I have four dogs, all of who are un-castrated. They range in age  from 5 to 2 years old. The second youngest is a yorkie called Rebel. He has always been a nervous dog, but he was never aggressive. Over the last 6 weeks, he has become increasingly aggressive with my other dogs, especially the youngest, a cavalier king chares who is now quite a bit larger than Rebel. They will fight- this is not play fighting, but no-holds-barred fighting. They seem to want to kill each other. I've been breaking the fights up, because it seems like the thing to do. Most of the time, I can't figure out what they start fighting over- it sometimes seems as if it just comes out of no-where.

Rebel is 3 and on his own, is a very nice dog. He relaxes and is not aggressive towards humans. He was socialised as a puppy. He didn't go to obedience classes, because there are none in my area. He is a very active dog who loves to run around the garden. The dogs all get a lot of exercise and Rebel is good to walk. It's getting to the point where I can't cope- I'm worried that every time I do something with the dogs it's gonna set off a fight.

My questions are this:

- Do you think castrating Rebel (or my youngest dog) would hep correct the fighting?
- Should I be breaking the fights up or leaving them to sort it out between themselves?
- Is it too late for castrating to have any affect?
- Could it be some kind of medical problem?

What diference in age is there between the two fighters?

rebel is 3- ollie is 18 months.

Ssounds like the younger maturing one is trying to usurp the older but physicaly smaller one.  the smaller one has to be really fierce because of his lack of size to get his point acrpss to the young upstart.

Now are they actually damaging each other, has blood been drawn?  If not then I would think they will sort it out, but when splitting things up when it gets too heated (after all why fight for higher rank when you outrank everyone :D ) give them both the same telling off, so not support one over the other as you could easily get it wrong and cause them to fight more.

>They range in age  from 5 to 2 years old.
>ollie is 18 months

You're saying you have a dog younger than your youngest?

Sorry- I posted that very late last night. The youngest (ollie) IS 2 years old- but for some reason, I typed 18 months.

All of the above, plus it wouldn't do any harm to get both of them checked by the vet to rule out any medical problems.  Castration would have to be considered VERY carefully by observing them to determine who appears to be the lowest ranking - this would be the dog that would need castration.

Unfortunately most owners are not theones that can really tell who is the higher ranking.  Often people assume the quiet one is lower whereas most often that is in fact not the case the noisy brash trying to show how macho he is, one is the one trying to up it's position.

Exactley Brainless ;)

Josh (oldest) is defanatly the highest ranking. He eats first, gets his pick of where he wants to lay and the other 3 yeild to him.

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Have two males - eldest 3 1/2 years has been castrated, youngest 17 weeks (yes weeks) obviously not castrated and the youngest is trying to make himself boss (had lots of male dogs together so I know what I'm looking at and witnessing) the eldest is having none of it and is proving himself still boss - so in my view, castration does absolutely nothing - castrated male still fights for dominance - even did last year with a entire male springer who we homed for a year.

I would talk to your vet, see about getting the injection done but I really don't think it will make much difference, I think maybe getting in some outside help to try and see things from a different perspective may help - they quite often see what is really happening which you can't because you are too close to the situation.

Hi there Kookicat - In addition to what has been said already, one thing you might want to try is a 'Tardak' injection.  This will temporarily imitate castration for the dog - it makes the hormone levels in the dog's body be as they would be if the dog were castrated.  So, if you want to check if castration might help your situation, you could give this a try first - it would save you going ahead with castration only to find it doesn't improve anything.  Your vet should know what it is - Tardak...

Thanks- I'll ask my vet about that and see if it would work for my situation.

My old Dog Casper(foxhound x italian spinnoi) sorry can't spell, was going to have that injection but my vet who knew him very well said there was no point as he needed castration, which i went ahead a did on his advice. I belive it can still take quite a while for casturaton to have any effect, it took about six months for him and then he got 100% worse so please think carefully,
Danielle

So your vet was completely wrong on both counts then?  Just goes to show, often the owners know more about their own dogs than the vet :rolleyes:

I would recommend anyone considering castration for their dog to try him on tardak first, that way there is at least some idea of what may happen and if things get worse at least it isn't permanent.

Yeah afraid so Dill, needless to say i have changed vets, I would always try the injection first if i ever.