We have 2 bitches and 2 dogs, the bitches have been spayed and are 2 years old and the dogs are 1 and still intact. They have always been fine together until today. We took the bitches to be cut and clipped this is the first time they have been done, when they got back the dogs didnt recognise them and now wont leave them alone, one has already tried it on with one and must have entered because there was blood all over him and the bitch although it was only a few seconds.
Can anyone help as this is all new to us, we didnt want to get the boys done but if this is how its going to be we have no option.
What if anything can we do to stop them.

Hi Sandie, I wonder if there was a bitch in season at the dog groomers and your two girls came home with the scent of it on them. I don't know if thats what is causing the problem.
Clair

Hi,
As Clair says, there could well have been a bitch in season at the groomers. One of my bitches was treated in this way by our males after a visit to the vet.

All I can suggest you do is what we had to - thoroughly bath them to wash off all the scent that may be on them. The groomers could also have put some conditioner or similar on their coats which is affecting the dogs.

Things are a lot better today, we had to keep the boys in the cage last night, this morning its only been a few sniffs and they have left her alone so hopefully whatever scent she had is going.

I'm glad it's improving - it can be a nightmare, can't it? Fingers crossed the scent is wearing off.

It would be worthwhile asking the groomers if there had been a bitch in season there, and if not, what shampoo/conditioner/grooming spray whatever they used on your bitches, and make a note that these should never be used again on them, as it upsets your males.
:)

This can be a reaction to the fact that one of the pack has been elsewhere and they pick up the scent of a different environment. They then have to almost establish the pecking order again and you are my girl nobody elses. It doesn't necessarily mean they have been with a bitch that was in season.

I had this happen when I had to split mine up for a few days when I went away and when they got back together again I had them mounting and a couple of grumbles at each other, and yet they had never done it before. It is a pack thing.

A standard poodle that I used to clip, every time he went home he went through the same reaction with the other two dogs the owner had (they weren't poodles). He smelt wrong.

(Edited because it posted before I'd even started!!!!)

Quite true, Yappy. But I've only had it happen to mine the once, and they're taken out separately a lot (I like to give them a bit of one-to-one attention), to the shops, to the vet, to shows etc.

Yes I had it happen once after my bitch had been on a trip to the vets. Hibbi scrub seems to get the smell of anything off.

I dont think it can be seperation related because we always take them out seperately girls together and boys together and we have never had this before. When we got them back it was like they were different dogs and the boys didnt seem to recognise them, I think it must have either been there was a bitch in season or a very powerful shampoo that turned the boys on.

hi sandie,
were they bathed,have two dogs and a bitch, all intact, when they have been seperated to have there baths and then see one another after there baths they go crazy for a while, the bitch can get a bit funny with the boys as they are sniffing her and trying to mount her, she trys to mount them etc, i put it down to the difference in smell, they soon calm down, regards tina

Yes, normally a certain amount of hierarchical mounting is to be expected. But when it results in actual penetration of a spayed bitch, resulting in bleeding, there is surely something out of the ordinary going on?

It must have been penetration but why the blood, I dont want to appear dumb but is this because it was the first time for both of them. Today they have been ok no signs of anything happening between them. The only explanation is the shampoo used or a bitch in heat was at the groomers.
Why does something so normal like taking your dogs to be groomed have to turn into such a nightmare.

Hi Sandie,
There will have been blood because your bitch wasn't in season. The hormones when they are in season make the 'bits' very swollen, soft, loose and lubricated.....without them she will have been small, tight and dry :( , which is why she bled.