Petspark - Vet's Diary

When fur flies…

Aggression between dogs that share a household is not always a matter of status or dominance. This week I went to see an ‘ex-rescue’ dog who had been brought into a home where there were already several other dogs and cats. The owner did everything the right way, introducing all the dogs to each other in a public park before taking them to home territory. The four bigger dogs were all quite keen for a new dog to be coming into the household. He got on fine with them, and apart from a bit of amiable bullying they all treated him pretty well. The one fly in the ointment was the owner’s 14-year-old male Bichon Frise. The new dog was unsure of him from the first moment they met.

Why?

Well, the new dog had never seen a dog like this in his life. He reacted to the Bichon the same way as he did with the cats. You could almost see him trying to think out what he should do… “Is it a cat I can terrorise….is it a dog…what on earth is it?” At first they both kept their distance, but within days, two fights ensued. The dogs had all been barking aggressively at a passer by and the older dog was rushing in and out of the other dogs’ legs. I am sure that the new dog just didn’t expect all that ferocity from this ball of fluff and thought the threats were meant for him. As an ex-street dog he wasn’t going to take any chances and went on the attack.

What to do?

By the time I got to see them the dogs were living in separate rooms of the house and would have a go at each other with almost no provocation. They just didn’t trust each other any more. The treatment for these two is going to be a lengthy desensitisation process so they get used to relaxing with each other. They need to learn to disregard the small signals like growls and barking that kicked off the original fight. Creating a hierarchy between this dogs will have no effect because they don’t realise are from the same species!