MY two male shih tzus are constantly fighting please send advice!

[terrih91]

I have two male shih tzus both are un neutered, from the same breeder but no blood ties, one of them turned one years old this june the other just hit one in august. Me and my girlfriend share responsibility for both of them and for the past 9-10 months they have been great dogs but like a flick of a switch fir the past week or so they are constantly fighting each other and its that bad snarling fighting that got me a small bite on my palm trying to break it up. Just yesterday 9/5/15 they couldn't go anywhere near each other before breaking out in it again. I couldn't even walk them close to each other to try and alleviate the tension.

A little more background onto the situation with them is that they always share a crate and share food with little to no issues at all with the food. They take turns and get their fills from the same bowl. And rarely ever fight like this in the same crate and when they did it was over a treat i give each one of them but i have stopped that even since noticing it became a problem in the crate.

We also did bring in my cousins male yorkie for a few weeks to watch him while they went on vacation, for the most part it was great with the new dog in the house for that short period of time. No crazy fights like these if not but 2 occasions but very minor and the fighting stopped after it was broken up by us.

But nothing like how it is now. The past 72 hours have been the worst. To me it seems like the one dog who is younger and we bought first seems to be the one starting the fights and seeking them out and is being very territorial. I say that we bought one first because they were purchased within two weeks of each other after we realized that we couldn't leave the first guy home alone and it was recommended to try two and we liked the idea and always wanted two dogs. It worked perfectly until now.

I honestly have no idea what to do, ive read so many different sites on how to stop this from happening after the first fight breaks out. Ive tried praising good relaxed behavior. Removing all toys and treats from the situation they might be fighting over. Showing each dog love and affection equally. Taking them on walks next to each other but that didnt work at all as i stated earlier. I have had to resort to finding an obedience trainer who cant see us till this monday at 5 but lord knows if these guys will make it that far. Please please help. Thank you all so much in advance.

[Deleted]

Small dogs are genetically inferior, having been in-bred repeatedly to suit and replace the maternal need of post-family-unit 'liberated' females.

Get rid of them both

Buy a real dog.

[Septik]

remote shock collars

[Kaldreno]

Combine the above two ideas. Get rid of them but not before applying remote shock collars. Then while you enjoy your new, real dog, you can remotely shock those other two dogs and feel better about yourself.

[Zanez]

firstly, get them neutered. Wont completely solve the problem but will definitely help.
Secondly don't make them share food bowls. Food is their most important resource and if they feel they aren't getting enough and they have to share they're gonna get pretty pissy with each other. Always have separate food bowls and maybe in different rooms.

Dont listen to the second comment, shock collars will make things 10x worse, just hope your trainer you see monday is good, and if they are follow everything they suggest very very carefully and go through with it all

[Deleted]

Organize a Mortal Kombat tournament.

[terrih91]

Thanks for the actual reply haha. And yea i thought about the separate food bowls and plan on doing that but the tricky part is they dont gulp the food down in one sitting they just pick at it through out the day, and most of it at breakfast. And definitely gonna end up neutering them. I hate to do it but seems to be a necessity at this point.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the actual reply haha. And yea i thought about the separate food bowls and plan on doing that but the tricky part is they dont gulp the food down in one sitting they just pick at it through out the day, and most of it at breakfast. And definitely gonna end up neutering them. I hate to do it but seems to be a necessity at this point.

Yeah that means you're overfeeding them
Also, buy some decent fucking dog food, not that mainstream crap

Not that your shitty small dogs deserve it.

[stormgust]

Thanks for the actual reply haha. And yea i thought about the separate food bowls and plan on doing that but the tricky part is they dont gulp the food down in one sitting they just pick at it through out the day, and most of it at breakfast. And definitely gonna end up neutering them. I hate to do it but seems to be a necessity at this point.

