I have a 1 yr old German Shepherd and an almost 3 year old pitty, both female and both fixed. My shepherd does not read social cues and the cues my pitty gives her when she wants to be left alone. We’ve had our shepherd since 8 weeks and they’ve been fine together—they love playing together, they sleep together, everything. However, they cannot have toys together. My pitty is the sweetest most submissive and docile dog until it comes to a toy she sees as high value and she will resource guard. That AND my pitty being over my shepherd’s rude puppy behavior and not knowing when to leave her alone has resulted in a few “scuffles” where they both bark and my pitty gets snarly and my shepherd is barking in a higher-pitched bark. They never bite each other just are in each others faces but it makes me nervous, so I always separate them.
However, yesterday, when I tried doing so, my shepherd seemed to be unable to redirect/stop, and she bit my arm and leg. She didn’t puncture the skin on my arm (though I have a decent bruise) and barely punctured the skin on my leg. Truthfully, I haven’t socialized her enough, probably. She has been to doggy daycare and hasn’t had an issue but has a hard time with introductions. She starts 2 weeks of training next week and I’m really hoping this helps. I need to referee and keep an eye on her a bit better because my pitty hits a wall fast when she plays and gets over it quickly and wants to be left alone.
Does this sound like same-sex aggression? The thought of potentially having to rehome one of my dogs makes me so upset.
submitted by /u/galuszkm
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