BehavioRx Case of the Month
for November 2002

Family Dogfights and Fences

Two Australian Shepherds, an intact, 1 year-old male and a spayed, and a 2 year-old female began to fight when their owners came home from work. The family consisted of Mom and Dad, plus two teenagers, a daughter of 16 and son, 14 years of age. Both dogs had been obtained from an excellent breeder at 7 weeks of age, the ideal time.

When the younger male puppy, "Rex," arrived, the female, "Tish," was almost a year old. She welcomed the puppy and was always exceptionally tolerant of his puppyish aggression, chewing on her ears, grabbing her tail, etc. Although, when Tish had enough, she would turn sharply, with a quick snarl, sometimes sending Rex head over heels. Rex would then give her some peace for a few hours.

The homecoming fights started after the fall semester at school opened and the dogs had to be left alone during the day. Rex turned out to be a chewer. To avoid that problem the dogs were left in the back yard, which was on a corner lot, thereby having one fence line facing the suburban street. Neighborhood dogs often were loose and often passed by at the fence. The first evidence of fence-fighting with loose dogs was witnessed by Dad in the spring. He shouted at the outside dogs, scolded Tish and Rex and put them in the house. Unfortunately, the seeds of war had been sewn. Our consultations revealed an unusually sedate family life, nearly free of all conflict which might have created tension and aggression problems between the dogs. Both dogs had been taken through a basic obedience program and did well. No aggression was shown toward other dogs. However, when the dogs were walked on leash together in the neighborhood, they often barked at other dogs, but never strained at their leashes, a sure sign of agitated aggressive.

The first family fight started when the son came home and went to the back door to let the dogs into the house. As they reached the door, Tish turned on Rex, grabbing him by the neck. The son grabbed her by a back leg, she released her grip and the battle was over. However, Rex seemed quite upset by the attack; he avoided Tish that evening and growled when she came close to him.

By the time November arrived, the dogs had been involved in no less than seven fights and had inflicted several punctures on each other. Two of the fights occurred during the daytime when no one was at home. The only evidence was the bite wounds.  The most comprehensive book on aggression, in our opinion, was written by the late John Paul Scott, (December 17, 1909- March 26, 2000). His contributions to clarity in the field of animal and human behavior have been monumental. He eloquently pointed out the relationship of frustration and aggression in both species in "Aggression,"  University of Chicago Press, 1975, now out of print, but still in most libraries. Tish and Rex, to put it simply, were fighting each other out of the frustration created at the fence where they were thwarted from defending their property from neighborhood "invaders." Thus stimulated, i.e., the aggressive mechanism was loaded and cocked, it only took some small, competitive situation, such as going through a door first, to release the pent-up fury of the day's frustrating fence-fighting upon an innocent bystander. In this case, Tish was the usual attacker and Rex the bystander. However, Rex was increasingly becoming an aggressor himself. So, what to do?

As happens in so many family fighters, there is an underlying problem which has contributed to the aggression. And Rex's mishandled destructive chewing was the
culprit in this case.

Once the family understood these factors, they agreed that it was not wise to leave the dogs in the yard unattended. When they appreciated that Rex's chewing, itself, was solvable, they put a remedial program in place which dealt with all aspects of the problem.

They recognized that Rex was a little "spoiled," and was always devising ways to gain their petting and approval, which Tish seemed to tolerate, but not always gracefully, since she often "horned-in" when Rex was being petted. So, the BehavioRx leadership program, "Obedience Training - A Primer," was used, along with "Over-protectiveness," "Fighting Dogs," "Chewing" and "Separation Anxiety." Along with this, Dad said he thought it would be helpful to replace the see-through chain link fencing on the street side of the yard with a solid wood privacy fence.

After a few days Rex's chewing ceased, everybody relaxed and within another week, no more canine in-fighting or hostility was experienced. Tish and Rex began
play-fighting cooperatively again in their old, friendly manner.

Thank you, and God bless you, John Paul Scott!

Previous Cases

October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
July 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999
March 1999
February 1999
January 1999
December 1998
November 1998
October 1998
September 1998
August 1998
July 1998
June 1998
May 1998
April 1998
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997
November 1997
October 1997
September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
June 1997
May 1997
April 1997
March 1997
February 1997
January 1997
December 1996
November 1996
October 1996

Return to Case of the Month

Return to the BehavioRx Home Page