Hello, I happened to find this board while looking for some advice/information about a situation in our house that really has my husband and I at a loss...
Here's the situation. We have 2 female (both fixed) dogs, lab/sheppard mixes. They are currently 15 months old. They are sisters, and have never been apart. Biscuit has always been the more fiesty of the two, a typical puppy. Snickerdoodle on the otherhand is much more laid back. There has never been an obvious alpha, they seem to each take on alpha roles at different times. Snickerdoodle will put up with Biscuit's antics (ie: nipping at her face, mounting her, trying to push her away if she's getting any attention, etc) and then reach a point where she will growl and snap at Biscuit, then it stops. For awhile. Recently, the dogs have been fighting. Almost daily. Hard core, down and dirty, drawing blood fighting, which begins as play fighting that Biscuit innitiates. This has me very concerned, because yesterday, Biscuit bit Snickerdoodle right under her eye, and almost caused some serious damage. It drew quite a bit of blood. Myself or my husband break up the fights, because we are afraid of what might happen - I don't know how far they will take it. They do not stop when we yell or call their names... it usually requires one of us to throw something in their direction to distract them. We then have to separate them.
Biscuit has also become much more aggressive with our children (11,7,5). She has never growled at them, but she has taken to biting on them, pulling at their clothes, chasing them when they are playing in the back yard. I am very worried that it may progress into something more.
We are considering removing Biscuit from the home. Any thoughts or suggestions? We love the dogs very much, but we can't let our hearts make a decision that may not be right in the long run. Help!!!!!