Jack Russells!
I had enjoyed such a good afternoon.
Wrote 2600 words of the WIP – Gisborne: Book of Knights. So excited about that I made the most yummo choccie cheesecake slice.
Then it all went to Hell in a Handbasket.
I fed the dogs. On opposite sides of the patio as always. Pup (He) took longer to eat his than Old Dog (She). She edged over to him and he growled, she growled, hackles went up and it was a full-on ‘to the death’ brawl. They are having more of these scuffles lately. Old Dog (12.5 years) is getting grumpy and sour and growls at me too, when I pick her up. She has always been a feisty little thing. With our previous Old Dog, she called the shots and he backed off. But Pup, now a year and a half old and bigger than her, is beginning to stand his ground.
He latched onto her neck and I couldn’t separate them with a towel and my adult son dove in as he could see this was a nasty one. In the process, his finger was bitten. He dragged it back and thought he’d lost a fingertip (he’s a carpenter, thus a carpenter’s nightmare). I raced him to the doctor’s and on investigation, it seems the dog (Pup) had ripped back the nail from the nailbed and punctured the finger from the underside. No tip loss but unbelievably painful.
Neither dog was injured at all, apart from pride.
I intend feeding each in separate quarters and not allowing them to mix until bowls are removed. Old Dog is walked for 45 mins a day with Pup, but Pup gets an extra one in the evenings of up to 45 mins. They are both played with, acknowledged, and Pup is on a summer break from Obedience School but still being trained by me every day. However today during the fight, he was deaf and blind to any command.
If you own Jack Russells, or even a pair of dogs, tell me how to prevent this escalating. I don’t like to think of what might happen otherwise.
Ouchie. It’s unusual in m/f old/young pairings I believe. Our son and d.i.l. had two litter sisters who started to have nasty fights when they were about a year old. A dog behaviouralist checked them and said they could kill one another. Therefore son decided to ship one of them (Pip) home to us. (We were in agreement.) I was nervous in case she started fighting with our Jeannie, Trump and Preacher who are her litter sibs but we have had no trouble. I have four theories on this.
1. we are home nearly all the time whereas son and d.i.l. were working long hours. Apparently the dogs didn’t fight when they were away but did when they came home.
2. With five dogs and a strong alpha (husband) Pip knew immediately she could NOT be top dog. Therefore she settled into a lower slot.
3. None of the others has the same temperament as Pip’s other sister Cookie. If she niggled Cookie, Cookie would launch at her. If she niggles the others Trump yarrrs and jumps up on a chair, Preacher does the sink-plunger with his fangs and Jeannie laughs and says, yeah, right!
4. Old Tess is the Crone in the camp. The others have known her since birth and they respect her. She doesn’t get involved but if she wants to feed at a communal pan, they stand back and let her have what she wants.
If your two fight at food time, I suggest putting a physical barrier up so they can’t see one another. Any time anyone tries to start something s/he is put behind the barrier and left there in time out. often I think with kids and dogs it is easier to take away the ability to misbehave. A kid uses the marker on your wallpaper? The markers go right away. Mind you – this is difficult when the misbehaviour is whinging…
Thanks so much Sally, I really appreciate your thoughts. i instituted the separate eating enclosures far from each other’s sight last night and Pup ate 3/4’s of his dinner. Old Dog refused to eat anything. They walked quite normally on the beach, played tennis with me quite happily at home and when Pup got back from his walk last night, both played happy chases back and forth in the garden. I am now asking myself if i have Dr Jekyll and Mr.Hyde as my pets.
Hi Prue, There’s a fight for dominance in our household too. Our oldest dog Tess is now blind and deaf but has managed to hold onto her top dog status only because we feed her first, we feed her at the top of the stairs, all treats are issued to her first and she gets first pat. There’s just no messing with the pecking order. That doesn’t stop all the altercations though. We just try and foresee trouble and stand between them. Hope your son’s hand is okay. All the best! 🙂
Hi Mutiny Mama. I think loss of hearing and diminution in sight may certainly be a factor with Old Dog. It means she obviously feels insecure, hence the grumps and moodiness. We’re certainly trying to foresee trouble and I would be lying if I said I’ve haven’t lost a little confidence in their partnership.
