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11-13-2013, 05:29 PM | #1 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 7
| New Member, Need Help, Kinda Long...Sorry We have two, 2 year old female yorkies. We got Spirit in December 2011 and we actually adopted Mizzy in July 2013. Up until this past Sunday they got along good with each other, with the exception of the occasional rough housing and mouthing each other. Both of these dogs are very spoiled, they are more than dogs, they are part of our family. Sadly on Sunday, after bathing each one of them separately, Mizzy was first then Spirit. After they got all cleaned up and somewhat dry they went downstairs with our 10 year old daughter and Mizzy bit Spirit pretty hard on the leg and brought a good amount of blood. So we separated them for about an hour. When they were in the same room together again Mizzy immediately pounced on Spirit and bit her ear and wouldn't let go. She didn't chew or continue to bite, just bit and held on until we could get them apart. So, now they are completely separated in different households. My mom has Mizzy and we have Spirit. This is simply because we didn't want them trying to bite each again until we could get some help. And, Mizzy is easier to manage for my Mom than Spirit. Mizzy is 10 days younger than Spirit but she seems way more mature. They are not from the same litter or even the same breeder. Spirit was actually a singleton puppy and we don't have the original paperwork for Mizzy because we adopted her from an animal shelter. Neither of these dogs have ever shown aggressiveness towards a human, ever. And up until Sunday they got along great. I even have a pic of them from earlier in the day Sunday laying on a blanket with my wife and both of them are almost asleep. So needless to say this week has been very hard on all of us. Our dogs are not both home with us like we want and they don't understand what each of them did. So we have called what seems like every single trainer in the state of North Carolina and finally have an appointment tomorrow evening to take them for an obedience boot camp as well as work on the aggression. I just wondered if you guys have any insight on this situation? We love our girls and not having both of them at home with us is making our lives miserable. I appreciate any and all help you guys may have. Thank you and God Bless! |
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11-13-2013, 07:20 PM | #2 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 1,154
| bumping
__________________ Annie, Mom of Dolly Teena & RIP Sweet Roxie |
11-13-2013, 08:28 PM | #3 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2012 Location: NY
Posts: 247
| I don't really have any advice for you since I only have one Yorkie, but I'm so sorry you are going through this! Hopefully their trainer will be able to give you some answers. Has anything changed in your home? |
11-14-2013, 12:38 AM | #4 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: USA
Posts: 954
| I was going to suggest having a trainer come to the house too.
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11-14-2013, 04:20 AM | #5 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 7
| Thanks guys. Nothing has changed in our home. Both of these dogs are spoiled beyond belief and loved constantly. The only thing that was different for that time frame was the bath. It happened once before after a bath but Mizzy bit her once and then they just went back to playing. This time was different. Almost like a shark smelling blood in the water. But Mizzy has not been aggressive to any of us, or my Mom while she has been there. So it's baffling and upsetting to all of us. |
11-14-2013, 07:32 AM | #6 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: USA
Posts: 954
| I'm wondering if there has been a dominance shift in the household between them. Still don't have any experience with this. Hope someone else can chime in.
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11-14-2013, 09:15 AM | #7 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Merritt Island,FL
Posts: 1,400
| I have two females- 4 and 2. The 2yo, Abby has been throwing her weight around recently, luckily she is not a biter but she sure does sound mean. We have an elderly dog that is having a rough time and that seems to set her off. I have had her lose her temper at bath time too, I usually keep them separate now. |
11-14-2013, 09:22 AM | #8 |
Cedric♥Lola♥Keylo Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Gilford, NH, USA
Posts: 9,209
| My suggestion is that spirit go first for everything as she was the one you had first. I do everything with mine in the pack order in which they arrived. That may be where mizzy is getting to think shes the boss of the pack when really she should come after spirit for treats, bathing etc. Maybe that really isn't important in this case...but for my pack it is a set of rules and we follow the order and they know who goes when. Lola and Keylo did not bond for quite sometime but thankfully the fights didn't draw any blood. In the end remember you have to be the leader they listen to so consistency in the discipline and also knowing when to step in and show mizzy you are truly the boss and biting her sister is not acceptable. I wish you much luck and hope the boot camp training will help sort it all out and I hope you can get the two girls under one roof again. Sending prayers.
__________________ Cedric N Lola N Keylo RIP Punkee Princess |
11-14-2013, 10:04 AM | #9 |
Rosehill Yorkies Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Houston Texas
Posts: 9,462
| I may have missed reading it in your post....are these ladies spayed? This is a very common issue among intact females, especially as one is coming into season. Good luck....it is so disconcerting to have two family members who now are at each other's throats. This sounds like a real Alpha female issue..... |
11-14-2013, 10:15 AM | #10 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 1,293
| One thing I noticed in your post is that the pups were downstairs with your 10 year old daughter. Since you just got Mizzi a few months ago, is it possible that she has developed an attachment to your daughter and was maybe "protecting" her from Spirit, or got jealous of Spirit being too close to her? It's possible she's never done it before becuase she has recently developed a bond with your daughter now that she's well settled.
