Aggression problem?
My Takumi (neutered male) just turned 1 year old. He has a good friend called Alie, a female welsh cogie. They've known each other for about 6 months and they like to play together. The owner of Alie came over to my house tonight and we were having dinner. Then we heard the fight behind us. Takumi bit one of Alie's ears so hard that the tip of her ear partially separated. She was bleeding for a while after this. We were not paying attention to what they were doing, since we were eating, but we assume Alie tried to steal pig ear,Takumi's favorite, that he left on the floor. As a matter of fact, a similar incident happened between these two dogs a few months ago also (even though it was not as serious as this time, no bleeding involved). It was also a fight over the food. As I mentioned, they do like to play together. It seems their fight is always about the food. I've never seen Takumi as aggressive as today before. I have tried him to socialize with other dogs since I got him. I always take him to dog park and never had any problem so far. But this incident has made me think again. What should I do?
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Not quite sure how you'd go about correcting food aggression ( or, least with pig ears ), though. Especially with other dogs. Does he growl if you put your hands into his dish while he eats or anything?
As far as shibas are concerned, everything is theirs, and sharing is not in their vocabulary.
If you are really concerned, I would have a behaviorist assess him.
Food aggression and possession of high value resources such as pigs ears do create fights, even among very young puppies. Usually, it has little to do with how well socialized the dogs are generally or how well they play together normally.
Evaluate what the triggers are for your dog. Keep all resources your dog highly values up and away from all animals and kids when you have guests. I would not suggest physical corrections for resource guarding.
A good book to understanding some things about resource guarding is a book called “mine” by Jean Donaldson.
If you need to evaluate things with some assistance, consider getting a consultation with a trainer or behaviorist. Usually you can schedule a meeting for one hour at a time to reflect on the issue at hand.
It really is hard to diagnose a behavior without seeing it directly, this is where a trainer can help since they come to observe first hand.
Snf
Rakka was really possessive when we first got her. No dog was allowed to have anything if she was in the room, as far as she was concerned. I just kept all valued items away unless I was closely supervising them. I had them all practice eating/chewing on things in the same room at a respectable distance. Now, the other dogs can take things right out of her mouth and she doesn't even care. In fact, she's the least possessive of all three of them now. Takumi might never get to that point, but that's okay. Some owners of multiple dogs separate them for feeding and special treats for their whole lives, even though the dogs get along fine otherwise. If all they ever fight over is food, that's actually pretty convenient since it's easy to control when there's food around.
Also, a knick on the ear can seem a lot worse than it really is. Dogs can accidentally knick each other on the face when they're giving corrections and having an "argument" and ears seem to bleed quite a bit. Not that any kind of fight is ever acceptable, but don't think that Takumi is an "aggressive" dog because of this. Dogs that intend to really hurt each other usually end up at the vet getting stitches or worse.
If we have doggy friends come over, all treats, bones and toys come up. Its too much of a risk between my greedy shibas and other dogs!
BTW, I feel so bad for Alie. This might be a stupid question......Can Alie's ear be attached again when it heels? The size of the cut she's got on her ear is almost about a half inches. Right now the owner of Alie puts her ear some gauze with surgical tape just to protect the wound.
Has Alie been to the vet? Wouldn't hurt, just to check it.
From my experience, the more you put on a dog's wound, the more he/she cares about it and tries to undo it. Granted that the ears aren't an easy access place for them.
Aww..Poor Alie. I agree with Rui, don't beat yourself up...everyday is a new learning experience. And I would probably take her to the vet...just to make sure she doesn't get an infection and maybe they will be able to re-attach her ear.
He does not glowl or nothing even when I put my hand into his dish. If I try to take away the bones he is chewing on, he runs away with it in his mouth, but I don't see anything like aggressive expression. For the time being I will be more careful when both the food or treats AND other dogs are around him.
As everyone says, I did learn a lesson this time.