Chance is, they're at least fighting over food ownership, or worse, over the alpha position (i.e. you didn't establish that as your own). So, you certainly should start by changing that feeding behaviour: fixed times (take away left over food once they stopped eating), each their own bowl (call them seperately and make sure they don't eat from eachothers bowl)

[Collegeguy]

You made them share food bowls... Well from my experience, that was probably the worst idea ever. You basically trained them early to compete and hate each other.

[dashflash890]

Small dogs are genetically inferior, having been in-bred repeatedly to suit and replace the maternal need of post-family-unit 'liberated' females.

Get rid of them both

Buy a real dog.

You beat me to it.

[Lovecrafts]

Do better research on the dog next time. Do them a favor and put one up for adoption.

[Aeula]

Mine fight all the time. It's a sign of love.

[Ulmita]

Show them some beautiful bitches like mine <3

picture

[Independent voter]

Maybe they lack an alpha presence? Are you dominating them? If anything it would make a cool experiment to see if it works. There's a reality TV show called the "Dog Whisperer" and he takes care of behavioral problems all the time.

[Aeula]

Show them some beautiful bitches like mine <3

picture

Dog's can't see in 2D, trust me, I've tried facetiming them a few times and they couldn't see what was on my IPad screen.

[Ulmita]

Dog's can't see in 2D, trust me, I've tried facetiming them a few times and they couldn't see what was on my IPad screen.

It was more for the OP in order to get a sense of extraordinary female shih tzu beauty

[Amirila]

I dont' have too much experience with male dogs, but I'd get them neutered if you can

[Vanyali]

1st, get them neutered.

2nd, get them a second crate. Sharing food is... eh. I have two male Shih Tzus, and they share a free-feeding bowl as well. However, both are neutered, and have been since very young. The crate issue is what worries me more - a crate is, to a dog, it's personal place of safety. That's where it sleeps, that's where it should feel safe. Having another dog in there is like having a roommate (but even closer; one that sleeps in your bed with you) - with two unneutered males, it's going to cause an issue period. They might not fight IN the crate, but it's definitely a stress point.


Being that they're a year+ old, they're going through becoming more adult, which is why the fights are starting. A year is about when dogs mature, which means they're looking for spaces of their own, trying to figure out who (even just among themselves) is what, and all the fun things that come with adult, unneutered dogs. You don't need to worry about ill-effects this late from neutering - they've reached their full size and the only reason to keep them unneutered would be if you intended on breeding them. It'll also prevent them from running off at the scent of a female. No matter how well you think they're trained, a female in heating is a massive lure that they're unlikely to stop for. You can also have fake balls installed if you really want that (yes, it's an actual thing) >_>

[terrih91]

1st, get them neutered.

2nd, get them a second crate. Sharing food is... eh. I have two male Shih Tzus, and they share a free-feeding bowl as well. However, both are neutered, and have been since very young. The crate issue is what worries me more - a crate is, to a dog, it's personal place of safety. That's where it sleeps, that's where it should feel safe. Having another dog in there is like having a roommate (but even closer; one that sleeps in your bed with you) - with two unneutered males, it's going to cause an issue period. They might not fight IN the crate, but it's definitely a stress point.


Being that they're a year+ old, they're going through becoming more adult, which is why the fights are starting. A year is about when dogs mature, which means they're looking for spaces of their own, trying to figure out who (even just among themselves) is what, and all the fun things that come with adult, unneutered dogs. You don't need to worry about ill-effects this late from neutering - they've reached their full size and the only reason to keep them unneutered would be if you intended on breeding them. It'll also prevent them from running off at the scent of a female. No matter how well you think they're trained, a female in heating is a massive lure that they're unlikely to stop for. You can also have fake balls installed if you really want that (yes, it's an actual thing) >_>

Yea im headed out to get a second crate for them and working on separate feeding bowls for them. Its gonna be tough because of how they eat and how they go for it them selves through out the day but ill work past that. And yes neutering will definitely be done.