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Chewin', Fightin', Cussin' & Bitin'


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They Chew.. Then fight..I Cuss..because they bite!

Well as previously mentioned I thought Payslee was developing a little bit of a food agression type issue. Last night (as a great suggestion from the board I might add) I went and got them some of those flossies. I did not realize they were so long, but I still got 3..I gave them to the babes and they were tickled pink! However, since they were long, Pays & Sawyer decided they would share one and each chew on one end..Aww..how sweet.. For about 5 minutes.. Then Payslee went off on Sawyer and they started real fighting..I jump in, pull them apart (this is mostly Pays by the way..Sawyer is just fighting because she is going crazy) and put Payslee on her back and make her relax..However in the damn process she bit my thumb! OWW!

So what do I do with this? Stop the Chews all together? I feel like if I do this, I don't actually teach Payslee anything..and Sawyer and Rally have to suffer because Pays in naughty..If I put THREE chews down there, they won't get their own...they both want to have each others, which results in a scuffle..And what do I do with Sawyer in this situation? He is guilty of Stealing Payslee's stuff, which I suppose isn't fair, even though she also does that to him..and they both do it to Rally, and Rally to them.. So whats the proper answer? I've tried giving them chews in their crates while I'm there, but they want nothing to do with treats/chews/etc.. while in their crates..

Thanks in advance for the help!

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CrazyTzuLady

I had the same problem with Delila and her sweet potato chews, well hers and everyone elses. :) She hoards her treats and if one of the boys moves from theirs for a split second she steels them and hides them in her bed where she will stand guard over them until she either eats them, mommy rescues them and returns them to their respectful owners or she start fighting with whoever dares come near her lair. My only solution to that was to keep a really good eye on her and let her eat hers but I do not let her steal anyone elses anymore. If she does I take it from her and give it back to whoever it belongs to. I tried seperating them also and noone ever wanted to eat their treats then so like you I thought that was just defeating the purpose. you are just going to have to be referee until they figure it out unless you stop giving them treats altogether but that just was'nt an option here.

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I dealt with this with Emily and Alice. I gave them there own chewies and had them apart. I am not a expert. Emily and Alice worked this out between themselves and don't fight anymore.

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Well I'm hoping they do grow out of this. Pandoar & Rally never fought, and they grew up together..so I'm hoping this will just fix itself..or at least I hope it does, because my thumb hurts.. lol..

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I haven't seen this behavior in any of the babies here...

Except I have witnessed Corkey and Suzie steal from one another...

But once one or the other's has diappeared, it's like outta sight, outta mind..

But, Bridgette was funny..

when she was little she deveopled this hoarding behavior.

I would give each abby their own treat or chew...and off in different directions they went.

20 minutes (just a time frame example) later I would see Bridgette's treat laying next to her and I would say.."What's the matter Tunky, don't her like her treat?"

And Corkey would hear the word treat and come investigate and as soon as Bridgette see's Corkey coming toward her she'll act like a rabid freak and whoof down that treat like there's no tomorrow....

It used to crack me up...

Animals are silly little creatures.

I don't have any advice for how to handle the situation KC ...

Hmmmm....What would Ceasar do???

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KC, I am sure that must be stressful for all. I have partially the same situation with Josie and Maddy. Maddy steals everything and poor Josie just looks on, she just lets him. At first I intervened and took it back from Maddy and gave it back to Josie, but she then didn't want it...so I just let them work it out themselves. I really think that unless someone is getting hurt, I would let them go, especially at this age, where the chance of really being hurt is not too likely. I don't know that you can really teach them when it comes to sharing....with that said, if she is food agressive when you go to reach for her actual food bowl, which I think you should do that often, then if she snarls or growls, I would for sure "put her down to the floor" and let her know who is the pack leader. At this age, she should learn fast that if she treats you this way, the food is removed, she is pinned and let to know "momma ain't happy". This is JMO, I am sure many others have other opinions. I just feel there is a difference between treats/chewies and their "daily bread"....

