problems with two male dogs being together
 

I rent a room from a lady who has two dogs. The first one she found a few years ago. He has always been quiet and friendly (Shiba Inu) and he was also fixed. A half year ago she bought a few months old shiba, also a male (which I always thought was a poor choice, but he's white and the females weren't, so there you go).

The younger one has been growing up I guess, lately he's humping things and taking toys form the older dog and sometimes humping the older dog and doing other things to try and display dominance.

This is causing problems, LDO.

They both fight now a lot--the older dog usually just goes after the young one, and then we punish him. I try to punish the younger one when he steals the other dog's toys or humps him or whatever, but it still appears to me that the older one is continually punished while the younger one is rarely punished. It also appears that the older one always dislikes the younger one and (although this last part may just be me feeling bad) feels like we are siding with the younger one.

Tomorrow my landlord is taking the younger one to get it fixed, I don't know how much that will help.

This is really stressing me out because I really like both the dogs. It's just getting to me a lot. Please help or tell me what to do. Will the castration work?? Should we do something else???

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

Be the pack leader.

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

Getting the dog fixed will help some.

Waiting for the Cesar gimmick account to tell you about being the pack leader ...

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

Dude they're just dogs. I really doubt it is stressing them out that much. They younger one will get useless soon anyway.

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

Getting the other dog fixed may help, but everything you're describing is jealously and territory things, not fighting over trim. Spend some individual time with the older dog, and if the dogs aren't hurting each other when they fight, you should just let them sort it out and be done with it. Trained fighting dogs aside, when males fight it usually is mostly posturing. Females are much more likely to kill each other.

Really when you have an older dog and bring a puppy in, there's almost always going to be some friction. The old guy isn't used to being pestered all the time, but usually they'll get used to each other and the older dog will have a second puppyhood and become more playful / happy.

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

Just ask yourself, what would Michael Vick do? Then do the opposite.

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

When I clicked this post I thought it was going to be about two gay dogs. After heater's experience, I found it very disappointing to find so little humping.

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

I had a very agressive doberman once. I had him neutered because I was told it would make him less aggressive. A few days later we happened to be outside when the mailman came into our yard. Rex bolted from the side yard into the front yard, were the mailman was, and attacked him. I was flabergasted and explained to the mailman that I was a little taken aback as Rex had just been neutered and he shouldn't have done that. The mailman said he could tell when Rex came around the corner of the house that he didn't wanna [censored].

Re: problems with two male dogs being together
 

[ QUOTE ]
Getting the other dog fixed may help, but everything you're describing is jealously and territory things, not fighting over trim. Spend some individual time with the older dog, and if the dogs aren't hurting each other when they fight, you should just let them sort it out and be done with it. Trained fighting dogs aside, when males fight it usually is mostly posturing. Females are much more likely to kill each other.

Really when you have an older dog and bring a puppy in, there's almost always going to be some friction. The old guy isn't used to being pestered all the time, but usually they'll get used to each other and the older dog will have a second puppyhood and become more playful / happy.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is correct, IMO. Just let the older dog establish dominance over the younger dog. It will happen eventually whether you like it or not - it's the natural order of things. They won't really hurt each other. In time, the younger dog will take his place as the beta male and they'll be like two peas in a pod.