A House Without Violence

This weekend, we had a visitor. It was my mom's birthday, and her best friend came. We all like Kelvie very much, but any sort of change stresses out my brother, Muggsy. And when he gets stressed out, he used to attack my other brother, Chubbs. That hasn't happened in a year, and it didn't happen this time either. We had a peaceful house!

When we first moved to California, Muggsy was attacking Chubbs once or twice a week. There was only bloodshed once, but it was still really scary. Now, it has been more than a year. That's because Mom did lots of work with them. The first thing she had to do was learn to read body language. Muggsy gives very clear signals when he is upset: freezing, whale eye, growl, bark and then finally bite. You never want to punish a dog when he or she is doing one of these signals because they don't realize what you are punishing for. So they stop growling, for example, but the feelings that make them want to growl don't go away and then they just go for biting with no warning! Scary! With Muggsy, we always know it's coming. She also had to notice what Chubbs was doing -- turns out, he was starting the whole thing by starting at Muggsy. Mom didn't notice it because it was so cute, but staring is a major confrontational move in the dog world.

She started recognizing the signals early and sending both dogs to their crates, not just Muggsy, when she noticed the confrontations coming. By preventing it before it started, she taught the boys what she wanted them to do instead of fight -- and she punished Chubbs, not just Muggsy, for being a jerk. That's important to stop his part in the mess. She is very careful to watch for things that upset the other and stop the problem before it's too late. Now, Muggsy goes to his crate when he starts to feel upset, way before he ever attacks Chubbs. Or he goes into the bedroom or his bedroom in the garage where he can get some space from Chubbs until he is calm. Today, he has spent most of the day outside calming down. And we know to leave him alone when that happens. He'll come inside when he feels better.

It's so great to see them getting along. It was a long road, but it has worked so well. If you have dogs that are fighting, it's best to consult a trainer sooner rather than later, so you can stop the problem before it gets even worse. I hope that all of you have a house without violence, just like I do!

Love, Fenway