I didn’t know that, this dog is the first I’ve ever used one. Only because he does not care if he’s in trouble, or we’re unhappy with his behavior. He’s not being mean, just over exuberant and has no sense of boundaries. He’s young, and learning.
This is exactly why I said get pro training.
I’m not trying to be a pia, but the bolded bit… I’m sorry, but how tired will he be if you are hurt in an attempt to keep these dogs apart? What if you’re injured and unable to work, or do your normal house/farm chores?
In the counseling I’ve participated in, the parties must agree, and a no from one partner is a no (period).
I hope your counseling appointment is soon, and your counselor is aware of how dangerous this situation could be to whomever is left to deal with the melee.
~jingles~
I had the problem of a dog fight between two Jack Russell terriers. They are noisy, scrappy, dogs and some snarling, postering and scuffles are par for the course. When you combine 3 households of terriers, we used to say it wasn’t Christmas without a dog fight. But there is a difference between the loud scuffles and the more deadly and often quieter fight with death in mind.
We had two lovely females, who got along with each other, cats and kids. Until one day the older female decided the younger one had to go, she jumped her and was seriously trying to kill her. Once we were able to separate them, treat the younger one, they were separated until we were able to rehome the aggressor. With small children at home, we couldn’t take the chance of serious fights, and we knew we were lucky to have been home to break up that fight.
We placed the older dog with a retired couple with no other dogs. They were fully aware of the fight that led up to her new home. She was much happier in her new home, without small children and annoying younger dogs; with humans who had time for and doted on her. We set it up as a trial and would take her back if either party was unhappy. Apparently, Thistle looked around as if to say, “finally peace and quiet!” We received Christmas cards from her until she crossed the rainbow bridge. My last terrier came to us because she was beating up the bull dogs of her household. This time we were the quiet single dog household, and Tuppence settled in without a backward glance.
OP, I hope you can resolve your situation in the best way possible, whatever that may be. Jingles for you and your house.
Read up on littermate syndrome.
While wouldn’t have mattered in this instance since they were stray/found pups, no reputable rescue or breeder would send home 2 puppies together, unless that person was uniquely qualified.
How interesting! I’ve never had a puppy, never given this any thought.
Right, puppies don’t even have to be littermates, is their very young age and being raised together that may cause problems, from bonding too much to each other and not socializing properly to the human world around them, to having serious problems once mature with who is boss and so fights, some very serious.
Have seen it happen occasionally, very sad situations, most times the owners keep trying and eventually a tragedy would happen, because who can give one of them away?
Those can become untenable situations for all, dogs, humans and other critters involved.
Sure, some do fine, but why go there, when we know better and risk those sad situations?
Anyone in the dog world knows about that and will warn about it.
Raising two puppies together can end up ok, or badly.
You can raise two of close age but it’s three times the work, I hear. I wouldn’t choose to 
This. I get that DH’s job is tiring.
I also think that people can say they’re too tired to discuss things when really they just are not willing to discuss another person’s opinion. I wonder if DH is using this method to avoid something he isn’t interested in discussing.
Too bad, guy. You’re married. Grow up and talk to your wife.
Wow, I had no idea this was a problem! I used to foster kittens and the rescue wouldn’t adopt out kittens unless they were in pairs or the owners had another young cat, due to single kitten syndrome. If a kitten is raised on its own, it can have all sorts of behavioral issues later in life. I would think it would be the opposite since dogs are pack animals and cats are more independent as adults.
OP I am sorry you’re having to go through this. Of course you’re traumatized, this is a very traumatizing and dangerous event! Count me as one of the many people who agrees that rehoming the husky is the best option. It’s not giving up on him, it’s realizing that the best situation for him is something you can’t provide. There’s absolutely no harm in that. It’s not like you’re “getting rid of him” for convenience, there are physical safety issues for him, your other dog, and of course the humans that take care of the animals.
Good thinking, but it seems that with puppies, the socialization to their own species is important, much of it happens in the first 8 weeks, why is recommended not to move puppies to new homes before that age and socialization to other dogs is very important all along afterwards.
Still, when two puppies grow together without much other interactions, they miss on time alone to learn to be independent and, if wanted as pets, you want them to learn at a young age to live in the human world and in direct intense contact with humans.
That is the part that two puppies may miss, unless the owner take the time to train individually, take to places, etc. one at the time.
The other issue with those raised together too much is, as with any other dog, they will need to sort who is dominant and two puppies don’t always do well at that.
