Play Fighting Jack Russells

A friend of mine has two litter brothers 11 months who are brilliant whilst indoors
But :
When she takes them out,either of her car, or of her house for a walk they begin to 'playfight' which continues for some time.
She has tried to separate them offering food, shouting but nothing seems to work.
So she ends up half dragging them to the park.

I have seen this recently and IMO it has began to get slightly aggressive.

Then once they are out walking if they are both off the lead and see another dog they are off hell for leather after it barking etc.
Usually all the dogs then run around playing but unfortunately on a few occasions the smaller brother has shown signs of aggression.
But if the larger brother is kept on the lead the smaller brother is fine.
They are almost perfect at recall on there own or just the two of them but when another dog is involved it all goes wrong.
This is really worrying her. She has tried to socialise them with friends dogs which is a bit hit and miss so not too successfull.

Please could you offer your suggestions to help.

Thanks.
Sorry for the essay- I hope I have explained this well.

I'm always bewildered when people say the dogs have almost perfect recall and then go on to say except when there are other dogs or whatever other distractions around.
That to me is nowhere near perfect recall, so I would say that is where she needs to start. They should come when called whatever the distraction, and that takes time and practise. It sounds to me that when they are free running she has no control at all, she can't get them to come back or stop playfighting, or chasing other dogs. She needs to get the dogs to focus on her not each other, which can be a problem with 2 dogs of a similar age, but it's not impossible. Working with the dogs individually helps because they are then not distracted or egged on by the other dog, she needs to practise recall with distractions of all discriptions with the dogs individually and together.
I have 3 dogs under 20 months and they do playfight quite roughly with each other, it can look aggressive but in their case it isn't, but there are always times when it is inappropriate and you have to be able to interrupt it, I don't stop it I let them do it when there is the space and where there are no other walkers or dogs close by. They can switch from being mad as hatters to well behaved dogs in an instant, because they do respond to commands whatever the distractions and you can only achieve that with continuous practise and hard work. Sorry it's not a simpler answer.

Thanks Trouble,

That sounds so obvious now you say it.

I will pass this on to her and let you know how she gets on.

Thanks

You're welcome, it may not solve all of it as 2 male terriers can obviously be little terrors, but it should help. Are they both entire or have they been done? I'm not suggesting that they should be done, but if the playfighting does escalate to aggression it could be worth considering have one done, but the training needs working on first

Trouble -

I have two entire males (of a different breed) who do play fight and it can get quite noisy and look worse than it is but as you have said with yours it is controlled and they have never shown any aggression.

Having seen them I do think these two JRT are beginning to test each other.Almost as if neither will back down....

I have mentioned to her that she may need to have one of the dogs done - but unsure which.
Do you think it would be better to get the smaller one done - as he is the aggresive one ?

She walks them using normal collars and expander leads - do you think she should use head collars for greater control ? If so which?

Thanks For Your Help...

I've always had entire males together without any problems, you may occassionally get the odd spat but hey that happens with male and female mixes too. My current dog is the only one I have ever had done and that was mainly precautionary as I then got a female and didn't want any probs with unwanted mating etc. Although I planned to get her done too, things got in the way and she had her first season just before xmas so as it turns out it was probably just as well he was done. She will be done in february now.

I think usually they recommend the less aggressive one to be done, but I shall have to check on that. The reasoning being that if the more aggressive one is done they are then equal again and could still develop issues. If the less aggressive one is done it should make for little or no competition. I will look it up and check for you, and she should talk to her vet too. Also she will still need to put in the effort with the training, as the hormones will take a while to decrease, and it isn't the answer to everything

Just to add she probably needs to observe them closely for a while to work out exactly which of them is showing the more dominant traits, as it isn't necessarily the one that makes the most noise, or flashes his teeth the most. She might need help to work it out too.
For me my eldest male is without doubt the dominant dog, but I have never heard him growl or snarl. He asserts himself with his body posture etc. and when he has had enough of their nonsense, he does this really odd deep gruff bark at them, and that's it, instant order. The bitch could easily be mistaken for being the boss as she is much more vocal and stroppy (to a certain extent) shows her teeth more in play etc. but without a doubt when he's had enough she backs down instantly, but it's taken time, effort and patience to get to that point. The 3rd and youngest dog is entire and a terrier, they tolerate all his nonsense of being possesive and thinking everything is his, but he accepts his place is bottom of the pile and all his teeth flashing and growling is all bluff and bluster
Hope this helps and hasn't confused you too much.

Trouble.

Thanks for your advice. :smt023

Will keep you posted on their progress.

Have a nice holiday. :smt039