River and Charlie are fighting.
They have two black male Working Cockers. River and Indie are 13 and have been together since they were puppies. Charlie, a Springer cross is 10 joined the other two a couple of years ago.
Hearing
River lost his hearing a couple of years ago. Since then he has started guarding his food to the point where he can’t always eat because he’s too busy looking to see where the other dogs are. He also won’t drink when there is another dog near him.
I recently lost my own Cocker Spaniel, Pickle. He was deaf. When he lost his hearing he became fearful of certain things. It affected him greatly in several ways. Not being able to hear, these alert dogs get less warning of something approaching or happening.
Food and fighting
They have been staying with River while his food is down to keep the other dogs away from him. They all eat in the kitchen.
We have to work around this largely with management to prevent fighting. We accept the fact that River is now elderly and deaf and new addition Charlie is very food orientated.
They will now keep feeding a lot more separate with a baby gate. River will be by himself. They will no longer stand over him, encouraging him but leave him alone. He will eat eventually.
They should let River know there’s no way any other dog or even a human will come anywhere near his food.
Proximity and fighting
We look for common denominators between the many fights between River and Charlie. It seems that each time Charlie is approaching where River happens to be. It can be passing him in a doorway, a passage, walking into a room or coming in from outside.
Having food about is a no-no.
They will sleep together and they’ll walk together. They are absolutely fine.
This is where an objective professional approach is good. People living in the middle of a situation often can’t see the obvious.
The reason for guarding
River guards because he’s afraid of losing something, not because he’s being mean. Not because he wants to be Alpha or is aggressive. Guarding something usually means we’re afraid of losing it, doesn’t it? It will be fear based in a way and recent castration won’t have helped at all.
With the dogs being older and River deaf, we’re not working at curing anything. We’re working at getting it so life is as good as it possibly can be. So the dogs are as happy as they can be and so the owners are as happy as you can be too.
The online consultation
In the consultation I ask lots of things. Some of the questions may seem weird but you never know what I might find out. Because I’ve helped about 3,500 people both in-person and online, I have learned things from clients that no amount of education could ever teach me.
The theme behind my questions was the calmer the dogs are the less likely they are to fight. The more aroused they are, the more likely fighting is to happen. So as I go through all my questions I’m looking for any little tricks we can find to calm them down as much as possible.
Then they will find it much easier and so will the dogs.
Now wherever they’re going, they will see if Charlie can be there first. Whether it’s coming in from the garden or into a room – or to the sofa. It’s a bit of a challenge now that River can’t hear his name called, so they may need to use a harness on him to hold him back. They can give him a little treat as they do so.
Symptoms and feelings
They thought they were dealing with growling, barking, aggression. But those are symptoms. They’re not really what they’re dealing with which is the emotions inside the dogs.
With River, he’s unsettled and he’s sort of afraid of his space being invaded. He’s not feeling comfortable ot particularly happy. That’s an emotion which is causing him to behave like this.
So it’s best to change what he feels.This is a reason to be nice to him even when he’s showing aggression to Charlie. If they scold as well, it makes the situation even worse for him.
So it’s mostly about management. Wherever they’re going, try to get Charlie ahead of River.
A tribute
Apart from this recent fighting between River and Charlie, the three dogs are a tribute to the couple. They can take them anywhere. They walk beautifully.
This is all about River who has become increasingly disturbed. It began with losing his teeth and going deaf. Then he had an operation along with necessary castration. Finally, they lost their female dog a few weeks previously. She was the peacemaker.