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FairyTail Josette

Every Saturday morning, all 3 here get a flossy, they love them. (We do bully sticks throughout the week, I found some that don't stink nor stain.) Instead of musical chairs, it's musical bones. Cody takes Joseys, Josey takes Mandys, and Mandy takes Cody's bone...around and around we go. :blush-anim-cl: There's never a problem with the girls, but, Cody can lash out and attack Josey, so, flossies are only given when I'm home and can supervise them. In fact, it happened this morning and hubby was pretty upset with Cody and had a good talking to him. It really scared Josey. Hubby took Cody's bone away from him and removed him from the situation. (They never fight over the bully sticks, so, I can leave them out and laying around.)

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You have one choice IMO, give them chew treats separately in their crates or different rooms and practice taking them away from them and giving them back; remember they are yours not theirs and Payslee really needs to understand that. If one dog does not want the other to have something usually a low growl will deter the intruder and that is reasonable, an all out attack is not reasonable and should not be tolerated. if you stomp your foot on the floor next to them and growl a loud "Hey" that should be enough to stop them and remove the chew. Never put your hands in the way or try and physically intervene when dogs are in a heightened aggressive state, you will get bitten.

You could even try leashing Payslee to you and walking her around the house when she gets upity, she needs constant reminders that you are her leader and control where she goes and when.

I realize you have tried the crate thing, but if they won't eat them there then they don't get them.

Edited by tashi love
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They Chew.. Then fight..I Cuss..because they bite!

as a great suggestion from the board I might add) I went and got them some of those flossies. I did not realize they were so long, but I still got 3..I gave them to the babes and they were tickled pink!

Ok, I missed this . What are flossies?

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thats the same with my what the other one has the other one wants..... but no attacking and alot of growling

unless iits horrible i would leave them be..... or seperate them while they have their chews........... but its easier for me since I have two crates..... lea in one, bert in the other and maci on the floor

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TheShihtzuation

Ok, I missed this . What are flossies?

I was going to ask the same thing!!!

Klepto has been getting really nasty with Pokey if Pokey bothers him. He'll growl and snap at him.. but I think he misses actually snapping Pokey on purpose. At least, I hope so. If Poker goes near Klepto while Kleptos trying to eat Klepto will growl and Pokey takes it as Klepto is trying to play.. so Pokey wacks Klepto in the butt. It is humorous, but I do the whole stomping of the foot and say NO! to both of them and remove Pokerface from the kitchen.

It's not fair that most of the time something like this happens though - that I'm yelling at Klepto. Pokerface has to learn not to bother Klepto too if Klepto doesn't want to be bothered.

Good luck KC, I'm sure Payslee will learn.. hopefully sooner than later!

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Flossies are these spiral bully type sticks made by Merrick. They are made from Beef Tenderloin, so they are not rawhide, and they are good chewies: FLOSSIES I found that they had them in this little Paws Around Town store here, so I bought some of them.

Payslee is doing a little better today with it and not being so possessive..I almost want her to act up so I can correct her, and then she wont do this anymore, and I wont have to worry about it anymore. Right now they are both chewing on stuff, and no fighting. She never tries to snap at me if I were to take her food away, but part of that is probably because right now, she and Sawyer just dont care that much about food..They are excited about it for like 1 minute and then they are right back off playing and running. So when she starts to care more about food I will keep taking it away and make sure she is not acting ugly about that.

Oh, and by the way, they also had those SKINEEZ at the Shop, and they LOVE them..Very fun toy for two dogs.. Because there are squeakers in both ends and they can pull on them..Its hilarious! You can get them in Small or Large..Skineeze

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I fed them side-by-side tonight.. No snarling, or acting ugly..they would just trade off eating out of each other's bowl..SO hooray for that. They also shared their flossie tonight..so maybe Princess Payslee is learning that Miss Sheperd is the QUEEEN!!

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enchantedmountain

I am glad they are not fighting anymore. I have a huge problem with Roxy and Ginger fighting, only their problem is Jealousy and it is mostly Ginger. Roxy will Growl a little under her breath just to let them know she wants to be left alone. Ginger will attack her, full on fight. The thing is, Ginger is an angel with everyone else and wouldn't hurt a flea (as a matter of fact she is a really mellow snuggler, when Rox isn't around), but she HATES Roxy. I really don't know what to do sometimes. I think Ging would Kill Roxy if I let her. Like I said, Ginger is a sweet sweet Sweet baby, she just hates Rox. They get along fine as long as I am not around, and even when I am around sometimes are fine, but one wrong move and Ging just jumps on Rox. Sorry to take away from the original thread, but I kind of thought it was along the same lines. If anyone has any more ideas, I would love to know how to deal with this. I just have never run across this before.

