Dog Question

[ARedetzke]

I have 2 dogs, one German Shorthair, and a Weimaraner. One is about 3 and the other close to 2, and have been together since the Weim was a pup. Until recently they have gotten along great. This past month they started fighting. More specifically the Shorthair has been tearing the crap out of the weim. There is a female 3 doors down, that I think may be in heat. I'm afraid that if I don't do something about it, the weim will be dead by the end of the week (that's how bad it is). The worst part of it is that they don't fight when I'm home, and they're too big for my wife to separate.



They're both pure bread, but the shorthair was free because he has a bad heart. Eventually, I'd like to breed the Weim. So here is my question, if I fix the Shorthair, will it take any of the meaness out of him, or is it time to shoot him? I don't really know why he's gotten so mean lately, they're both great dogs, and just like members of the family. Just trying to figure out what to do. Everyone I know has said fixing him won't do anything (including a breeder I know), and that it's time to put him down. I need more opinions.

Thanks

AJ

 

[outlawram]

Advertise him in the paper I am sure you could find a good home for him. Does he Hunt? Someone should bite at a free hunting dog.

 

[SRadke]

Cutting the jewels off a male dog takes the competition out of him. 3 years is a little late to be doing it though. I can't help much, we always keep females for that reason.



-Scott

 

[ARedetzke]

He can hunt. Actually the rest of the pups in his litter were $1200 a piece because of the pedigree. He was free because of a double heart murmur. I've hunted him a few times, has a good nose, and will hunt all day long. But when you get him home, he just lays down and coughs all night long. I stopped taking him cause I was afraid he'd run himself to death. I seriously don't think anyone would take this dog the way he looks right now. When he's not torn up he's a beautiful solid liver color, but right now he looks horrible from all the fighting.



Scott- I was afraid it would be too late to make much of a difference. Thanks for the help guys.

AJ

 

[MMeier]

For Christ's sake man don't shoot the poor thing !!!! I have a Shorthair also, buddy of mine raises, shows , trains, and hunts with them. I'm sure you can find someone near by that will take him in as a great pet !! But damn, don't shoot him !!!

 

[ndurbin]

My dad and I usto have the same problem with a pair of female pointers (not exactly apples to apples) but they were fine for about the first 6 months to a year and then all of a sudden my dog (the smaller one) would pick a fight with the bigger female. And ofcourse the bigger one tore the hell outta my dog. We ended up just keeping them apart all the time in seperate pens and couldn't hunt them together. The bigger one is dead now from other problems so that fixed our problem.



But getting back to the orginal point, I'd bet it's the female down the street causing the problems b/w them. Having the one cut would probably calm the situtation or just keep them apart until the females outta heat. And if you deciede to get ride of him I could probably make a few calls to see if anyone was looking for a short hair. I would like to have another dog but I just caint take one right now.



Nathan

 

[outlawram]

call your local humane society, maybe they could lead you in the right direction, or find someone to adopt the dog.

 

[ARedetzke]

I guess I'll get him fixed and pray that fixes the problem. Don't know what my wife would do if I had to get rid of him. Thanks for all the advice guys.

AJ

 

[QRTRHRS]

I guess I'll get him fixed and pray that fixes the problem. Don't know what my wife would do if I had to get rid of him. Thanks for all the advice guys.

AJ

I would go ahead and nueter him. If it does not solve the aggression and you have to place him, at least no one will be able to breed him and possibly pass on a bad gene. I agree nuetering may not help but it won't hurt the dog otherwise.



Since a GSP took Westminister last week, you should have no problem placing the dog. If you don't personnally know someone, find a GSP adoption group to help. They will place the dog with an appropiate setting.



Off topic but did anyone else see the show? That dog was "on".

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Most the time when you have two dogs they are going to get in a tussle to see who rules the roost. This is the same for males, females, or both. Often when it's a male and female, the female will let the male know she thinks she is something special and he will leave her alone.



You are fortunate, two males will fight to set the dominance hierarchy. The bad situation is when you have two unspayed females. Things can be real nasty then and usually one gets hurt. I was working at a kennel (dobermans and german shepherds) once upon a lifetime and the rules were you let the males fight to set the hierarchy because if you didn't they would be back at it again until it was established. If the females got in a spat they would break it up pronto before one of them got hurt and keep them seperated.



I have had four spayed female Border Collies and they have established their hierarchy. You also have to accept the order THEY establish, not the order YOU would like to see established. Just doesn't work out if you try to fudge it, because they will settle it one way or another. This also goes for who gets the most attention, who gets the choice bed spots, and so forth. Once they have it settled peace will reign until something upsets it like a new dog, a long absence, a pup maturing, or etc.



By the way, it makes me want to dope slap someone who would shoot a dog for something this natural and trivial. If the dog was aggressively mean to people, game or livestock killer, or a pit bull, mastiff, or german shepherd (just for general purposes), it would be a different story. If you don't want the dog I would suggest the humane society or better yet petfinder.com in the classified section. I have gotten my last two dogs off petfinder and I recommend it because it is finding homes for some very loyal friends who have found themselves in a bad spot.



As a last resort I'm sure he would rather die of a heart attack than a bullet. I had a dobie for 13 years. He was raised in the backcountry and really liked people. He was given the nick name of Ferdinand the Bull (after the bull fighting bull who just wanted to sniff the flowers). He also had the nickname of Pooter because of his unique abilitites to pass copious quantities of gas - but thats another thread He had many good years working in the moutains. I had two vets marvel over how this dog was in incredible shape for his age. Eventually, he got prostate problems and a heart mummer. One day he was walking across the yard and fell over dead of a heart attack, but he had a wonderful life and was a wonderful companion.



PS: while you are nuetering, you probably should do both unless they are of working/breeding quality. Saves a lot of unwanted pups that way.