In the wild each one will go on and form their own pack, in a human home, all day on top of each other, they can have bad fights, nowhere to go and neither backing off.
Knowing that all can be a problem is part of the solution, so we do best we may, avoiding those situations if possible one of the ways.
Just to be clear, my husband is a firefighter/paramedic. He works 24 hour shifts and had significant mandatory overtime during the holidays. I’m not saying he’s begging off the conversation because he’s too tired. I’m saying he is literally too tired from working for 5 straight days with almost no sleep. He can’t have rational, thoughtful conversations when he’s that tired. Its just not possible, and while I wish it was, our life - because of his job - revolves around being able to have conversations after he’s had a good night’s sleep. Everyone is better off that way.
We still don’t have a resolution, but we have had productive conversations about it and are working towards a solution we both feel good about. Thanks again for everyone’s thoughts.
Well, from your lips to God’s ear. Or the County board of supervisors. He does his best. He’s a professional, but this is where we are.
I wonder if a national news program could do a story on either/or animal control being flooded with pit crosses/or just overcrowded places that can’t take any more dogs because of overcrowding? It is certainly a national problem. I personally think that until the animal control shelters are not full of bully breeds we are going to always have this problem.
I hear you. It’s where a lot of us are these days and I hate that he’s suffering the consequences.
Sux.
I’m so sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. Your primary responsibility is to ensure a safe and stress-free environment for the animals in your care. It sounds like that isn’t really attainable here so the best thing you can do is re-home the husky, who is young and more likely to find a good home.
Same here. Being a cat person, I was unaware of “littermate syndrome” in puppies. Had a family dog as a teenager and haven’t had a dog since because of lifestyle (40+ years) but I visit with other dogs. On the other hand I’m the classic “cat lady person you were warned about”.
. My current crew ranges in age from 6 months to almost 18 years. I’m really lucky as my 9 year old (foster failure from a friend 2.5 years ago) is my “kitten raiser”. He adores young cats/kittens, takes them under his tutelage and teaches them manners and appropriate behavior. He loves to play with them! Lets them chase his tail, play chase, wrestles with them etc. and makes them “good feline citizens”. Several years ago (2019) while hiking, I found a starved 10 month old female dumped in a regional park. Took her home and, yes, she lacked manners/social skills and was picking on some of my older cats. About a year later, in came the foster. After quarantine, he assessed the situation, called over the youngster and told her she was now enrolled in his “charm school for young cats”. Mannered her right up into becoming a properly behaved cat! He is now raising the 6 month old foundling and she has great feline/human social skills as a result.
I had a very similar situation in which two Rottie bitches, who had lived together for three years perfectly peacefully by this point, had a fatal altercation.
The younger bitch (4)had been rescued from a feral pack situation as an adolescent, she always had an edge to her - she was small and tough, super resilient but became a very happy yard / house dog. She slotted in to my family of dogs which was an entire male Rottie, an older spayed bitch, and a neutered terrier.
The older bitch (11) was a complete poppet - big, slow, happy, lovely cuddlebug! She was approaching end of life and we had made the decision to have her PTS.
The day before it was due I came in to find the younger bitch had savaged the older one. She had taken it upon herself to weed out the infirm dog. My old girl passed in my arms.
It was a horrific sight to walk in on, and if I’m honest I never could fully forgive her - But having been born and bred a pack dog, she was hardwired to the pack rules that she knew and no amount of domestication changed that.
She never challenged either of the two boys or raised a lip to any other dog.
If your husky has come from a sledding pack environment he may have recognised that your older dog is weaker and is just doing what he thinks is right.
If this was me I’d be separating or muzzling when in each other’s company and getting both dogs thoroughly checked for health issues or pain.
And please, please don’t use a shock collar for aggression - pain + aggression is like gasoline to a fire - the zapped dog can pair the shock to the proximity of the other dog and may well escalate even further.
I’m sorry you are going through this. It is a horrible situation.
I’m sorry you went through that.
Update: The younger dog will be going back to his breeder. This was SUCH a hard decision, but both my husband and I think its best for everyone, especially the dog. We’ve proven over the past 2 weeks that we can fairly easily keep the dogs separate, but that means that someone is always alone. We don’t have dogs to keep them alone. We have them to be members of the family and to be with us. And this dog is a love. He loves his people and wants to be with us. I know he’ll have a good home as a pet with the breeder’s partner and he’ll be loved, so this will be best for him. Thanks for everyone’s advice.
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