# Our Staffy has reached maturity and started attacking our other dogs



## MrsElle (22 July 2009)

Our spayed Staffy bitch Poppy is becoming increasingly aggressive with our other dogs.

She is two years old now and she is now starting to assert her authority.  First it was with our Weimaraner dog, Poppy has had several goes at him, he now stays out of her way.  Tonight Pops had a real go out our Ridgeback girl (also spayed) which I was cross about as she is the most gentle thing and is quite elderly now.  Lola the Ridgeback had puncture wounds to her neck and ears.

Is there anything at all we can do about Poppy, or is she just going to work her way through our other dogs until she is top dog?  I would be very very worried about her challenging our Weimaraner bitch for the position as Weim bitch will give as good as she gets and the conseqences don't bear thinking about 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Any suggestions?


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## CAYLA (22 July 2009)

Step in and assert your authority over the bitch, if I ever think any of mine are stepping over the line, I will be quick to show them who's boss, as much as my akita being a dominant breed by trait would love to assert more authority over other dogs at times, she knows better 
	
	
		
		
	


	




, otherwise take precautions to seperate them when u cannot be there.
Problems like this can commonly occur when there is no lear boundary or leader therefor she will quite happily take that role and bitches are always worse for this if they can get away with it.


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## tasteofchristmaschaos (22 July 2009)

This situation has the potential to be dangerous if it isn't tackled quickly from the sounds of it. If I were you, I would be asking the advice of a professional in your area, but there are a few things that might help.
1) Water! You might not want to do this on carpeted floor as it would take a while to dry out. As soon as she starts on one of your other dogs, pour a large bucket of cold water over her.
2) When she starts, take her straight out the room and shut her in a seperate room away from everyone else until she has calmed down. If she starts again, away from everyone else. Bit like a naughty step for dogs.
3) As pack leader, you should be able to promote and demote dogs within the hierachy. Give ALL you're other dogs a treat first (Dominant weim first) and give her hers last. If she tries to snatch, ignore her. If she tries to take it off another dog, tell her off. If she pesists, follow step 2.
Wow that was long. That's all I can think of at the mo - hope it might help!


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## felicity1 (22 July 2009)

agree with cala you need to dominate her ,i dont know if you have watched the dog whisperer with cesar milan on the telly his is very good and i have taken a lot of his advice to deal with my female staffy who in the past attacked our old staffy who is now dead (not due to cybil ) She recently went for my alsation x labrador so seperated them and then  made her lie on her side on the floor till she relaxed and gave in to my dominance then i let her upand carried on as normal with the other dog present , i have also got his book which gives spot on advice and makes sense of how and what dogs are and how the pack works


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## Ranyhyn (22 July 2009)

I also agree with Cala, my two JRT's would love to fight I'm sure, but there is one boss here and thats me - I would not hesitate to reprimand my dogs as neccessary to remind them of that fact.  

As is it I only need stand up off my chair and they quit any horseplay.

My old dogs used to fight so awfully, I was only between the age of 8-20 so i didn't really have the kudos to step in where needed.  They'd start over the smallest thing and it'd wake the whole street up the sound of them fighting.  I once got inbetween them ( two lab x's) and tried to hold them apart (not a good thing to do, but i was about 11) and gave them both a good wallop, but I wasn't boss so the effect was shortlived.


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## flowerlady (23 July 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
Our spayed Staffy bitch Poppy is becoming increasingly aggressive with our other dogs.

She is two years old now and she is now starting to assert her authority.  First it was with our Weimaraner dog, Poppy has had several goes at him, he now stays out of her way.  Tonight Pops had a real go out our Ridgeback girl (also spayed) which I was cross about as she is the most gentle thing and is quite elderly now.  Lola the Ridgeback had puncture wounds to her neck and ears.

Is there anything at all we can do about Poppy, or is she just going to work her way through our other dogs until she is top dog?  I would be very very worried about her challenging our Weimaraner bitch for the position as Weim bitch will give as good as she gets and the conseqences don't bear thinking about 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Any suggestions? 

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you not get the rural house?  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 This may have made the decision as to which dog goes to a member of your family especially if she would be the only dog?


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## Oneofthepack (23 July 2009)

Likewise with all the others, she needs to know that YOU are the boss of everyone including her. My recently rescued dog Lizzie started almost straight away to warn the others off sitting near me or going near her food and I stamped on it (not literally!) immediatly by getting hold of her collar and putting her on the floor on her side and pinning her there by the neck until she gave in. Initially she struggled but she soon got the idea that she wasn't going to win. I saw Cesar Milan do it and follow it up by touching her neck like he demonstrates  if she ever grumbles at the others and she's pretty much OK. You need to be REALLY firm now or she will hurt a dog or a person badly but I'm sure you don't need telling that.


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## mealrigghallstud (23 July 2009)

We had the same problem with an english bull terrier, she was a neutered bitch that we had had from 8 weeks old, who although was younger and smaller than all our other dogs wanted to be top dog no matter what, she knew we were top dog that wasn't the problem but she was continually trying to pick fights with the others and even went for our elderly jack russel for no reason at all, it got worse as she got older - she was 2 - but she would get into fights with the others (4 ridgebacks and 3 lab x rotties so you can imagine the mess!) and cost a good few hundred to stitch her back together twice after she got out by accident - we had to keep them separate.  The last straw was she tried to kill the little terrier while she was asleep - so we had her put down as she was just a ticking time bomb and we didn't want her to get to the point that she could go for a person - our other dogs are now far happier.  Even trying to wear her out on walks and with 2hrs of fetch! was no good either and she started to go for strange dogs too even though she had been to puppy classes and been well socialised.
Unfortunately terriers are renowned for being very stubborn and when they feel pain will keep attacking, we have had 3 other bullterriers in the past and they were fine but one person dogs, and once they start to fight you cannot get them off and staffies tend to be more of an offense type dog than a defense so can be far worse - please don't try to split up a fight as you could get injured - water doesn't have any affect either if they are meaning business.  

If I were you I'd keep them totally separate and see how that works, or put her down - she is obviously a one person dog and for the sake of your other dogs it is far kinder for them too, we couldn't believe how much stress our dog caused until she was gone - sad I know as she was a very friendly dog towards us but for safeties sake it was the best thing.


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## MrsElle (24 July 2009)

Poppy knows her place with us.  She knows that we are above her and is very very obedient  she is actually the easiest dog I have ever had to train, she will do anything for us.  

I guess the two options are to keep her kennelled separately from the others or to let my brother have her, which was the option if we moved house (we are staying put now).  It is such a shame as Poppy and our Standard Poodle are joined at the hip and play with each other for hours, but there is always a chance that Poppy will go for Skye too.

Thanks for all your help and advice, we will have a chat this evening and decide whether to keep her, but keep her away from the others, or let my brother take her.


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## fmay (25 July 2009)

We had the same problem. My daughter's 18 month lab tried to take control from my terriers. I am the boss of our 4 dogs and am around most of the time but daughter is the boss of lab. The lab nearly killed two of the terriers. Now the lab has been sent to live away with my daughter and gets muzzled/crated everytime she visits.


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## Puppy (25 July 2009)

I have to say, in your position I would be incredibly concerned about the prospect of trying to separate such large/powerful breeds. 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 Please take care. Hope you come to a workable solution. xx


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