Hi guys, I have recently brought home two adorable puppies and they are 8 months old. They are both male but the one is a black lab retriever mix named napoleon and the other is a black lab terrier mix named dynamite. My problem is that Napoleon will forcefully attack Dynamite with no warning. I know neutering will calm him down a bit but at the moment this is too expensive for my budget but if necessary I can maybe do this. Does anyone have any advice on how to do calm Napoleon down without getting him neutered? Thanks guys

It sounds like its either very rough puppy play, or (possibly more likely) Napoleon is trying to assert his dominance over Dynamite. For now I'd suggest watching over both of them and giving them both equal attention (just in case its a case of jealousy).

But, can you explain the attacks more? Not in graphic detail, just how Napoleon initiates the attack... does he have hard eye-contact with Dynamite? A hard stare? That generally means he's asserting dominance. Its not uncommon for two dogs to try and one up another, but it can get tricky if not taken care of. Also, is it just with Dynamite or is he aggressive with other dogs as well?

Is it something like this? (safe link - youtube video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opjGWAp_RAE

Sounds like a dominance thing. The biggest thing with dog training (any animal really, but dogs in particular) is that you have to let them know YOU are the alpha. Not them. They're not even the beta. There is no room for cooperativeness in the pack, and if you don't fix it now the problem will only get worse. 8 months old is almost full size. You've got to fix this now. The part that most people fail with with animal training is consistency and timing. If he makes a move towards dominance, correct it. DON'T WAIT. They can't understand that. Consistency is just that- consistency. If he makes a move, correct it. Day, night, regardless of everything, correct the bad behavior. (The correction I am most familiar with is a loud, stern, "No." This, if the animal is not escalated to high into the bad behavior, should shock them out of it. If that doesn't work, something physical like a yank on the collar may be needed.)

And finally, it would help your cause greatly to read up on canine body language. There's no such thing as an attack without warning. Even the some of the most basic of vertebrates give tell tale signs as to what they're going to do next. (I see this in my reptiles all the time.) It's up to you to learn how to read that- it can be very subtle, but it's always there. Things to pay particular attention to are the tail, ears, and over all stance.

A basic tutorial on reading canine body language

Here's a link that may be helpful:

http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/dominancemyths.aspx

Actually, here's a whole fleet of links:

http://reactivechampion.blogspot.com/p/links.html

Napoleon is an adolescent. He's also, I presume, bigger than Dynamite. It just sounds like he hasn't learned how to play nicely. If Dynamite is playing back, he doesn't care. If he's trying to get away or expressing dislike, Napoleon needs to be redirected. If Dynamite is falling over or freezing and letting Napoleon do what he wants, Dynamite needs some soothing. If Dynamite gets angry and fights back, both dogs need training.

To redirect Napoleon, keep him on a leash attached to you. Watch him and Dynamite interacting. Napoleon WILL give you some clue to when he's going to "attack", when you see that clue, redirect it. You'll gradually learn the clues preceding that, and that, and that, until you're stopping Napoleon when he literally thinks, "I want to jump on Dynamite!" Eventually Napoleon will figure out that he doesn't get to attack. Keeping him on a leash attached to you keeps him close by for redirection. You can do that by getting him to sit or lie down and giving him a treat, waving a toy in his face, or running away from him in a fun game of chase.

If Dynamite is freezing and Napoleon is just beating on him, you also need to work on Dynamite's confidence. He may have learned that there's absolutely nothing he can do to protect himself, so he's just freezing and hoping that Napoleon will go away. He needs to know that he CAN stop Napoleon, and that he can trust you to protect him, and he can trust Napoleon to be nice. By stopping Napoleon before any attacking happens, Dynamite will become more trusting of him.

You can give Dynamite confidence and get more control of Napoleon by training them with a clicker. The idea with a clicker is to make the dog think about what you want. First you "charge" it, by clicking a lot and immediately giving him a treat each time. Then you start easy, you say Dynamite's name and wait for him to look at you, then click/treat. When he gets the hang of it, move up to behaviours he knows like sitting ("Sit" Sits Click/treat) then try teaching him new things. Try doing it silently, too. Just sit down, and see what he does. If he sits, C/T. If he sits again, C/T. If he sits a third time, well, let's wait for something new... So he lies down, C/T. Dynamite learns that he has control of the situation by giving you behaviours you like to see. He'll also become calmer. You can use the same training with Napoleon to give him focus and calmness.

Both dogs will learn that they have control of their environment, and be very secure dogs who are happy with the things that go on around them, AND know how to behave nicely. Each training session will act like a bank: you're paying your dog 15 treats for 15 sits, so you'll get another 15 sits out of them without treats at regular times. Of course, it depends on the worth of the treat, and the worth of sit, and the worth of the situation. Maybe sit is only worth 1/4 of a kibble to Napoleon anyway, so if you pay him with cheese (Which is worth 10 kibbles) you'll get LOTS of sits banked. Maybe he'll even sit for you during a super exciting situation, because the cheese was just that worth it.

Aside from all the excellent advice already given on this thread re training, the advice of my vets and breeders has always been that if you have two male dogs, neuter only one, and neuter the more submissive one. Otherwise I am told you run the risk of 'evening out' the dominance of the submissive non-neutered one and the previously-dominant now-neutered one, which will make them fight even more. I don't know if anyone else has ever been given that advice. It would be worth checking your vets' view on that before you decide which one to neuter.

As for the funding, it's also worth checking whether there's an animal charity in your area that will do free/discounted neutering.

When the dogs at my Grammy's house attack each other we just roll up a magazine and smack them with it, that normally works unless they're in a super serious fight, but all but one of her dogs are female so I don't know if that will work as well for you.