Fighting WTH?

Dillon and Daisy are siblings, male and female. Dillon neutered, Daisy intact. At 4 years old (5 this july) they have lived harmoniously with us humans. In recent weeks they have become aggressive toward eachother, starts with a look then stiffening and growling from Daisy, then it all kicks off. A small splash of water has been sufficient to stop the fights and noone is hurt, well until now. I suffered a bite during 1 of their 'spats', i hadn't stepped in to separate them, i just happened to be in the middle as they went for eachother. Today i was quite shocked to see Dillon had suffered a bite on his face, bruising and a small puncture wound under his chin. Daisy, after a short inspection, i found unharmed but seriously tense. Hackles up, white gums and trembling, i even noticed her hackles up while she was resting, away from Dillon.
My first thought is to split them, either by rehoming or upheaving the entire household and having them in different rooms and living in constant worry they might see eachother anf fight again. I feel Daisy is the 1 to bring the aggression, in play she makes the attack move on Dillon everytime, yet is submissive when interacting with me. My primary concern is of the safety of my 3 kids, and i feel rehoming is the only option, What would you do?

What would I do?
Firstly I would take her to the vet for a thorough health check to make sure there is no underlying issue making her a grumpy bitch.
I would adopt a zero tolerance policy on bullying and aggressive behaviour. Well I have that anyway. You know how it starts, she's giving off early warning signs step in earlier before she launches into her attack. I have a very loud voice and when I bellow to "pack it in" they do. If a squirt of water works for you fine, it may not continue to work though and it makes the floor slippery and you don't want to end up on your ar$e under two fighting dogs. Alternatively you could just get her attention on you and remove her from the situation. I have multiple dogs and rely on my voice and body to prevent any altercations, which do sometimes happen even with the best behaved dogs.
I would step up their training generally but especially working on "leave it", "Pack it in", or another favourite of mine is "Don't you dare" and invest in some door gates if you don't already have them so that you can easily seperate them if necessary.
Try to stay calm.

The first thing with any problems with aggression is to try to understand the root cause. For example, you say Dillon and Daisy have lived harmoniously together for 5 years and only now are starting to fight?

Are you aware of any particular triggers?

There could be many reasons for this and the first thing is a vet check for both dogs. Even if it seems as if one is starting the fight. Also unless you are very sure, don't assume the dog who appears to attack is the one starting it. Dogs can be very subtle in their body language and the obvious dog may not be the initiator.

To be honest, I'd suggest getting in a reputable behaviourist who will work with you to find the cause of the problem, and then give a good programme of training and support if this is feasible.

It would be a shame to rehome if the problem can be sorted. For example if the problem was to do with something medical (pain, hormones, disease, eyesigh etc) or if the problem was something that can often be worked on such as resource guarding.

You could try www.apbc.org.uk as your first port of call.

Sometimes insurance will pay for a behaviourist

For now, use management to prevent fights such as child gates, etc.

A good little booklet which can help is Pat McConnell's "Feeling Outnumbered?" which is about living with a multi/several dog family.



Wys
x

Agree with the above - vet check for BOTH dogs to rule out medical.

Has Daisy had a season lately?

Agree with the posts above, and I would probably do exactly the same as Trouble - use my voice to get them to cut it out (I too, have a big gob!).

Failing that I would seek help from a Behaviourist as per Wysiwyg's post, and Brierley's question about seasons could lead to clues on that front.