I work in a vet clinic so typically a lot of behaviors I see in my dogs, I ve seen before. This time I can t seem to figure out what they could be fighting over. I have three dogs, two small older male rats terriers and one bigger, younger female pit mix. The boys have been getting into fights lately. One I ve had since he was a puppy and the other we adopted when he was about 7. Both dogs are 9 now and have been living together very well the past 2 years. He would sleep together, play together, its like they were the perfect match. Now lately the adopted boy starts attacking the other completely unprovoked from what I can tell. It happens without any food in the area or previous rough housing or attention to compete over. Sometimes the only thing I can do to stop it is pull him off and he s tried to turn on me when I do. Its like he has a moment were he just loses it and nothing I do or say makes him calm down until I m able to separate them. Im at a loss for what to do. My next step will be to take him to the vet and see if there s anything medically wrong but he hasn t been yet.
Responses (1)
The first question anyone is going to ask is are both those males neutered?
Because if they aren't you've got a female pup coming into estrus and giving off sexual pheromones and the boys are going to fight for dominance to see who gets to mate with her. Get the group spayed and neutered! It may take as long as 3-4 weeks for the testosterone already released in their systems to fade away.
es·trus
noun
a recurring period of sexual receptivity and fertility in many female mammals; heat.
"a mare in estrus"