How to handle jealous and aggressive puppies fighting for attention?

I hate to hear this is happening. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know how best to advise you without being able to read the body language of the dogs. It's possible this is occurring because they are maturing. Both dogs also need to be spayed/neutered because this can help to decrease aggression. Intact dogs are much more likely to fight and have problems. Canine aggression is a complex behavior as it can stem from dominance, possessiveness, fear, anxiety, resource guarding or a combination. Most people are not familiar with reading canine body language and training. Because of this, I recommend to work with a professional trainer. Researching on your own will also be helpful. Familiarizing yourself with canine body language and dog training can help you to recognize what your pet is trying to say. You can find many books written on the topic and there is a trainer named Victoria Stilwell who I think is particularly helpful. Best of luck.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having this issues! It sounds like there are a few different things going on here with both dogs, which definitely makes the situation more complicated. From your description, I can't quite tell if your male dog's crate aggression issues are directed at the puppy only, or if this is more of a general problem and he also snarls and runs from the puppy at other times as well. This is important information to help determine what may be going on so that we can make suggestions. I'm not sure how old your new puppy is, but if she is younger than six months, aggression at this age is quite uncommon and very concerning. Possessive aggression (also called resource guarding) over owners is a relatively common problem that can often be successfully treated, but you would really need an expert who can help you in person. Particularly in a young puppy, a veterinary behaviorist would be your best bet to evaluate the pup and put together a detailed plan to start working on this problem ASAP. If you want to keep both dogs, this will definitely require some professional assistance and quite a bit of time and effort for training. I would recommend asking your veterinarian to refer you to a board-certified veterinary behaviorist for some hands-on guidance.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having these problems! Aggression or fighting between dogs in the same household is a complex behavior issue that's very difficult to address without evaluating the dogs in person, because there are so many factors to consider - it's important to assess both dogs' personalities, how they interact with each other when they're not fighting, how severe the fights are when they happen, what seems to trigger the aggressive behavior, etc. For this reason, I would strongly recommend getting in touch with a veterinary behaviorist or a good reward-based trainer who can work with you in person to help determine why the aggression is occurring and put together a detailed treatment plan to address the problem. In the meantime, I would recommend keeping the younger dog on-leash whenever he is around the older dog to prevent any bullying or harassment, or using a baby gate or other barrier to keep the dogs separated until you are able to get some hands-on guidance in how to help them.

Female to female aggression is very hard to manage. Are all your pets spayed and neutered? This is the first thing I would do if not. Some of the worst injuries I have seen are between two females in the same household. They are likely establishing dominance and there are things you can do to reinforce the “leader” by feeding them first (or feed them all separately), letting the alpha dog walk in front when taking walks. I strongly suggest you work with a behaviorist and take aggression seriously bc I have seen it escalate quickly. Hope that helps.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem! Aggression between dogs in the same household is a very complex behavior issue, and is a bit beyond the scope of what we can effectively help you with in this format. I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist - he/she can evaluate Bruja and Tosha in person to help determine what is causing the aggression, and will help you put together a detailed plan for managing them safely and training to work on improving their behavior around each other over time. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org In the meantime, I would recommend continuing to keep the dogs separated until you are able to see the behaviorist - this will prevent the problem from continuing to get worse, and also keep the dogs from injuring each other.

That sounds like a tough situation and I hate to hear this is happening. Most humans cannot correctly read canine body language without additional training. Unless you know what the dogs are saying to each other, it's impossible to know how to modify and train the dogs behavior. Canine aggression is a complex behavior as it can stem from dominance, possessiveness, fear, anxiety, resource guarding or a combination. I recommend to work with a professional trainer. This will give you the best and fastest results. Researching on your own will also be helpful. Familiarizing yourself with canine body language and dog training can help you to recognize what your pet is trying to say. You can find many books written on the topic and there is a trainer named Victoria Stilwell who I think is particularly helpful. Best of luck.

Hi, it is a tricky and difficult situation. First neutering is not advisable at this stage as it could make the situation precipitate further. My advice is to seek help from a professional before the issues become established and get too difficult to tackle. The best person would be a certified behaviourist to whom your vet can refer you to. I know, I wish I could give you clear instructions on the forum and that everything could get better. The reality is you need someone on the ball, someone who goes through a lot of details and information about your pets and home and people in the household and formulate a personalised plan to tackle this issue. They are going to be there to support you along the way, and trust me it will be worthy ! Please don’t let this slip out of your hand, you can’t do everything on your own. I have witnessed several exasperated owners coming in on Sundays asking to have their pets euthanised because they could not cope with constantly having to monitor them or to keep them separated, there are options out there. It takes some work and commitment but they will pay back, in the interest of everyone involved. Thank you very much for reaching out and let us know how you get on !