I had an issue with a couple of Shih Tzu's several years back. When my male Shih Tzu was about 6 years old we were given a beautiful female Shih Tzu puppy. She was a sweet little dog and loved people but she was an alpha for sure. She would dominate my male to the point where he became depressed and could not even eat without her permission. She would eat her food and his if I did not feed them in different rooms. When I would come home and they came to meet me the female would bite at him and block him from getting to me. I tried all kinds of training techniques but the fact was she was an aggressive female even though she was spayed.
After a year of dealing with the problem and seeing that my male was really suffering emotionally I gave her to my mom. She was an only dog at my mom's house and just loved it. She lived a wonderful pampered life there and I never regretted having her there. My male became the happy little guy he was before she came.
There are some dominance issues you can control with crating or other techniques but if it is a real personality issue you are going to find yourself having to continually keep them away from each other. I did not want to live with that kind of stress on me or the dogs. I am not a breeder and I suppose breeders have to deal with these types of issues in order to continue their program. I just could not have that kind of stress in my home on a continual basis. Separately they were both wonderful dogs. They just could not live together in peace. They are animals and there are things going on that sometimes humans do not understand. |