Raising two puppies at once: aggressive at meal times

[melktart]

I've been using this Forum as a great resource since getting my yorkies in July. Because I know lots of people go to this for information, I just wanted to post an update on the situation above that I mentioned.

The aggressive behavior got worse and worse. And it didn't just revolve around food anymore. Moo would violently attack Puck whenever she could. Their last fight ended up with Puck's left eye almost being taken out (he had puncture wounds and had to be rushed to the vet to get stitches). So Moo went back to the breeder, and we eventually had to find another home for her.

I have spent so much time wondering why this aggressive behavior happened. My mom has two yorkies, and they've never had fights like my two did. In fact, I have quite a few friends who have sibling pairs that don't have aggressive behavior. I think I have finally figured out what the difference was in my situation: there was no other (older/established) dog in the family prior to their arrival. My mom has a jack russell who was there for at least 2 years before the two yorkie puppies arrived. Same with my friends who also had 2 puppies. There was always an older dog who essentially was the head of the house.

This article goes into some good detail about the situation that my husband and I found ourselves in.

Giving up Moo broke our hearts. We love them both so much, but I could not run the risk of leaving them alone and having another (potentially much worse) fight break out. Puck is doing well, and we're in close contact with Moo's new parents.

[TiffanyandTeddy]

Oh goodness! I'm very glad that Puck is ok and didn't end up loosing an eye, but it is definitely sad for you to have given Moo up I'm very sorry to hear about that I bet it's been very hard on you guys.

I adopted two littermates in July also. One male and one female, just turned 11 weeks yesterday. I can definitely relate to your story as Lola is very greedy when it comes to feedings and Teddy is much more laid back and seems to take her aggression with no care in the world. We tried feeding them together but it didn't last long due to her running to the bowl, pushing him out of the way, trying to take any food he ate out of his mouth. I have had to separate them since then, one will eat in the pen and the other one out of it, or one will be on my left and another on my right side. I give Teddy more attention when it comes to feedings because he too will just sit there and I need to put my finger in his food to remind him it's ok you can eat.

When it comes to play time I don't let them spend too much time together because she is very rough with him. She's constantly jumping on him, biting his face and ears, he's always screaming for her to get off him. Things have gotten a bit better as she is understanding time out and "no" more, but it's still a work in progress. I wish you the best with everything and raising Puck

[TiffanyandTeddy]

Whoops just realized a typo from last night lol my pups were born in July and we adopted them in September.