I have two sweet girls. The older one is a boxer and Australian shepherd mix, and she’s 5. She’s very reserved and cuddly, but has anxiety around strangers and hates chaos. She much prefers sitting on the couch under a blanket.
My younger dog is a blue heeler and is 3. She’s also a cuddle bug, but much more happy to play fetch and catch than her sister.
Generally, they get along very well. They’ll cuddle together, play tug with their rope toy, etc. There’s no growling over food, guarding resources, or “whale eye” stare downs. But rarely, maybe 2-3 times a year, all hell will break loose for seemingly no reason.
This happened yesterday. It’s been cold, and they both have sweaters they wear around the house. My older dog was sleeping on the couch, and wanted to get down. But her front legs had gotten tangled, and she was stuck in her sweater. She was struggling to stand, with just her back legs usable. Before I could get to her to help, my younger dog attacked her. This pissed off my older dog (understandably) and she yanked her leg through the first hole she could find and attacked right back. My husband and I had to grab them both by their back legs and separate them in their kennels to calm down. Today, they’ve been growling at each other every time they see each other and we’ve been keeping them separated.
What the hell? Why would the younger one attack when she wasn’t even in any danger anyway? And why do they randomly attack each other at all so rarely if they get along perfectly most of the time?
submitted by /u/CircusMasterKlaus
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