect that two dogs would decide to stop the behavior on their own? Return the female and let the male have a peaceful life.
This sounds like the typical hard wired dog-on-dog aggression that most pit mutts have today. Due to poor breeding & pure stupidity more & more dogs are dog on dog aggressive. Not much you can do about it, it just is, now days. Unfortunately taking her back to the shelter may mean her death, can't have this temperament out there that could do more harm in the future.
It might be possible for them to get along if you hire a Canine Behaviorist but most of these type dogs are just so head strong dog on dog aggressive.
You say they get scratched & bleed but you never said anything about bite wounds or wounds that needed to be stitched up. The fighting may not be a bad as you think it is if there are no bite wounds, no blood every where. Dog fights are loud & sound so much worse than it is. The sounds are to intimidate each other.
He wants to be dominate but she won't let him.
There are all kinds of ways to look at this but one would have to be there to see how he initiates the fights & try to stop it before it starts. It could be something they need to work out & you just let things be. It could be that she is a dangerous dog. I got a two females that tie into each other every once in a while. I usually don't hear or see the fight but there will be little wounds & NOTHING serious. Before you give up on her, have her evaluated to see if there is something that can stop the fighting or accept it & let them settle it. It is not to say what to do when you aren't there to see what, when, why, where all this fighting is coming from.
No one can really advise without seeing/assessing the dogs, knowing yours and the dogs situation/home, training, exercise and positive/negative behavour and that means getting a professional trainer/behaviourist to assess what you/human in the house are capable of or not and what you are prepared to do or not.
You know you have a genetic fighting dog mix and got another adult genetic fighting dog mix even though the first one has been with you for years but alone you have not corrected its negative behaviour nor put training and commands in place..... so you now have two adult genetic fighting dogs, who have reactive personalities, who snap things that fall on the floor and are food aggressive and don't listen to any commands like 'leave' I am not surprised you have issues and the reality is if it is not the dog getting attacked, it will be a human it attacks so no rehoming should be considered regardless of no kids/dogs ..... then you make the decision you either PTS or you put the work in, use training tools like muzzles, crates and professional help to resolve/change this.
KNOW that dogs are prepared to change as long as you are capable of changing ( and humans rarely are) and you give the dog another option of response.
Hire a trainer/behavioralist.
In the meantime, keep them separated.. Use a system if crate and rotate
And remove things from the equation that may be triggering fights. You said it was over a paper plate. They know that plates=food... So during meal time and meal prep, crate the dogs if need be. Feed them meals in their crates or separate rooms. Toys and chew things are for when they are separated.
Is this Mike Tyson?
You said that recently things have got worse. Let me tell you, they will not get better but continue to get worse. In all honesty, I would take the female back to the shelter, unless of course you want to keep them separated for the rest of their lives which is total pain in the butt. Regardless that they are mixed, Pits are normally suppose to be dog aggressive, so this doesn't surprise me at all, even if there are some events that seem to "trigger" a fight. If you do decide to take her back, please tell the shelter workers this whole situation. She may be a very sweet dog, but she needs to go to a family that doesn't have any young children and where she will be the ONLY dog. The shelter workers need to screen new potential owners in regards to this so that she can get into a forever home that will work for both the dog and her new owners, preferably also a home that has some "Pit" experience. Since she did originally come from a shelter, I'm assuming that she is already spayed, but if she isn't, she needs to be spayed before going anywhere, even if it is at your own expense.
Just to let you know, it sure is possible for her to kill him, and your Mom is lucky that she wasn't injured worse than she was. I know first hand about breaking up a dog fight, and I also know the huge potential dangers when doing so. If someone in your family would get hurt enough breaking up a fight that they needed to seek out treatment from a medical facility, the bite incident would be reported to Animal Control BY LAW, the dog would end up going back to the shelter and more than likely would end up being euthanized after a 10 day holding period, which is also a law.
Update: Can’t attach photos.