problem

Hello All, I have a problem with two of our dogs. I have an alaskan malamute (female) and a female australian shepherd. The alaskan malamute has the sweetest disposition, she loves our two bulldogs and our male australian shepherd and never fights with or shows aggression towards them or people. Our australian shepherd loves her family very much, but she is extremely high strung and nervous. She can be aggressive with any of our dogs, most of them usually will quarrel with her for a minute or leave her alone and its no problem. Yet we can't ever keep the alaskan malamute and the australian shepherd female in reach of each other. They always fight. It appears to be extremely aggressive and like a fight to the death. My malamute is so sweet, but she does not like getting snapped at by annie (that's what led to this problem). I fear for their lives', and want to have a healthy and balanced household. Is this a fixable problem, or just a conflict between two breeds and females? I am only a college student, and am not experienced with dog behavior or breeds and I am trying to help my mom with this. Thank you!

To be honest, it's probably not 100% fixable. You might be able to train them to get along for short periods of time.

Will the Malamute try to fight with the Aussie before the aussie snaps or bothers her? Does she go after her right away, or does the aussie start it?

There is a book called Click To Calm, about how to clicker train a high strung, aggressive dog to calm down around other dogs and basically relax with them through clicker training. It will DEFINATELY help your Aussie, not just with the Mal but in general with all other dogs. Perhaps if you get her to relax and mind her manners, the Mal will not try to fight with her any more?

Right now you need to separate them always so that they don't cause each other any more anxiety. Eventually you should be able to let them hang out together supervised.

Click to Calm shows you how to slowly reintroduce other dogs to a dog-aggressive dog, and teach them other dogs are nothing to be nervous about. If she's a nervous dog in general, clicker training will help boost her confidence, too.

This is when gates and crates come in handy. If you must keep a dog separated from the others, use gates in your home. It's better to keep them separated and healthy and the alternative.