please please help

[dublingirl48653]

ok so I have three dogs

one black lab neutured and two border collies aged 5 one not neutered

the one dog that is not neutured keeps fighting with the other two

we live in a small house

we are going to get him neutured shortly - regarding the fights what can I do? do I need to re home him? im so scared and so worried

What triggers the fighting. Can you give a little more detail? Can you separate them using a crate or stair gate short term?

Do they all get lots of stimulation and exercise? Training? Has anything changed in their routine? Have you spoken with a behaviourist who might be able to help?

thanks so much

they got limited exercise yesterday
so really I think i am doing a lot wrong.

we need to aim for one hour at least per day and this dog needs to be neutered

anything else?
please be honest do I need to re home or recognise that a lot of this is where we as owners have gone wrong

What do you do with them mentally to keep them busy?

Three large ish dogs in a small house is probably the issue.

I agree if there isn't much space then they will get narky with each other if they don't get enough exercise. I notice it in my 2 and we have a big house.

Neutering won't necessarily make any difference as behaviour becomes learnt rather than a result of being entire (so an entire dog with the testosterone may exhibit aggressive behaviour but it won't necessarily stop when castrated as it is used to exhibiting that behaviour if you see what I mean) You can find out if castrating will make a difference by a suprelorin injection if you don't necessarily want to castrate

Keep them separate if they are acting restless

Mine fight if stressed. What do you think is stressing them?

Is this a new dog you have introduced or have they always all lived together?

Until you can find out what is triggering the fighting I would separate them. Get a stairgate - they can still see each other but can't cause trouble.

Sometimes neutered dogs can pick on a dog that is entire - are you sure it is the neutered dog who is starting it?

Is there food or toys involved when the fight starts?

Neutering won't solve your problem overnight.

aim for one hour a day am I reading this right, you need to increase the exercise they get to one hour per day? That's nowhere near sufficient. You have high energy needs who need more good quality walks and activities like agility to keep the occupied.

Collies need stimulation or else they will find things to do. They are also bossy dogs and will control a situation if you let them. They can also sound quite vocal but may not be being aggressive to do harm to you dogs but telling them off very loudly. What does the aggression look like, are they fighting over toys, space, the other dogs behaviour or because they are bored?

None of us can tell you this over a forum. Contact either APDT trainer with experience with collies or APBC member.

It may be life style changes will sort this out but you will need to give way more exercise and training for a happy home with the active dogs that you have got what ever the behaviourist recommends.

There's not much else that I can add OP. Lots of good suggestions and advice here.

If you do rehome them, please go via a rescue charity and not sell them on Gumtree/Facebook etc, you never know what might happen to them if you do that.

(I foster rescue dogs, currently have a 2yo Lab who was bought from Gumtree by a guy who then decided he didn't want her, luckily he contacted the charity)

Do you have a garden that you could put some interesting activities in for them? Our have an adventure playground of sorts, well, more of an area with things to fight in, things like a sort of jousting dummy that swings around but made with old tyres for them to play fight with.

We have three dogs, all rescues, all giant breed, all strong willed. They do bicker amongst themselves, and to an onlooker their bickering can look horrendous, but when they do whoever started it gets sent outside to fight the dummy instead (we have a command for it ).

I agree with others, up their exercise and stimulation, contact a behaviourist and go from there. If it makes you feel any better, when we rescued ddog2, we have several months of ddog1 wanting to kill him and trying to at every chance she got, fortunately she is well trained enough to stop fighting on command. They get along absolutely fine now, it just took a lot of time, patience and perseverance. Ddog3 is more easygoing (well, relatively speaking) so things went more smoothly when we rescued her.

Could you give a bit more information, poster dublingirl48653? Are all three dogs 5 years old? Have you had them all long-term? Since they were puppies? When did the aggression start and is the dog aggressive to both the others, or just one? What catalysis the aggression? Has anything in the home or their environment or in their routine changed recently?

thank you guys

amazing suggestions

i am blaming myself to be fair - so way forward seperate them for a while (one downstairs) and now have one hour morning walk to the park next door and 40 min evening walk with my sister.

really think that will make a difference
also, he is under the weather - vet appointment for this week booked

thanks guys you really have helped massively

themotherofallhellbeasts your post makes me feel alot better thanks so much

You're very welcome. If it helps further, our dogs are breeds which stereotypically hate other dogs (we have two Caucasian ovcharkas and a Fila Brasiliero) and when we rescued them, all three were on death row due to apparent extreme aggression and being uncontrollable. All thee live harmoniously now and you couldn't ask for more loyal or sweet dogs.

Also, in case it helps, never once has any of them turned their aggression on us, even during the worst of their fights I could step into the middle of the fight and rub their ears, and their desire not to hurt me by accident was always stronger than their motivations for fighting, so they stopped without me ever being caught in the crossfire. Disclaimer, not a course of action I recommend but I know my dogs so can do it with them.

We're not in the UK, but where we are you can get old tyres for free from garages, and Pinterest has some great ideas about how to make dog playgrounds with them, even if you're limited for space. Pinterest has some great ideas for dog mental stimulation in general too. I have trained my dogs at shuntzhund, so when I'm walking them it gives them extra mental stimulation. Its great fun too, and easy to teach, so might help to keep a collie entertained?

When we rescued ddog1, we were told that she was a hopeless case, they were then trying to corner her to put her to sleep. She had attacked five different behaviourists (I'd seen most of it as I was at the rescue centre for other reasons), numerous staff members at the rescue centre and had killed many many other dogs. Now I trust her as much as I would any dog, she is bombproof and a joy to be with. It really does take patience and perseverance, and unless you know what you're doing the help of an expert, but situations are rarely hopeless. It is tough though, hang in there x.