i live with two people who have two entire male dogs, both 9 months old (gsd and pyranean) my female is speyed, and keep as seperate as possible as she gets fed up with them bothering her to play and to mount. the 2 males had a big fight last week for no appaarent reason, so i took the oppurtunity after i had shouted very loudly and pushed the baby gate over (not on them) to split them, to suggest that they would need to get at least one of castrated and suggested the pyranean as he is definatley the bottom of the pack and they said they would when they had enough money. since then, there has been another couple of fights over toys as the gsd is getting extremely possesive over his toys, even to my bitch who is two years older. so i started a discussion with them bout it and they said they wanted to leave it like it is because they want to be an owner that people know not to let their dogs up to meet theirs in the park.
just now, theyve just had another fight, because the gsd wanted to lie in the place where the pyranean was, so they went outside and just stroked both of them.
what on earth do I do? because if i try and advise them, they get quite nasty about it.
sorry 4 the long post, but quite destressed (sp) about the situation

Its awkward as you have to live with them so I doubt there is an easy solution. I assume that as you havent 'laid down the law' you live with them rather than the other way around. You could try asking them who they feel will be responsible for the vets bills if your dog gets hurt or who will pay for the behaviourist when you dog becomes seriously affected by it. It might help to hammer the seriousness of it home. If they arent prepared to do anything then im not sure what the answer is other than finding somewhere else to live Sorry!

I hope you manage to sort it out. :)

thanx for your comments, if I did not live with them, or they had moved in with me then it would be so much easier. but as you say, I do have to live with them. they are lovely people apart from this, but it upsets me to see how they are ruining thier dogs byt the way they are dealing with them. Problem is, they are feeding them and they have water so technicaaly they are not mistreating them. I would obvoiously move if it was detrimental to my dog, do you think it is going to be, as she is virtually kept seperate from them?

Not a house I would like to stay in, with attitudes like that.

Can I ask how old these two dogs are?

And why is your bitch kept as seperate as possible, but the dogs not?

Have either of the dogs tried to go for your bitch at all? Apart from the mounting incidents. Is this why you keep her away, or is it purely so that she is not caught up with the niggles and fights?

More info please, ages do make a difference, can you also tell us the characters of the two dogs, I take it you feel the GSD is Alpha, also is your bitch taking charge at all?

the 2 boys are both 9 months old my bitch is coming up 3. they pester her, not just in mounting her, she cannot go anywhere with out them being right next to her, not even to go for a wee. when ever they are near her face she turns her head away constantly, but they still pester her so she growls and they still are near her. it is like they do not understand dog language. She was the alpha for the first month or so I was living here and now as the GSD has got older and testosterone has kicked in, he has become alpha.
she is kept seperate, becasue she gets worked up with them and is not very willing to go in the same room as them and will back away if i ask her to go through. if they are just playing, then the people i live with tell them, in no uncertain way to stop and lie down. so I just keep her seperate. It is not my decision to keep the dogs seperate, as neither of them are mine. but I am worried about if the fighting escalates when I am not around as the owners are much slower in reacting to the start of a fight then I am.
Thhink that is all the answers to your questions

If you have to leave your girl on her own with them - could you get a crate for her?  She would at least be safe from them in there - I presume you don't leave them together all day - but for a couple of hours or so - am I correct?   She could then see her crate as her safe place.

Margot

Personally I would look for somewhere else to live, before the bitch turned on the boys and someone was seriously hurt. I wouldn't want my bitch to go through this. I have a young bitch that doesn't like my dog's litter brother visiting. Thankfully he doesn't visit very often so I can put her out of the way for the short time he's here. I wouldn't want to live in that kind of atmosphere. Neither would I want my bitch to live in fear, which is what is happening.

Thank you for answering those questions :-) 

At this age the GSD is going to be a major problem, he really needs to be kept seperate from the other two dogs.  It makes no difference that your bitch is spayed, she is still recognised as head bitch and these two youngsters are going to have major fall outs because of it.

The GSD will proberbly start to grab your bitch by her neck and pin her down the more the testosterone flows, young GSD's can be extremely vigarous and really hurt a bitch, with competition it is only going to get worse.

I really would suggest that you move out, the two dogs then will not be so competitive, and your bitch will be safe. If the dogs continue to have heirarchy issues and the owners take no notice at least you will not have to keep witnessing it.

Once the dogs are older it is not so much a problem, but at these ages it is not good, the dogs owners are not taking precautions and I worry it may all end rather messy.

If all the dogs can not be kept under constant supervision, and kept seperate when no-one is in, it is not going to be safe.

my dog is in the sitting room and they are in the kitchen with a baby gate seperating them. she obviously has to go through there to get out into the garden and whenever i open the baby gate to let her thro, the gsd does the mouth round her scruff thing you have described. I have explained to them about hierachy etc, but they want all their dogs to be equal and therefore get quite annoyed with me when I mention it. I know it is the GSD who is the problem, as he is also very jealous, because if he comes into the sitting room I put my dog in the kitchen to play with the pyranean, because they get on really well, but then the gsd will bark and get very stressed so I bring mine back through and have not done that since. If the pyranean is having attention, then the gsd positions himself in the way and guards who ever it is giving the attention to the pyranean.
however, they want to get rid of the pyranean, but Ive got a feeling that that is not going to happen, as they are also the type of people to not act on what they say.

I'm pleased about the child gate to keep your bitch away from them at the moment, if you do stay, then please ask the others to pop a lead on their dogs when yours needs to come through, they may think it funny that she is grabbed by the GSD but it will wear your bitch down, she will become very stressed, if she starts circling get her out of there it's not funny at all. It's the worst kind of sexual harrassment to put it as strongly as possible.:-(

I do not leave her when she is outside, and make sure the dogs do not go near her when she is having a wee, it is just getting her through the gate. I no it is not funny, I do not like to see it at all. that is why I was asking for advice, it is the people that I live it see it as funny. I will try the lead idea. thanx again

Your welcome, take care of your girl and try your hardest to get the other two to understand.
I wish you luck. :-)

I hate to say it, but I'd also suggest moving out - this kind of stress with other owners who are apparently ignorant regarding their own and othe r dogs' welfare is beyond the pale. It will only get worse as the males get older. I actually feel quite sorry for the poor gsd who is getting no guidance

Whatever you decide, good luck :)

Lindsay
x

I also feel very sorry for both the dogs, because how are they meant to learn if they have no guidance.