My new pup was born Feb. 12!

[Kaiser2016]

just that the dogs must have gotten into a fight. But looking back now I'm sure that's exactly what it was.

You know what, years ago on a Facebook Doberman group there was this couple that owned 2 males and they would leave them in the yard while they were at work. The neighbor had to call the lady to come home when she saw one of the dogs dragging the other dog as their collars had gotten tangled. I had assumed they were play fighting, but thinking back now, I bet that must have been a fight too. These people were so dense, they even said they couldn't be without a second dog and had plans to get another male Doberman. Zero lessons learned there!

 

[Katyusharocket]

Call her Zah!

Zahzzie sticks in my head

mmm hmmm Zesty Zahzzie.

Z pup

welp, The name's been decided it seems

Good chance you won't ever see this, especially since you are so vigilant in your dog awareness already.

Thank you! I take this as a huge compliment and I needed to read this waking up this morning, as I was starting to feel a little doomed. I asked my dog training partner to read this part of the thread and let me know her thoughts. She knows me well on a personal face to face level, we are in each other's houses at least once a week, and she sees alot working at the vet clinic (she also trains horses, her horses, anyway). She just replied "if I had concern for your situation, I'd have let you know long before now."

NONE of this is to say that being alert and involved isn't necessary, though. I will be sure to look after them and give leadership.

Again, when your dogs look to you for leadership, they tend to leave the leadership sorting-out to you instead of trying to do it themselves. Always take up for the dog being bossed and tell the bossy dog that it's your job to to boss, not hers.

Excellent 2 sentences, right there. Taking up for the bullied is something that should always be done in both the human and dog levels.

 

[JanS]

Females can actually be much worse than males. There was an old saying, males fight to determine a winner, females fight to kill.

We've never had 2 females at the same time but I've heard the same thing. I can it can work with some dogs and not others. I know one person who only has males and she hasn't had any problems and I know someone else with just females but they will scrap once in a while.

 

[Katyusharocket]

The neighbor had to call the lady to come home when she saw one of the dogs dragging the other dog as their collars had gotten tangled.

Did the one being dragged die? Is that why they were looking for another male? I would need more context on this one.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Did the one being dragged die? Is that why they were looking for another male? I would need more context on this one.

Yes, he was dead. Probably the dogs tried to get loose by doing an alligator roll, hence the one caught in the collar broke his neck and stayed stuck in the collar of the dog that was still walking around. It was awful.

 

[Katyusharocket]

Oh wow that is tragic!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Here's a link to a video by Dr Nicholas Dodman. He explains pack structure so well.

Having two Dobermans/dogs

Guess I am fortunate, Ragnar is not a whiner. Never really allowed it. No....not actively looking and not expecting one, just always wondered how y’all do it. How folks manage two beast inside?

doberman-chat.com

 

[Katyusharocket]

I cant seem to get the link to work. But i am interested!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Hm, I can't find it either. It just brings up a page but nothing links to that video. It's also not on YouTube....

 

[Katyusharocket]

It's also not on YouTube....

I'm glad I wasn't the only one not finding it on YouTube.

 

[Ddski5]

Sorry to start that question and then not get back. I had to go further South to fix my daughters car and just been super busy.

My thoughts:
1. ALOT of great input posted by other members.
2. You know this but be aware that Dobermans play fiercely and it can be misconstrued as legit fighting. They play cccrazy hard!!
3. I believe your knowledge and attention to this is going to be a great asset- deescalating and shutting it down before it gets out of control. Even with Ragnar/Freyja (male/female), I had to shut it down numerous times because they were just getting to amped up.
4. You being the pack leader. Both of them knowing that corrections, rules, and expectations will be put forth from you.
5. Be careful not to punish Katy too much for setting her boundaries. The young one needs to know her limits. If you scold Katy too much for this then she will be hesitant to correct the little one and the little one will grow bolder and run over Katy. I believe this happened with us, Ragnar corrected Freyja and I scolded/stopped him for it. From then on he really did not set boundaries and she took over. I really did not think about this until later on because I chalked it up as Freyja being a fiery red female and they are known to take charge of the older male.
6. I’ve read multiple times that this can happen successfully. Folks who have 2males or 2females and they cite they’ve had zero issues with SSA. They love each other just as much as Olive and Elroy.

