Aggression Shown By Male To Female

[Guest Stuck5]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. We've had our first grey for 15 months now and he seems to have settled well in to a family after some initial teething problems. We made the decision to add a female to the family and have had her for 3 months now. The original male is now 4 and a half and the female is 3. They get on ok most of the time. The female is definitely submissive to the male but we have had a few instances where the male has shown aggression to the female. Usually this happens if they are in the garden or walking in an enclosed area and she runs past him. He appears to object and will growl and sometimes nip her. However we had a more serious incident last week when they were lying together. The male decided to lay right across the female and when she tried to get up slowly to move he went for her and bit a large chunk out of her side. We are obviously concerned by this behaviour and wonder if there is anything we can do? We have had a few instances of sleep startle from the male but I saw this most recent incident in full and really don't think he was a sleep (comfortable yes!). Both greys are neutered and my understanding was that a male and female mix usually works the best. The female is very wary of him in general. Any advice appreciated.

[greysmom]

This situation is difficult since aggression in any form is always hard to diagnose long-distance. My first advice, if you are committed to making this pairing work, is to contact a certified animal behaviorist, to come to your house and observe how your dogs interact. This person should be able to give you some advice on how to manage them together more effectively. Make sure they are *certified* and only use positive-reinforcement only training.

 

In the meantime, your boy should be muzzled whenever they are together. Don't let them lay near each other - move their beds apart and physically prevent him from laying near her. I would also walk them seperately, and try and get the male more exercise. An xpen or kennel may be useful in minimizing his access to her. If you are able, instituting a Nothing In Life Is Free method of training with him may be useful in asserting your leadership role so he thnks he needs to assert his less.

 

FWIW, my feeling is that this is a pairing that is a mis-match, for whatever reason, and that returning your girl might be what's best for everyone involved. She may be *too* submissive for your boy, or he may be *too* confident for her, it's hard to say. But I do know that your girl shouldn't have to live in fear and anxiety of being attacked whenever she wants to play or do her own thing. Some greyhounds do end up needing to be only dogs, and your boy may be one of them.

 

Please reach out to your adoption agency for advice and perhaps a referral to a good behaviorist.

 

Good luck.

[JohnF]

Agree it's likely a pairing mis-match. Unless they can have their own crate to sleep in it's probably not going to work out if the male has sleep-startle aggression and lacks tolerance at other times. No blame here... the dog can still get a happy home...