My son has been to see his own doctor in the city and it appears that the canine tooth went in a trajectory that they hope has just missed the bone. The nail has almost been pulled away, but the nailbed is okay and the doctor would prefer for the nail to stay there as Nature’s protection for the finger. They haven’t sutured the back of the finger puncture, because they want it to weep (exudes any yukky stuff) and he has to have it dressed each day until next week by the Practice Nurse. He’s on super strong antibiotics too. He hopes to go into a finger guard by Monday, so he can return to work as he is self-employed. No job, no money. Needless to say, his mum who owns said dogs, is paying him for work missed!
I was bitten by a donkey when i was six. I knew how to hold food out correctly but my thumb must have strayed and the next thing i knew i was being hauled over the fence as the donkey stepped back, presumably in alarm when she realised she was eating me! That wound wasn’t stitched – something i was quite relieved about – but had to be allowed to weep any dirt out. I don’t remember pain but i do remember lots of bloody bandages and i have scars on both sides of my thumb to this day. But i have a full range of movement and no pain and i now feel very lucky to have escaped so lightly. Wishing your son a speedy recovery.
I don’t have any helpful advice i am afraid Prue – I’ve only ever had one dog at a time. It sounds like you are doing everything you can though – feeding separately and taking Pup to training. Jack Russells are by their very nature feisty – my various German Shepherd dogs have been beaten up by pint sized warriors! That is part of their charm – they think they are 10 feet tall. My old boy, Bob, was so well socialised he would move swiftly away from any aggravation but i’m afraid the new rescued dog, Emily (who was apparently attacked while chained up before rescue) would retaliate given half a chance. And i understand what you mean when you say that Pup became deaf – although she does what she is told 99% of the time, when she doesn’t it is like she can’t hear me.
Your poor son – that sounds incredibly painful. Thank goodness there is no permanent damage and i hope he doesn’t find it difficult to work while it heals.
I would be inclined to speak to a trainer just to check there isn’t something more you can do but it sounds like they have a wonderful family. They certainly look in the final pictures completely unphased by the whole thing, even though you and your son are traumatised!
Jackies are humorous if you don’t own the ones that are making a scene. We’ve had Jackies for 30 years and used to belong to the JRT Club of Victoria where we would all burst out laughing and nod resignedly and knowlingly at each other when a brawl exploded amongst the ranks. At that point we only ever owned one JRT at a time and so it was never an issue for us.
When Pup goes to Playschool, he hangs out with the daschund, but also spends much time licking the mouths of the bigger dogs. in fact when Sophie, the farm kelpie is with us, she gets a whole mouth clean in his effort to please and placate. Imagine the germs…
OUCH!! Reading about that injury made me cringe! Anything to do with fingernails makes me go cold. What a terrible fight though! Never having owned a dog I have no words of advice. But I have to say the photos are cute. I actually laughed at the ones of the dogs on their beds. So relaxed. I hope you find a resolution!
We have detente at the moment, Nikalee. Long may it continue … although I’m not holding my breath!
There must be something in the air. We’re also having more scuffles in our house between our German Shepard and our Australian Cattle Dog. Spike (ASD) is approaching 1 year and I sense he’s tiring of being second in line.
I’d hoped to adopt another SPCA dog last week, but we had, what I think was a “power/pay attention to me” incident which resulted in a guest getting bitten (!!!). I was mortified! Behavior completely out of character. Anyway, we’ve been strongly advised that this may not be the best time to bring another dog into the mix.
Unfortunately, I have no suggestion, but wanted to let you know that you’re not alone in the struggle. OX
Cocowest, bingo! it’s all of that: pecking order, attention, defending food, losing hearing etc for the older one.
Did your guest need medical attention?
I was bitten by Old Dog last year. She was eating Pup’s food, he’d gone off round the garden with my husband, and I reached over the top of her to get the bowl. She didn’t see or hear me coming and I suspect thought it was Pup and tore the top of my right hand. It was ugly and I have a scar but dressed it etc myself. She was so apologetic after. I was crying as it hurt and she looked at me so sadly, crept behind in my shadow for the whole day, and every time we sat together, i would show her the dressing and say ‘Look, you did this.’ She would sniff it and honestly hang her head. But patently she learned nothing from my ordeal and feels its her right to take Pup’s food.
I think you are right not to bring a third dog into the mix. Three’s a crowd in humans so what would happen with feisty dogs? When Sophie visits, Old Dog comes inside and only goes out under total supervision…