 

[Katyusharocket]

ALOT of great input posted by other members.

Absolutely!

You know this but be aware that Dobermans play fiercely and it can be misconstrued as legit fighting. They play cccrazy hard!!

Indeed they do play fierce! Chest bumbing and all

I had to shut it down numerous times because they were just getting to amped up

This has also happened with Katyusha and her best park friend

deescalating and shutting it down before it gets out of control.

Planning on this!

4. You being the pack leader. Both of them knowing that corrections, rules, and expectations will be put forth from you.

They shouldn't expect anything less.

Be careful not to punish Katy too much for setting her boundaries.

Katy won't be punished. As long as she is in line. Neither dog will be punished but each dog will be rewarded for decent behavior.

Sorry to start that question and then not get back. I had to go further South to fix my daughters car and just been super busy.

Thanks for taking care of her, honestly.

 

[Katyusharocket]

They love each other just as much as Olive and Elroy.

Olive and Elroy are true icons.

 

[Ravenbird]

5. Be careful not to punish Katy too much for setting her boundaries. The young one needs to know her limits. If you scold Katy too much for this then she will be hesitant to correct the little one and the little one will grow bolder and run over Katy.

Besides Reckless being trained for 5 years to ignore/be neutral to any dogs, we did raise our voices at them a few times for excessive play-biting when Asha first arrived. Of course the puppy was oblivious to any commands at that age but Reckless immediately stopped. So guess what? In Ashas mind she "won" that round with Reckless, over and over. So it's a fine line. I wish Reckless had snapped at her more often so Asha would get some respect for her, but it happened just a few times and Asha didn't care because she was never a pushover. I think if I had to do it over, I'd have kept a long line on Asha in those first few months and just reeled her in when things got rough, because R was the only one who knew to respect the two-leggeds. If that makes sense.

 

[Cferg]

Stassi doesn’t have any noticeable SSA she gets along with other females at the boarder’s house. But she doesn’t want to have other dogs at her house and living with another dog would be difficult.
We had a yorkie female that we had to give to an older family member. Stassi wasn’t trying to kill her on-site. But the time between staring and her trying to put the whole dog in her mouth was getting shorter and shorter. We probably did some things wrong from the start. But trying to completely retrain an older small dog while trying to train the wild animal we brought in, was more unfair to her than going to live with an old retired couple. So… no dogs died or were seriously injured and the Yorkie is living the ideal little dog life now.

 

[Ravenbird]

Stassi doesn’t have any noticeable SSA she gets along with other females at the boarder’s house. But she doesn’t want to have other dogs at her house and living with another dog would be difficult.

This is another good point. SSA is almost always about home turf, not going to boarding kennels or even dog parks (where anything could happen). Everything I remember is about 2 dogs of the same sex living together in a home.

 

[Katyusharocket]

I think if I had to do it over, I'd have kept a long line on Asha in those first few months and just reeled her in when things got rough, because R was the only one who knew to respect the two-leggeds. If that makes sense.

It makes complete sense for me. And this is the stuff I really love, the "if I had it to do over", because now I can use this straight away. Thank you!

 

[JanS]

Everything I remember is about 2 dogs of the same sex living together in a home.

I think that's pretty true. Even Elroy is pretty easy going but when our trainers Beauceron pup comes here you can see a change in attitude. The pup is hitting his puberty stage and we keep a close eye on them both.

 

[Rits]

Yes, he was dead. Probably the dogs tried to get loose by doing an alligator roll, hence the one caught in the collar broke his neck and stayed stuck in the collar of the dog that was still walking around. It was awful.

This is why I never let mine wear their collars at home, especially when no one is home! I've heard of way too much of this. So sad ...

 

[Katyusharocket]

I always knew this could happen. When I say that, I mean I thought it might happen to 200 dogs per year. Then I read that a big box pet store had evidence of 26,000 dogs per year falling to this, and that put it more within striking distance. No collars in the house here anymore. They now must sit to be collared and then go outside. Then sit after coming back in to have collars removed.