__________________ "The little furry buggers are just deep, deep wells you throw all your emotions into." ~ Bruce Schimmel |
11-14-2013, 12:03 PM | #11 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 7
| Yes, both girls are spayed and micro chipped. Mizzy will "protect" our daughter from Spirit when they are playing but she has never bitten Spirit before over it. She just bucks up to her to make her leave my daughter alone. On another note, today my mom took Mizzy in to the vet for bloodwork so they could check her thyroid. While they were there they checked her over really good and discovered she has a 102.7 temperature and she has a hemangioma(?) on her neck under her collar. The vet seems to think maybe Spirit did actually bite her and that's what led to the altercation. Unfortunately, we have no true way of knowing because my wife and I were upstairs cleaning up the bathroom when the altercation occurred. My daughter did say that Spirit was just laying on the couch when Mizzy bit her leg, so I really don't think she would lie about that. Especially seeing how upset she has been all week over them being separated. I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers! We are still planning on taking them tonight for their training. Unfortunately for us they will be gone from us for 10-14 days so we will have to rely on the trainer to do her thing and take plenty of pics and video. Fortunately the trainer only lives about 10-15 mins away from us so we can stop and visit she said if we want to. Probably best not to so they get the full jist of their training, but having both our babies gone that long may just hurt more than we can stand. I never was much of an animal person until we got Spirit, and now I have a soft spot for ALL animals! I love these 2 dogs!! |
11-14-2013, 05:54 PM | #12 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 7
| I am happy to report we took the babies to their boot camp training this evening and within minutes of being there they were like their normal selves. They were not aggressive toward one another at all. Not even one time. We were so happy, considering the week we have had. They will be there for obedience training for 10-14 days and our trainer seems to think they will do great. Just based on the observations from this evening while we were there. We were happy to see them happy!! Now we just have to wait out the time until we get them back...it's gonna be hard tho... |
11-15-2013, 03:47 PM | #13 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: dearborn heights
Posts: 1,148
| Hmmm....is the trainer going to come to your home when you introduce them back into your household when they are done?? I wonder if they are getting along because they are out of their home, so the territory/dominance issues aren't there?!? A lot of dogs act completely different when they are out of their comfort zone, away from their house and their family/pack. For example...I caught a loose dog that was running in the neighborhood today. It had ran away and the owner was looking for it. It came to me with it's tail wagging and I managed to get a slip lead on it. It was so friendly that I could pet it...that is until it's owner arrived and came up. The dog did a complete 180 and started growling at me. The owner had to pick it up and remove the slip lead from it because it wouldn't even let me do that. It was a totally different dog when it's owner arrived!! Anyways, I hope your pups do well and transition smoothly back into your house...hopefully the trainer will be there to help you get them re-acclimated ...just in case they try to regress back into the way things were. |
11-15-2013, 06:15 PM | #14 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 7
| Those are very good points. We did think of that and we are planning to try to get her to actually bring them home. We don't know if she will do that or not but we are going to ask. I will say though, my wife brought Mizzy home from my mom's yesterday before we took them to training. Once she got back home and around Spirit, she sniffed Spirit and then walked away, almost like she wasn't interested in her. Spirit of course was not really wanting to have anything to do with her either. I have prayed and cried and stressed all week over these dogs. I think between the trainer and God, things will be ok! God bless all of the Yorkie (and animal lovers in general) on here!! |
11-16-2013, 06:49 PM | #15 |
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Shenandoah Valley, VA., USA
Posts: 173
| Dominant Female I agree that it would be helpful for the trainer to watch your family and your dogs at your own home. That is their own territory and it is where the trainer may pick up on those dog "posturing" or "challenge signals" that one of your dogs may be giving to the other dog. I used to love to watch the t.v. show, The Dog Whisperer, on National Geographic Channel, and Caser (the trainer) had a lot of dog aggression issues that he had to work out for owners and their dogs. He often had them go on walks together on their leashes, and it soon became apparent which dog thought it was "the boss" or "alpha dog", because that dog often tried to nip at the other dog if it tried to get next to the owner. The alpha dog felt it was the "leader of the whole family group" and not their human owner! You said the dogs were really spoiled. It may be that one of your dogs feels she is the boss and not you. Therefore, she is going to try to dominate the other dog and try to control its ability to get near your daughter or you. I wish I could remember Caser's method to help a family that had several small dogs and there was biting going on between their dogs, too. He got across to the biting dog that it was NOT okay to bite the other dogs...ever. See if you can watch some of his shows on your t.v. and ask your trainer What you need to be doing at home to "defuse situations ahead of time", so it doesn't escalate into this biting. It seems that the trainer should be able to give you things to watch for, so you can say "No" in firm voice and take control before the attack starts. |
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