2 dogs in the same house fighting

[donna045]

Hello,
I have a 11-12 year old male neutered black lab with bad back legs. He had acl surgery years ago and has hip displasia so legs are not so great.Otherwise a great dog, had him since a puppy. We rescued a puppy a little over a year ago from a junk yard. About 3 month old black terrier mix not neutered male. They got along for over a year. About 3 weeks ago I let the dogs out after work in the yard as usual and after a few minutes went by the door to bring them in to eat and they got into a fight over something on the ground outside (food something) I watched this but was a wee bit shocked dont know who started . I ran out yelling, I broke the fight up grabbed the little guy and screamed at my big dog to go away by the door . I stood there for over 1/2 hour waiting for my husband would not let the dog loose from my hold in fear they would go at it again. When my husband came home we seperated the dogs put little 1 in the crate. My bid dog had a small nip near his neck nothing severe thank god i seem to have gotten more bruised .My husband let them unite for awhile after this and it was okay. But i was a nervous wreck. Since then i wanted to get rid of the puppy. The only place that would take him is the shelter who will kill him. He is a good dog not to be put down. We then got him neutered last week since then nothing But 2 days after the neuter my big dog was going to sniff him towards the rear the little dog wanted to attack but husband and I were right there and stopped what may have been another fight. I know the little guy was and is hurting from the surgery so that brought that on. I am thinking of bringing in a trainer to my home . Do you think this is the right thing or is there no hope for the 2 to coexist . I am also still leary when they go near each other. I am trying but its hard to get over that incident outside that day.
please help me with any advice
Thanks Donna
I live in Suffolk County Ny ? Does anyone know of any good dog trainers specializing in dog aggression? I have made 2 efforts to get rid of the puppy becasue it is making me a wreck. However the first place ,local pound would put him down. I will not let that happen he is a great dog. After being on a emotional roller coaster on what to do today we had an appt. with a no kill home who would not take him because they said he was so scared that he was not use to that type of enviroment and would hurt himself being there.So i am taking this as it was meant to be and will have to get him serious training . If anyone can offer any more assistance that would be great
Donna

[lizzybeth727]

I think there are a lot of things you will have to consider here. If you're going to keep the little dog and want to let the two dogs interract at all, you'll have to hire a behaviorist who will most likely have to do several sessions. Then you will have a lot of homework, so it will take a lot of time and effort on your part. Not to mention the cost of a behaviorist - around here, you absolutely cannot find one for less than about $65 per hour, and that's cheap.

Of course there's always the chance that they could get along better when the hormones get out of the little guy's system (could take weeks).... But given his age when he was neutered (almost a year and a half is relatively old, hormone-wise), it might not happen either.

Or you can keep the little dog and just be very dilligent about management - keep the two dogs seperate at all times. You can use crates, keep the dogs in separate rooms, walk them through the house on leashes, play in the backyard one at a time, use basket muzzles if they absolutely must come into contact, etc. Considering that 11-12 is pretty old for a lab - and I don't want to sound insensitive here - you might not have to do this for too long. Given the health of the older dog, too, he might not want to play with the youngster anymore, he would probably prefer a quiet life with his parents all to himself.

Or, of course, if you don't want to do all these things, you can re-home the little dog. If you give him to a shelter and tell the shelter that he is "aggressive" or got into a fight with your other dog (or if they see that he is reactive around other dogs), that shelter will most likely immediately euthanize him. A rescue group might take him, but probably only if they have a foster home available that has no other dogs in it, and that's highly unlikely. Or you could adopt him out yourself - put an ad in the paper, flyers at vets' offices, etc. But in the meantime you'll have to do the management thing.

Good luck, and keep us posted!