Battling Bullldogs

[JoeR53]

We have a beautiful senior EB male that we got as a rescue with his older sister. They were great companions, although she had a tendency to "correct" him from time to time. After she crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we bought an eight week old EB female puppy. She was and is an absolute joy, but after a year, she started pestering our male to the point that we decided it would be a good idea to get her a younger playmate. We went back to the breeder we got the first puppy from, she had a six month old girl that was submissive to her adults so she seemed like a perfect fit, and at first she was. The girls played together and had a great time, until about two months ago. They were in the yard and I heard a dog fight, and I mean fight, not just a disagreement. I got them separated and they both had cuts and bites. We kept them completely apart for three weeks, when one was out in the house, the other was crated, fortunately our patio is fenced off from our yard so we could isolate them outside too. After a while, whichever girl was out, would go sleep in front of the other's crate, it was obvious they missed each other, so we started letting them play together when we were in the house with them. That was ok and they played nicely, as soon as I heard a growl, both got crated. One day this week while I was at work, my wife decided they were doing so well that they could play in the yard together. Big mistake. My older girl's front left leg looks like hamburger under her fur, the younger has cuts on her face and neck.
Both girls are neutered, they are almost exactly a year apart in age. They had the same mother, different sires. One is 26 months, the other is 14 months. For the most part, they leave our male alone. Neither has made any effort to bite either of us, unless I'm cutting toenails or treating wounds.
Any ideas on how I can reconcile this situation short of placing one of them? We can and have been keeping them apart, but that in itself can be a problem remembering who is in which yard or room etc. The older one seemed to go through a somewhat aggressive stage, I had hoped the younger girl was just going through a stage and this would get better, but it hasn't.

 

[sisters3]

Oh jeez what an awful situation. I'm sorry that you and the pups are going through this. I have no experience in this area but MANY HERE do, just hang in there and one of the more experienced members will help you out.

 

[1Chumly]

There are quite a few posts on here about female to female aggression. Do a search and see if you can find them and I will post when I find them. It can be a very serious situation and sometimes, unfortunately, it can never be fixed. I had that situation and eventually had to rehome one of my dogs. Keep them seperated as you are doing for now. So sorry you are going through this.

ETA.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...aggression-between-dogs-in-the-same-household

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/members-only-board/53156-advice-aggression.html

 

[2BullyMama]

So sorry you ate experiencing this situation... female on female aggression can be very difficult to handle or correct--- sometimes they just don't mix and one will need to be rehomed.

My vet has always said some of the worst fights he has seen has been between females .

Sending lots of positive thoughts to you all


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[Hceril]

So sorry you ate experiencing this situation... female on female aggression can be very difficult to handle or correct--- sometimes they just don't mix and one will need to be rehomed.

My vet has always said some of the worst fights he has seen has been between females .

Sending lots of positive thoughts to you all


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My son works at a vets office and just yesterday he came home and said that most dogs fights he has seen in the office are more often than not 2 female dogs.

 

[Dollys Owner]

I'm in a similar situation- my 2 female bulldogs (1 French and 1 English) get along well most of the time but if they get jealous over a toy or for a stranger's affection or get riled up over seeing a rival dog, they will go into attack mode and go at each other in a feral manner. Once I've separated them they act like nothing happened. It's like their brains are in attack mode and nothing else matters at that moment. I've had some success with being much more alpha with them, so they know that neither one of them is the alpha, and they can't compete with each other for that role. Don't allow them on furniture, discipline severely whichever one starts a fight = scream at her, put her in cage, ignore her rest of day. Practice nothing in life is free Dog Training: Nothing in Life is Free : The Humane Society of the United States
Just tonight I let my two dogs out of car and as I was closing door without holding on to leash, they ran at 2 German shepherds being walked 10 feet away.Both my dogs are about 32 pounds so are no match for the Alsatians. The Frenchie got bitten on her thigh a bit by the German Shepherd, but I managed to pull my dogs both away and they started to go at each other since they were in attack mode. Most of the time they lick each other with affection but once their primitive side gets activated they don't act like cute wrinkled poof balls anymore, they are more like wolves, except towards animals,not people.