I have two male English Springer Spaniels that are 14 months old that are beginning to try and establish dominance over the other. When they are on their own they are fine and best of friends (most of the time) but when in our company begin to fight over territory and affection! They have a very good pedigree and we would have liked to show them at some stage. I have been told to stop this fighting between them I will have to have one dog neutred - is this correct? Is there any other way around this problem?

Look forward to hearing from someone very soon - thankyou

(Edit as requested. Leigh)

Hi Guest

Sorry tohear of the fighting problem.

Sounds like they are fighting over you as a resource, withut knowing all the details try towork out which one is the more dominant one, (will go through doors first, etc. ) then set a few rules down such as feeding this one first, giving him attentin first etc.

If you do have one neutered, do the one which is least dominant, so that the gap between them is widened a lot. If you do the toop dog, then the gap will be lessened which will still lead possibly to fighting.

HTH I expectothers will post ther ideas too

Best wihses
lindsay

Firstly, you need to establish that You are infact Top Dog!!!

Are either of the dogs challenging you ?

As Lindsay has already said, you must establish which of your males is the more dominant and make sure that you back him up. Finding the dominant one will no doubt be the hardest thing to decide, but once you have decided you must stick to your choice.It is not to late to get on top of the problem but you need to act quickly.

Leigh

Leigh is right, the common mistake people make is trying to back up the less dominant one, thinking they are helping it out, but in actual fact you are doing more harm than good. The dogs will know which is "top dog" and its up to you to back up the dominant one, even if, in human terms it seems unfair.

I agree with the above posts. It seems to be that they are deciding the pecking order and this is quite normal.

I completely agree with what the others have said. Watch them very carefully, the one who initiates the trouble is often not the top dog, rather the under dog trying to take over. The top dog rarely feels the need to attack. As I said at the start, watch carefully because although this is the usual way of things it is not always that way!

Regards, John

Very true John.

Leigh

In which breeds can you safely keep two males together?

Dobes you definately can't

Christine

Christine, I have to disagree with you there.
A friend of mine keeps 4 male Dobes together !

I have kept 4 adult male GSP's together and at present have 3 adult male GSP's and a bracco male all under one roof !

No problem.
I am boss :-)

Leigh

Leigh, I agree with you, I tend to find that groups of hound dogs are better together than groups of bitches in fact!
I have kept 3 dogs in the house without any agro. We keep 20 dogs in the lodges without any grumbling atall, can't say the same for the girls though, always one that wants to be a trouble maker!!!
:p

Hi Leigh,

Your friend must be the exception rather than the rule - it is very rare for (Dobe) males to survive intact when living together thoughout their lives

Christine

Hi Christine.

Yes no doubt you are right, but this lot all live happily together and her dogs get on fine with all but one of my lot. We just make sure that the two of them never get the chance to exchange insurance details :-)

Leigh

I had 3 male dobes in the house in the 80's, no trouble at all until a girl came to stay, then all hell broke out, bits of ear missing, punctured noses & so on.......calm returned when she went home again!!!!!!