Inter-dog aggression at home

One of the things I find very difficult to do is to recommend what I think will work best in a situation when I fear that the owners will reject the idea as inconvenient. Nonetheless, I'll give it the old college try.

I'd like you to consider a change in how you view your yard. I've seen remarkable results when pet owners decide to take back possession of their yard. Turn it into an outside room of the house. Make the yard a people place, not a dog place exclusively.

First, for your protection and that of your dogs, by any means possible install a secure barrier fence. The invisible fence system is problematic (at best) for you. While reading your account of the trigger for the serious dog fight, I view your male dog's behavior that day as re-directed aggression toward the female dog -- his response triggered apparently by several factors: (a) other neighborhood dogs at the fence line, (b) his body position within the power field so he got zapped, and (c) the female dog's close proximity when he got zapped. As I see it, the cumulative effect of those factors caused him to go over the top, likely in self-protective aggression. He didn't know why he hurt, and perhaps he was fighting back to protect himself from further injury.

To replace the underground wire fence, what type of secure barrier fence would be possible? My late husband and I moved several times; we installed picket fencing at several of our residences. That worked out just fine. Surprisingly, collies do not jump a fence that height even though they could do so. The *only* time we were presented with a strange problem was during the famous winter blizzard , sometime between 1991 and '93. We were living then out in the country.  After that blizzard, the snow drifts were higher than the top of the fenceline. Once the snow froze, the dogs could jwalk up onto the drifts and wthen saunter along across where the fence was buried. <LOL>

There we had nstalled a split-rail fence and added rolled wire mesh fencing to the interior. I loved it. We had a backy ard fence there, and a separate front yard fence, one wall of which was the back yard fence. That was very convenient for me when I wanted to bring home new rescue dogs to foster. I also had garden shed where I installed two interior kennel runs. Anyway, that is just about safe housing to prevent injuries from one dog to another. I need the ability to separate dogs when I must, since I bring in some many new ones from time to time. Yet, any family who has a multi-dog household could benefit from the same management strategies.

Next, about that yard. A dear friend has a wonderful mixed breed dog. I was quite impressed to observe how much this particular dog seemed to love everybody. Then I made note of the circumstances. This friend's yard is the social spot for the family. Her teenage son would bring home friends to shoot baskets at the basketball hoop in the back yard. Another part of the yard was set up for the game of horseshoes. She had a deck off the back door with a small table and chairs for serving lemonade and lunch. Just a ways beyond that, under a large shade tree, she had a large picnic table and a grill for cooking dinner. What am I describing? Why think about it? it's an outdoor room of the house. It belongs" to the people who reside there, not to the dog. Just think of the concept. If we consider that just a moment, it's quite a remarkable thing.

I don't send my dogs out, to the yard at all. I "take them out." It's my yard. While they're playing around in the fenced yard, I converse with another neighbor and her children over the garden fence, I putter in the flower beds, and then I do some rather spontaneous dog training. All just part of our day.

I call my dogs to me away from the fence line and make the center of the yard the most rewarding place. That's where we play clicker-training games. That's where the rewards are given. As a result, I've greatly reduced any fence-running between my dogs and my neighbor's GSD. Such a simple idea, really. Owners just take over the yard the way they take over the family room or kitchen. It's a people place, not just a dog place.

As a corollary to that, we teach our dogs our expectations for their behavior when they're outside in the yard with us, just as we have expectations for their behavior when they're in the house with us or in the car with us.

You see, dogs left to their own devices will invent their own rules and games. Owners may not appreciate the ones that the dogs choose.

Additionally, many dogs are somewhat territorial. I'm not speaking of territorial aggression so much as just a feeling the dog has of "this is my space and my family's." And then the dog behaves accordingly.

As all dogs are wont to do down through the generations, it's normal for dogs to alert bark when strangers pass near the home space/territory. Therefore, just imagine how very, very difficult it must be a dog to protect his space and that of his family, when strange dogs come wandering into the area, as they are able to do if one's own dogs are protected only by a invisible fence, a barrier from which the dog wearing the remote collar may not escape.

Here's a place where owners definitely need to become pro-active, to help their dogs have a peaceful existence at home and to protect their dogs from harm from loose animals, stray dogs and wildlife.

I's possible to construct a fence that becomes a visible barrier from other dogs passing by. There's a huge advantage in doing so if you live where loose dogs may be about. Susan Jaffe posted some months back about creating fences which serve as garden shrubbery barriers. She did that so she may run her dogs in agility games in her own back yard without bothering her neighbors, and so her dogs don't become excited/worried/agitated by what they may see "across the garden fence," so to speak.

In a nutshell, I think some of your dogs' behavior problems could be alleviated greatly by a change in the physical arrangements. And that would make things so much easier for their owners, too.

©5/31/2002 Barbara D. Brill, North Chili, NY All rights reserved. No further reproduction permitted without express written consent. Email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it