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The don't call them Bitches for nothing. Once they have it in for each other you will need the help of a good dog trainer/animal behaviorist to asses the situation and see if there is anything that can be done, other than rehoming one of them. Sorry if this sounds harsh. ;)

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I am glad they are not fighting anymore. I have a huge problem with Roxy and Ginger fighting, only their problem is Jealousy and it is mostly Ginger. Roxy will Growl a little under her breath just to let them know she wants to be left alone. Ginger will attack her, full on fight. The thing is, Ginger is an angel with everyone else and wouldn't hurt a flea (as a matter of fact she is a really mellow snuggler, when Rox isn't around), but she HATES Roxy. I really don't know what to do sometimes. I think Ging would Kill Roxy if I let her. Like I said, Ginger is a sweet sweet Sweet baby, she just hates Rox. They get along fine as long as I am not around, and even when I am around sometimes are fine, but one wrong move and Ging just jumps on Rox. Sorry to take away from the original thread, but I kind of thought it was along the same lines. If anyone has any more ideas, I would love to know how to deal with this. I just have never run across this before.

I went through the very same thing with Pebbles and YaYa. Pebbles was always the aggressor and would attack YaYa from behind for no reason that was clear to me. Things would have been fine if YaYa had not fought back. But she did....with everything she had. They would lock faces and it was almost impossible to get them apart. It took lots of work (NILIF) and really staying on top of things but we are finally at a point that things are so much better. They still get huffy with each other but a strong "Hey" will break it up and they move on. They even play together on occassion. Doggy politics are so hard to figure out but here is what I saw after watching things....YaYa is somewhat excitable and seemingly unstable at times. It is at these times that Pebbles would attack. At first I thought all the work to be done was with Pebbles but I was wrong. Pebbles did need to have her place here re-established but YaYa is where I really had to focus my attention. It was her "Nervous Nelly" syndrome that had to be fixed. When all of this first started we had probably 10 - 15 attacks daily. Week by week they got fewer and fewer. It's now been more than 6 months since a fight. Because of the stress I see in Pebbles sometimes I always know that a fight could happen at any moment, therefore I am on top of it everyday....reminding them all who is boss and just how things are gonna be around here. :flex:

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enchantedmountain

I went through the very same thing with Pebbles and YaYa. Pebbles was always the aggressor and would attack YaYa from behind for no reason that was clear to me. Things would have been fine if YaYa had not fought back. But she did....with everything she had. They would lock faces and it was almost impossible to get them apart. It took lots of work (NILIF) and really staying on top of things but we are finally at a point that things are so much better. They still get huffy with each other but a strong "Hey" will break it up and they move on. They even play together on occassion. Doggy politics are so hard to figure out but here is what I saw after watching things....YaYa is somewhat excitable and seemingly unstable at times. It is at these times that Pebbles would attack. At first I thought all the work to be done was with Pebbles but I was wrong. Pebbles did need to have her place here re-established but YaYa is where I really had to focus my attention. It was her "Nervous Nelly" syndrome that had to be fixed. When all of this first started we had probably 10 - 15 attacks daily. Week by week they got fewer and fewer. It's now been more than 6 months since a fight. Because of the stress I see in Pebbles sometimes I always know that a fight could happen at any moment, therefore I am on top of it everyday....reminding them all who is boss and just how things are gonna be around here. :flex:

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Yes that sounds like how it is around here. Roxy is not an aggressive baby at all, but she is the oldest and was here first. So when we got Ginger, Rox did kind of shun her alot and give her little growls to let her know who is queen of sheeba, but wouldn't act aggressive or anything. Ginger is a complete sweetheart, but does for some reason get aggressive with Roxy and they do lock and I have to tear them apart. It just does get frustrating, when you know they are both sweet dogs and one just hates the other one. I am working with them so hopefully they will learn to tolerate each other.

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They will Rael..Its just sometimes we don't see it happening, and then they get by with it once or twice..and then all of the sudden its WOWZA! But now we are watching for it, and can correct instantly, and I think once they figure out that we DO NOT like or condone that behavior they will be like, "Hey..mama is mad" and will stop. They want to please us, and make us happy, so they will figure it out with a little coaxing, and a little disipline.239.gif

Edited by kcsheperd
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