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« on: July 29, 2006, 07:30:29 pm »
I need help. I don't know what to do. I'll give a little background on these two first.
Watson:
He is a severely hyper GSP/Weim mix. He is very very sweet and affetionate. He seems to get hurt a lot doing stupid stuff and he has always let us clean his wounds without complaining. However, one time all three of our dogs got out of the yard for a while, and later in the day Watson was sleeping on my legs. I moved my legs and Watson growled. I was confused because he had never done that before. We both got off the couch and I noticed that he had a bunch of bite wounds all over his chest. As I was touching the wounds, out of nowhere, he bit my face (I don't think he even growled) and I ended up in the emergency room. After he bit me he was very submissive. Since then he has never bitten anyone, but he has since been very viscious toward strange/new dogs if they sniff him. He had notdone that before the day he bit me. He has growled at me a few times when I try to move him when he is sleeping, but I grab his muzzle and scold him, which puts him back in line. He is still very sweet and lets me do basically anything I want to him with no grumbling. For example he has a cyst on his eyelid which he lets me squeeze the junk out of it when it gets bigger. He also lets me bathe him, clip his nails, pick at his teeth, anything else I might feel like doing.
Zero:
He has always been very quiet and not very affectionate (but he likes to get affection). My family and friends make fun of us and call Zero abused because he doesn't get the same level of affection as our other dogs, but that is mainly because he is not a slobbery, kissy, playful dog. He will not pick up a ball or play games with people. He absolutely refuses to give kisses, but when it's dinner time he will get all crazy and sometimes he'll lick my hand, which cracks me up. He has never bitten any humans, but he does have hip problems, so if anyone or anything touches he back end while he is laying down he will snap at them, which is understandable .
Zero and Watson together:
Zero and Watson have been wrestling buddies ever since they have been together and until somewhat recently it has always just been playing. For the last year or so...their playing seems to go a little too far sometimes. I can't really tell who is taking it too far though. They just start snapping at each other instead of playing. It has never resulted in any biting.
The problem now
A few days ago one of the dogs (most likely my hunter, Gabriel) killed a rabbit in the yard. Zero ate most of the rabbit. He tried to come inside with it but I managed to push him back out. When he did come in later, his muzzle was all coated in dirt like maybe he buried it. I let all three dogs out a little later and out of nowhere Zero and Watson are fighting. I don't know exactly what made me think Zero started it, but it just seemed that way. I had to turn on the hose and spray them to get them apart. Watson ran in the house and kind of stayed there and Zero tried to follow him. I had to keep hosing him down to keep him away. He wasn't growling or anything at this point, but he still had a "determined" look. I went inside and Watson was bleeding. His ear had several lacerations and he seemed pretty scared. He let me clean them. I kept them seperated for the rest of the day, and when we put them together later they seemed fine. I don't know what happened to cause the fight, but I think maybe Watson might have found some of the rabbit and gotten near it, makeing Zero mad.
There haven't been any problems for a few days, then today I let them out and I hear a snarl. It sounded like Zero and Watson was running away from him when I turned around. When I got home later today I noticed blood on my bed. Watson has a pretty deep puncture on the base of his neck. He seemed very clingy and not quite his hyper/happy self. I don't know if theis hapeened earlier with the snarl, or sometime when I wasn't home. The puncture was very wet (this is about 7 hours after the snarl incident this afternoon) and it is not in a spot where he can lick it.
My Dillema
I don't know what to do about this. I have been worried about Watson biting again since he bit me, and his agression toward strange dogs, but he has really given me no other reason to worry. He is about the most submissive dog you could ask for. I have no real way to know how these fights are starting and who is to blame, but my gut reaction is that Zero was the aggressor. Also, he is not getting hurt. I am really afraid that Zero will hurt Watson again, and the possibility that it might happen while I'm gone is very scary. However, I'm araid if I do something drastic with Zero, I will find out that Watson was really the problem. Although, like I said, Watson is the one getting hurt here so I have a strong feeling that Zero is the aggressor.
Right now they are both peacefully sleeping next to each other. What do I do? I can't handle not knowing if one of my dogs might get seriously hurt by another one. It is really unnerving.
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