Rivalry between visiting dogs - 2009-04-24

Question

When my daughter comes to stay with her female German shepherd aged 7, my boxer, normally very friendly gets into fights with her as she provokes him regularly. Training has not helped and I was wondering if we could muzzle them with light nylon muzzle most of the time they spend together. We are desperate to find a solution.

Answer

It sounds as if your Boxer feels threatened by the visiting GSH – which obviously has a fairly confident and dominant nature. She may well stare him out and off we are.... Muzzles are a little like restraints for people; they are not always comfy and therefore may make things worse. I would try and work in allocating the dogs separate areas where ideally they cannot make eye contact. Distance between them will make a huge difference. Avoid them being off leash and free to do as they like, as all your boy is doing is defending his territory. Take them out together, walk them next to each other, work on getting them to like and respect each other. Caution and if persists seek help, as this may get worse after a serious fight.