My Yorki is attacking my other dog. Please Help.

[Mweasel]

Hello everyone. I have a 3 yr. old male yorki who'se name is Skippy. In the last few months he's taken to visciously attacking the other male dog in our house.
Let me give a little history before i get into it so that you'll will be able to help a bit more. Skippy was our first inside dog. We got him when he was a baby and he's always been very hard to deal with. His father was the same way, virtually untrainable. Anyway, our second dog was a poodle. Her name is Lilly, we got her when Skippy was probably 6mo. to a yr. or so. They get along fine and always have. Well, eventually they had puppies, two dogs one female and one male. The male is Winky (We named him that because he was born with a floating eye. He only has the one eye. and he always looks like he's winking at you.) and the female is Little Girl (she's so very little and cute ) We had the poodle fixed so no more puppies there.
Skippy really didn't like being around the puppies alot, they kinda made him nervious and he's such a worry wort, he gets upset real easily. The slightest of sounds will set him off at times.
So as time went on, We kept all of the dogs, the two boys sleep with me in my room and the two girls with my mom in hers. They've always gotten along pretty well, they even played with each other all of the time. Skippy, the yorki naturally is the alpha male, the other little male Winky has always been kinda scared, he always cowered down to Skippy and people at times even though nobody's ever been mean to him, that's just the way he is. Sometimes Skippy would get mad at him but all he ever did was just kinda grow and kinda snap at him, but not really try to bite him or nothing, he was just letting him know he's cranky, like at night, he hates to be touched while he's sleeping and has even grunted at me for touching him.
That was all fine until a few months ago, Me and the two boys were in bed and Skippy kept eyeing Winky really weird like. His eyes were just wide as can be and he kept following where Winky was going with his eyes. I knew something was wrong then. And then all of a sudden, he just jumped on him and started fighting. I broke them apart and it's been happening ever since. Nothing noticeable happened to start this that I can recall, he just did it one night. It's gotten so bad that if they even get near each other he attacks the other dog. Winky is now so afraid of him that if Skippy even looks at him, he starts growling which causes Skippy to attack Winky yet again.
I don't know what to do. I have little cages that I've put him in every time he fights, but it doesn't help, If I put Winky in a cage to protect him from Skippy then Skippy goes up and attacks the cage. I've been bitten quite a few times breaking them up and I'm getting tired of it. I don't want to give any of them away, nor do i want to keep them in cages and seperated the rest of their lives, that's impossible.
I don't know what's causing this, the little yorki/poodle mix dog Little Girl has not been fixed yet, I wonder if that might be a part of it. We're going to fix her soon, she's just so small that it kinda worries me to fix her. But she definetly cannot have any babies with her sibling or father, that's way too close of inbreeding to allow.
Anyway, I've tried using water bottles to squirt at him when he starts attacking that sometimes helps but only after the attack. I cage him, i've tried putting him on a leash in here and i've tried leashing them both and keeping them close to each other but not close enough to bite.
I'm thinking about either getting them muzzles and hoping that will break them of this. Or i may buy one of those sonic dog trainers that I can put on his leash that emits a loud frequency when I push a button. Or I can get him some kind of sedative to calm him down. I don't know what to do. If you'll think any of these ideas will help let me know or if you'll have any other ideas then please help. It's hard living with them like this and I hate the fact that my sweet boy is being viscious towards my other sweet dog. Maybe I should just get them all fixed. I don't know if that'll keep him from attacking the other one but if so then I sure might do it. I feel like such a bad parent to my dogs for letting this happen. I know i've been a bit lazy on the training I just hope I haven't waited too late in their live's to correct anything. I wonder if obedient school would help any? I just feel horrible. Let me know what you'll think. Thank you.

[Mweasel]

Oh, I just thought of something else which may be helpful. My Yorki never attacks the other dog when we're not around. If I'm outside they're just fine. No fighting. It's only when me and my mom are in the house that they do it. It doesn't matter if we're in the other room or not. Although, the attacks happen alot more when my moms home than when it's just me and the dogs. I'm afraid that my Yorki thinks he's the Top Dog in the house and doesn't recognize me or my mom's authority. He's even pee'd on me and my mom's shoe once or twice while we were just standing here. Is he being protective? If so, who's he protecting? Why just attack the other male? I am taking him to the vet this week. Hopefully I can get some professional help for this matter.

[fasteddie]

Yes, I think it's Alpha Dog mentality, where they want to be the one that's the dominant dog in the house. Another thing could be that if they are not fixed, and they smell that the female is in heat, they 'compete' to mate with her.

You could also try dog training books, obedience school, or there's some online books you can buy as well.

[Mweasel]

Thanks, Male Alpha Dog Syndrome was what I was thinking, I'm looking into a few things right now. I may have to get the girl fixed and then him if that doesn't solve it. Yes, I'm a male so therefore I hate to fix my male dog. I know it's stupid. I also know it doesn't take away from their personalities, the same way it doesn't take away from the female's personalities it's just that, well....ouch. I'm a male and don't like that, hehehehe. But after today I may have no choice, this morning was a horrible attack. My yorki starts it, but I'm starting to worry for him because the other dog usually gets the best of him. Well, they started fighting again so I grabbed my yorki from behind. I learned to await a chance to grab one from behind after being bitten breaking them up too many times. So I get ahold of him and pick him up and the other dog is attached to him, he usually let's go when I pick the yorki up but he wouldn't this time, I'm yelling at him, trying to kick him loose without hurting him and nothing worked, finally after almost 30-45 sec. I'm getting worried so I start swinging them around and about after 7 passes over my head the other dog goes flying and lands on the couch. Thank god, he could've easily hit a wall or a window or something. This is so ridiculous. I love my babies. I don't want to have to play nerf sports with them as the ball like that but I couldn't get them loose. I have an appointment with the vet tormorrow. Wish me luck.

[Prissy012899]

I've learned the hard way, from experience that you can't have two unaltered males together. They do compete for the female dog and for attention.. Thats why they only do it when you are around. Most likely they all need to be spayed/neutered to get along.
also you need to let them know that you are the alpha.
One thing I find helpful is an empty clean & dry alluminum soda can.. Put a few pennies in it and tape the hole shut.. Shake this can if any start exhibiting an alpha behaviour and use a command word following the shake.
I know how horrible it is to separate fighting yorkies. Its nearly impossible.