Hi everyone! This is going to be a lengthy post because I want to provide as much insight into their relationship dynamics as possible, so please bare with me. I have two dogs, a male dog that is turning 6 years old and a female that is going to be 4 years old. They are both big dogs, with the male being a German Shepard x Border Collie x Australian Shepard mix and the female being a German Shepard x Doberman mix (I don't know if their breed matters but I included it just in case). I will be referring to the male as "C" and the female as "A." We introduced A to C when she was a puppy and she bonded to him immediately. A grew up with C her entire life and we have had no problems with them being together prior to this fight. C has always been the more "dominant" dog between the two and their pack hierarchy has remained that way ever since A was a puppy. Both of them are neutered/spayed. Neither of them ever displayed much resource guarding, with both dogs being fine exchanging beds or sharing toys for the most part. There have been small arguments over food (e.g. when A tries to eat C's food), but those little fights quickly resolved themselves and never led to continued aggression. For the almost 4 years they have been together, nothing about their relationship raised concern.
This Monday, we gave C a new ball to play with and A a new stuffed toy (A has never really shown a liking to balls or toys to play fetch with because she doesn't really show interest in playing fetch). Whenever we play fetch with C while A chooses to run around for fun, sometimes A will playfully bite at the back of C's neck while he's playing fetch and run with him. So far, C tolerated it and would give her a warning growl when he wanted her to stop. When we brought them out to the yard to play with C's new ball, A did her usual routine of playfully nipping at his neck, but it led to a full-blown fight with A actually biting C's neck and refusing to let go. The fight lasted about 5 minutes max before they decided to separate themselves, but it was very aggressive and scary as they were two large dogs full-on fighting. Afterwards, we immediately separated them as both had injuries and to prevent any further fighting. This fight happened during the late afternoon around 6pm and our local vet had already closed, so we chose to treat the wounds to the best of our abilities and decided to take both to the vet the following morning.
We took both the dogs to the vet separately, with C going first as he had been bitten while A only suffered scrapes from being dragged against the grass. C had to get his upper back shaved to get his wounds thoroughly cleaned as he had a puncture wound from the bite. A has minor abrasions, and both are on antibiotics while C has a couple more medications. The vet advised us to keep them separate for the time being to prevent A from licking at C's wounds to prevent infection, so they currently each have half of the backyard to themselves with a chain-link fence separating them (they are outside dogs). We do have them switch sides within the day to prevent them from claiming one side as their territory. They don't show any aggression when they see each other through the fence and even sniff at each other, and we try to spend equal amounts of time with both of them separately. Today and yesterday, we put both of them on leashes and had them in the same space in an attempt to prevent their relationship from growing farther apart. They don't seem to mind being in the same space (their tails are wagging, etc.), but when they were face-to-face, they started barking and growling (with A starting to growl first). C is the first one who tries to reach out to her, sniffing and trying to lick her, while A remains stiff and then proceeds to growl. We think it might have been caused by C attempting to lick at the scratches on A's chest and her responding back aggressively, but she shows no signs of aggression when I treat her wounds.
We have no idea as to what was the exact cause for the fight in the first place, as C's been given new toys to play fetch with in the past and those have never led to fights, and she didn't seem particularly interested in this new toy in comparison to any in the past. Her nipping at the back of his neck during playtime has never caused C to fight her either, and when he gives her a warning growl, A usually backs off with no problem. Would feeding them in the same space (not directly side by side but the other dog would be visible in the line of sight) be a bad idea? Would the aggression decrease when their wounds heal and A doesn't have to worry about C licking them? Any ideas as to what may have caused it is greatly welcomed, as well as advice as to how we proceed with their relationship and interactions in the future + what we may have done wrong/shouldn't do moving forward. It's been less than a week since they've been acting like this and we plan to contact a behavioral specialist in the oncoming weeks if there are no improvements. But before we do so, any advice helps! Thank you so much if you've made it all the way here and have a good day
This Monday, we gave C a new ball to play with and A a new stuffed toy (A has never really shown a liking to balls or toys to play fetch with because she doesn't really show interest in playing fetch). Whenever we play fetch with C while A chooses to run around for fun, sometimes A will playfully bite at the back of C's neck while he's playing fetch and run with him. So far, C tolerated it and would give her a warning growl when he wanted her to stop. When we brought them out to the yard to play with C's new ball, A did her usual routine of playfully nipping at his neck, but it led to a full-blown fight with A actually biting C's neck and refusing to let go. The fight lasted about 5 minutes max before they decided to separate themselves, but it was very aggressive and scary as they were two large dogs full-on fighting. Afterwards, we immediately separated them as both had injuries and to prevent any further fighting. This fight happened during the late afternoon around 6pm and our local vet had already closed, so we chose to treat the wounds to the best of our abilities and decided to take both to the vet the following morning.
We took both the dogs to the vet separately, with C going first as he had been bitten while A only suffered scrapes from being dragged against the grass. C had to get his upper back shaved to get his wounds thoroughly cleaned as he had a puncture wound from the bite. A has minor abrasions, and both are on antibiotics while C has a couple more medications. The vet advised us to keep them separate for the time being to prevent A from licking at C's wounds to prevent infection, so they currently each have half of the backyard to themselves with a chain-link fence separating them (they are outside dogs). We do have them switch sides within the day to prevent them from claiming one side as their territory. They don't show any aggression when they see each other through the fence and even sniff at each other, and we try to spend equal amounts of time with both of them separately. Today and yesterday, we put both of them on leashes and had them in the same space in an attempt to prevent their relationship from growing farther apart. They don't seem to mind being in the same space (their tails are wagging, etc.), but when they were face-to-face, they started barking and growling (with A starting to growl first). C is the first one who tries to reach out to her, sniffing and trying to lick her, while A remains stiff and then proceeds to growl. We think it might have been caused by C attempting to lick at the scratches on A's chest and her responding back aggressively, but she shows no signs of aggression when I treat her wounds.
We have no idea as to what was the exact cause for the fight in the first place, as C's been given new toys to play fetch with in the past and those have never led to fights, and she didn't seem particularly interested in this new toy in comparison to any in the past. Her nipping at the back of his neck during playtime has never caused C to fight her either, and when he gives her a warning growl, A usually backs off with no problem. Would feeding them in the same space (not directly side by side but the other dog would be visible in the line of sight) be a bad idea? Would the aggression decrease when their wounds heal and A doesn't have to worry about C licking them? Any ideas as to what may have caused it is greatly welcomed, as well as advice as to how we proceed with their relationship and interactions in the future + what we may have done wrong/shouldn't do moving forward. It's been less than a week since they've been acting like this and we plan to contact a behavioral specialist in the oncoming weeks if there are no improvements. But before we do so, any advice helps! Thank you so much if you've made it all the way here and have a good day