My Yorkies can't stop fighting! What's going on?
 

I have two intact girls that are 2 1/2 yo. They love each and have always played with each other. They only fought very rarely. But since last month they have been fighting every single day. They just need to look at each other to start a fight w/o any valid reason, at least one that I can tell. For instance, they both sleep in bed with us. I first pick up one and put her on our bed, and as soon as I pick up the second one and put her on the bed, they pick up a bad fight. They have gotten hurt a couple of times and even bitten me as I have tried to separate them, really big fight. I had to separate them many times and have them sleep in separate rooms.

What's going on?

Are both of your girls feeling well and healthy? Some feeling just a bit under the weather is enough to make a dog not tolerate things that are usually fine. It could be something like an ear ache or a sore tooth.

Have there been any changes in your life over the past month that are requiring more attention from you so the girls are competing for your attention? i.e. moved house, new job, new man, new baby....

Yeah my guess is maybe they have cabin fever and the winter blues and need more activity! Try taking them for a walk or even just outside for 10 mins a few times a day. Tire them out or give them something new to hold their attention, they may be bored and restless at this point. :) I see my boys are getting a bit snippy with each other also. Good Luck!!

Have your girls been spayed? Many times it is a hormone thing. If they have been spayed then I think it is just a jealously problems. I have had this happen over the years with some of my girls and the problem does not go away. Sadly, my only solution was to keep them separated. I know other Yorkie owners that have this same problem.

She said they were still intact..;)

Are you planning on using them to breed? I would assume, since they're 2 1/2 years old you are..? I have always had mine spayed/neutered as soon as they were old enough..I've never had any problems other than the occasional getting after one for taking a toy

PMS and cabin fever- whoohoo- that would make a girl mad!:mad:

As they are intact, one (or both) of them may be going through the motions of a phantom pregnancy. Little article here. In itself, it's not usually something to worry about but they can get very possessive of absolutely anything and two girls can spark each other off for no apparent reason.
I have a 9 year old Westie who cannot be spayed for medical reasons. She has a phantom each cycle and carries her favourite toys to their "whelping box" every night.
Attachment 190937
Wimmin eh?:D

Lorrie, thanks so much for posting the picture of your westie..My daughter has one that looks just like that, we were thinking it had a mix of something else with it, as the ones I've seen like on the AKC dog show, had a wider face..Are there 2 different looks to these dogs faces??

It's a lot to do with the grooming. Show dogs are hand stripped and are given the "chrysanthemum" shaped head. Pet dogs tend to be clipped and so have less coarse hair that does not lend itself to the bouffant look.:D
PLUS you have to remember my little girl was suffering from bedhead at the time :rolleyes:

okay, I missed that in the first post. Some of my girls get very crappy and want to fight more when they are getting ready to come in heat. Getting them fixed might help solve the problem.

LOL It's okay, I do the same thing ALL THE TIME..

Hi, thanks for your comments, solutions, experiences and advice!

I have a fear of surgeries when it comes my doggies. One of my previous Yorkies (she had a Pedigree and was costly) went for surgery at 8 weeks and died on the OR's table. I wanted to sue the vet hospital and had another vet clinic send her body for an autopsy that determined that her lungs collapsed due to the anestesia. So I believe they gave her more than she needed. Anyway, I called lawyers everywhere in the country (like I said I wanted to sue them) but no one agreed to take the case even though I had a doctor (former vet of the vet hospital that killed my dog) that had told me they did not do a good job monitoring her during the surgery and he was almost sure, considering he knew the bad service of his former employer, that it was negligence. Well, the hospital kind of knew so they offered me a new pup of my choice. And, considering that no lawyer wanted to take the case, I took their offer.

These are my girls last year during our vacation in PA.
In brief, I don't want to go throughout that ever again! PS, sorry for the mispellings!

To help avoid they get cervical cancer, I am breeding them at least once and keeping the pups (at least most of them in case they have more than 1 and hope they won't). 15 years ago, I had a female Chihuahua that never got spayed or bred. She lived for 11 years w/o ever having health problems before.

Yea, I guess it could be jealousy...about 4 weeks ago we went on vacation and left the dogs at home with someone caring for them. She told me they were very good during that time. And, yes, they seem to look for my attention. That's hard for me since I was panning to adopt a female Cairn Terrier that could end up homeless. I guess under these circumstances, I better not adopt another one.

These are my girls, they don't like to be photographed!

Your girls are adorable and look very loved. I know your concern about cancer but there are also great risks involved in breeding. They really should be spayed eventually because pyometra is very common in unspayed females and the chances are good that sooner or later they can get pyometra and then you will have to emergency spay them. Probably many more females die from pyometra than from cervical cancer. Whatever you decided I hope all works out for you.

As far as the fighting, from my experience, and from how you described it, it probably won't get any better and maybe worse.

Sorry about the loss of your 8 weeks old pup. I know that had to be devastating. What kind of surgery were they doing on her?