Do your doodles fight??

[Stella]

I already posted this in the 'multiple doodles' group, but I figured the more brains on the matter, the more help I can get!!

 

We have two male labradoodles, both were neutered at five months old.  Hartley, our older F1 is the larger of the two (80lb) almost three years old and we had him for a year and a quarter before we added the second.  Chase, our second is a multigen, he is smaller at 50lb and is almost two years old.  They have both been to socialisation and obediance classes.

 

Hartley is very sociable, loves to meet new people, meet new dogs, and has played with many other dogs without problem. 

 

Chase from the day we got him has been 'fiesty', he used to pee on Hartleys bed, takes toys from him, and generally pushes him around.  At home, Chase is cheeky, pushy, and bullies Hartley.  But, when we go out he is fearful of new people, new dogs, pilons, balloons,  his own reflection, and has fear based aggression towards other dogs.  (He was attacked at nine months old at a dog park, which seemed to began his issues with other dogs)

 

Our two dogs have 'tolerated' each other since we bought Chase home.  They sleep on seperate beds, do not share each others space well, and it took us months before we could get them to travel in the car together without fighting.  We kept thinking that as they got older they would work out who was who in the doggy pecking order and that they would get over this stage of fighting.  But, lately things are escalating, they are fighting more often (in the car, the garden and in the house) and Hartley is getting hurt - scratches on his face, punctures on his leg, and today his leg was actually cut open. 

 

I know we need to get a trainer to help. We moved to a new home earlier in this year and are too far away to go to our old trainer, who we loved.  We now live in a rural area with no local dog training options.  I feel that it isn't fair to Hartley to keep being bullied and beaten up on.  I am so frustrated that after being together for almost a year and a half, they are still fighting.

 

Any advice, ideas, suggestions, morale support would be very welcome.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

We just got a puppy who is as sweet as can be and our 2 yr old dog, Murphy and she play very well together, sometimes sleep like spoons together and have had no real issues this whole month we've had her. I have to say though, if things were to change and be as serious as your situation, I would indeed give it time as you have, and do training with a behaviorist, or send her to a doggie boot camp if needed, but if that failed, and it effected our first dogs quality of life THAT much, I would be discussing re-homing with my breeder.
That may not be an option for you, but if you had it in the back of your mind, I am just offering moral support in that you are not alone. Many will not agree, and that is okay. I know what a responsible and caring dog owner I am but I also know what I will and will not tolerate in my life, and constant stress from dogs fighting and the inevitable injury to either one is definitely something I will not live with, regardless of how much I love the dog.

It wouldn't be fair to either one and it would seem as though neither one would have a very fulfilling and peaceful life living under constant fear of attack. Since Murphy is so sweet, and wouldn't harm a flea, it would be very hard for me to watch him be terrorized. You will do what's best for all involved, I'm sure.

[Stella]

So, I am home and picked the dogs up from the kennel without incident. Hartley chewed the bandage off his leg (not unexpected!) but it doesn't look too bad so I cleaned it out and covered it up again. I think the night away allowed me to be more objective, rather than the emotional wreck I was when I left to go away! My DH and I sat down and talked, really talked about the situation, where we were going wong, where we were going right and who was doing what better than the other. We tried to be open and not get offended by each others comments. We also came up with a plan of action - yay!! Chase is very cute and very cheeky and in all honesty he has been allowed to get away with some behaviours that we would never have allowed in our first dog. We realised we need to be more consistent between ourselves in order to set and enforece firm boundaries for Chase. He needs to know absolutely what he is and isn't allowed to do. I won't bore you with the ins and outs of the plan we came up with, but I hope we can turn this around. Hartley was a difficult puppy but with time and consistency he has become an amazing dog. I can only hope that we can achieve the same results with Chase even though he is no longer a puppy.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am so glad you have a plan of action. You know you will be doing everything possible to help Chase become a wonderful member of your family. I wish you the best in this endeavor.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Stella, I am glad to hear that you got a chance to refocus and come up with a plan!! Please keep us posted about your progress and I wish you all the best!!