Why does my dog attack my other dog when he cries?

[lilith2006]

Hello! I’m at a bit of a loss here and wondering if someone else can help.

Whenever B (yorkie/chihuahua mix, 2 y/o male) cries or makes any high pitched noise, T (yorkie, 4 y/o male) attacks him. T gets super vicious, growls at him, and tries biting him. T will also attack B if T gets too excited. It’s almost like T gets overwhelmed with his emotions and takes it out violently on B. We’re not sure how to stop it. As of now, I’ve been trying to pick up B or T before the trigger takes place, but I’d like this behavior to stop altogether.

T seems to have super intense anxiety. T barks constantly at any noise or if any item is “out of place” in his eyes or new to him. When I bring the items that bother T to him, he’ll sniff them and become disinterested. T can be in a room down the hallway, hear a light switch turn off or the floorboard creak, and he will bark repeatedly. He is also violently food motivated. He will bark and bite if that’s what might get him food (it doesn’t).

I’ve gotten him to stop barking at me while I’m eating (it took a long process of ignoring him until he’s quiet before giving him a treat). I’m also trying to teach T to take food and toys gently instead of ripping them away. Other than that, I’m not sure what else to do. We’ve tried CBD treats, but those make him sick. We’ve tried Prozac (prescribed from vet) and that wasn’t effective. We are completely at a loss here. Giving up our dog is not an option, we just want to help him. Thank you

 

[osacar1]

@lilith2006 I am not a dog trainer. But here's my thought process:

1. Have they both been to the vet? I would want to be extremely sure the aggressive dog isn't in pain, and I would want to be sure that the victim dog is healthy.
2. Have you talked to your vet about a referral for a veterinary behaviorist? That will by far be your best bet.
3. If you can't stop it and protect the victim dog 100% of the time, I would absolutely keep them separated. Your victim dog does not deserve to be in constant fear of attacks and does not deserve to be attacked (imagine how that must be affecting his anxiety!). It's also unfair to the aggressor - this is clearly bothering the aggressor and probably keeping him on edge too.
4. I'd talk to your vet about the victim dog's anxiety as well. Would any medication help?
5. I'd work individually with each dog. I would want to work on the victim dog's anxiety and help accustom them to those noises and items. I'd work with the aggressor to accustom them to the victim dog's noises. All of this should be done individually, in controlled training sessions, with each dog under threshold. Possibly even while the other dog not being trained is out of of the house.

Further questions:

1. How often does this happen?
2. How much and what type of enrichment does each dog get?
3. Did your vet determine that the prozac wasn't effective and took the dog off? If so, did they have anything to say otherwise? Any suggestions?
4. Does the aggressor have any reactivity issues with anyone or anything else? Loud noises from fire alarms, other dogs, children, people?

If rehoming one dog to keep the other safe isn't an option, be mentally and emotionally prepared to keep them separate at all times. Many people crate and rotate for the remainder of their dogs' lives, but it is a huge responsibility with extremely negative consequences if you don't manage 100%.

Finally, I love my dogs. I understand not thinking that rehoming is an option. But I would also force myself to be completely honest with myself about the quality of life I am giving each dog. Many people successfully crate and rotate, but if I was not able to provide a good life for each dog, then I truly hope I would love them enough to figure out how to do that - even if it meant I wasn't the one to provide it.

 

[lilith2006]

@osacar1 The victim dog doesn’t really have anxiety (surprisingly), but it’s the aggressive dog that does. They’ve been to the vet a lot and are perfectly healthy. I didn’t even think about a veterinary behaviorist, but I’ll look into that.

The odd thing about my dogs is that they’re totally fine during the day. It’s only when everyone is home at night that the aggressive dog gets aggressive. It might partially be an attention thing honestly. Or he’s overstimulated from all the additional noises occurring in the evening. But I think a lot of it has to do with the aggressive dog’s anxiety.

I was able to train the victim dog (I’m a psych grad student and pretty well versed in behavior management), but I wasn’t living at home when my mom got the aggressive dog. The dogs are perfect when it’s just me and them, but the addition of others is where the aggressive dog gets aggressive. The victim dog was aggressive initially, but I was able to get him to substitute his biting for licking. A lot of the consensus I’ve heard from others is that the aggression is just a “yorkie thing” which doesn’t help much.