my females fighting!!

[beach4me]

Help! My female Corgi's are fighting. I have had them for five years and now they decide to fight.

It is never over food or toys (one doesnot even care for them), or necessarily around us. It just seems to start without any warning (which can't be). They will go weeks with nothing and then out of the blue, it is on. And we CAN not get them apart. There is always blood, cuts and fur missing involved. I have never witnessed anything like it. No commands work.

My husband says one must go. Please tell me that there is another way!

[Muggsmom]

My first question would be have you taken them to the vets? Sometimes when behaviour changes for no apparent reason, the is something physical going on.

[beach4me]

Yes. Reilly (my first Corgi) started panting alot about six months ago. I have had her to the Vet twice just for this. They have tested and retested everything and can not figure out why she is panting so much. She is not overweight and they just said she had allergies. She also is now 5 yrs of age. They said this could just be "her". We got her as a puppy and she came 2 years before Kate.

Kate (the other Corgi) also has regular vet visits and is fine. Kate was rescued. She was socialized with alot of other Corgis but not alot with people. She is not afraid of people and has never shown agression towards people or other dogs. She is definately the omega. That being said. She loves to spend time in my closet (dark and cold tile floor) away from all the busy, noise of our house (3 kids). She will come out when I make her but she prefers to be in the closet.

[kuritsa18]

I would suggest keeping them separated for now untill you can figure out what the problem is. Dog fights are very dangerous and if you have 3 kids around its not a good situation. Never try to get in the middle to make them stop because their aggression could be redirected at you and you could get bitten or seriously hurt. Also, if they are injuring and hurting each other really bad as it sounds you would also want to keep them apart for the time being for that reason.

If you start to see them get aggressive with each other stop it right away; separate them before it escalates and be firm about it telling them in a loud voice NO or try using a shaker (watter bottle with rocks in it) to distract them and take their mind away from the aggression. Also, watch to see if one dog is aggressive over the other and is starting the behaviour first. Usually one dog is just trying to defend itself from the other. Also, look to see what the triggers are for this behaviour: sounds, certain times of day or situations (between the two dogs and family situations). There should be a trigger because dogs don't act that way for no reason.

If there is nothing medically wrong with your dogs then try consulting with a trainer or behaviour specialist. They will be able to give you better advice and have better knowledge about dog behaviour because that's their job. You can work with them to solve the problem and it is not expensive. You can bring your dogs to there facility or they can come to your house.

[beach4me]

Thanks for the help.

I have talked with a dog trainer who I respect very much. Based on the fights I described, he says it is a stage 3 agression. Pretty bad.

Thru lots of discussion, I realized it all started when I began taking one to work everyday. The other one (who starts the fights) was pissed because she was not the "chosen" one.

So, he gave me lots of ideas and tips. Very much like some you have suggested. Due to my vacation, they have been physically separated this week and tonight is our first time back together. So far so good...but it has only been three hours. LOL