i have 2 staffies that used to get on really well but now they seem to have spats where they really go at each other and not just play fighting. the male had the op a couple of months ago to prevent anymore unwanted pregnancys and seemed to have calmed down but last night i came in and as my oh tried to put the dogs outside the began to fight it took us a good half hour for us to split them and for them to calm down.at the moment they are seperated but my oh wants to put them back together, is this a good idea and what could we do to prevent the fighting. any advise welcome.

How old are the dogs? Maturity brings changes in pecking order which could be the problems you are experiencing. A friend of mine has a SBTx 4years and a Dobie 10mths, as soon as the Dobie reached 18months wham they were left alone and my friend came home to bloodshed where the SBT needed an emergency vet trip.(not nice).

Castration effects the hormone levels obviously but this usually does not show until one month after the operation. Are you paying more attention to one dog than the other, could it be jealousy?

after a certain age two male dogs are a nightmare to live with, someone i know had to rehome one of his akitas because when one male got to about 18 month old they were constantly scapping, heartbreaking decision for him but better than the bloodbath everytime they were together.

Presumably one is a female and they have mated before?

(I'm taking that from 'no more unwanted pregnancies' sorry if I got it wrong).

Is the female neutered or just the male? Could she be coming into season? Not that this answers your question but gives us more to work with ;) I know my bitch used to get stroppy when she was due in season and if a male attempted to 'woo' her she would tell them in no uncertain terms to back off. IF it is that, it just depends on how good your bitch's communication skills are and how your boy would react to that happening.

Personally, I try not to go near house sharing dog fighting cases... not my speciality at all! If it were me I'd have a good behaviourist in straight away to try and prevent it getting any worse. You will probably find a behaviourist will be able to read their body language between each other and see what it is that sparks off the fights that you may be missing.

Good luck.

My two staffies [bitch and dog] fight and both have been done.Usually it is her annoying him by biting his ears then he goes for her or she gets his toy that makes him go for her also.They both normally get along but when they have a set two it is a nightmare.

yes its a male and female only the male has been done,bitch is not due in season yet .my oh has just tried to put them back togeter and yet again they began to fight but this time its got really bad as we are having to take them both to vets in morn for treatment im at a loss as of what to do. both dogs are same age (3 1/2yrs). i am concidering selling 1 of them as i cant risc them having a set too while my kids are around (aged 2, 3,8 & 7mths.

I had the some prob when i used to keep staffys...I was advised to muzzle them both and lock them in a room together till they tired themselfes out...so I gave it a try they was fine after that i think they was just trying to find out who was the dominant one
Good luck I hope you sort things out soon before you end up at the vets or worse

im really at a loss as to what to do as ive tried leaving them to sort out dominancy but i dont want any of them to kill the ohter as ive heard that it can happen if 1 of them wont bow down to the other and they are both really dominant dogs

im really at a loss as to what to do as ive tried leaving them to sort out dominancy but i dont want any of them to kill the ohter as ive heard that it can happen if 1 of them wont bow down to the other and they are both really dominant dogsThat's why you should muzzle them and let them sort there differences out...at least if they both have muzzles on they wont get hurt

i mite try the muzzle but where is the best place to buy muzzle from as i bought 1 for the male but it wont fit his small nose and nowhere seems to have them to fit staffies.

At one time we had 3 Staffies and they were never left together on their own. They could be playing quite happily, then one would get a bit carried away and snap and that was it. As soon as they showed any sign of real aggression, they were separated until they calmed down.

Staffies were bred for fighting - and fighting to the death. Leaving 2 of them together, unsupervised, is asking for trouble. Unlike most breeds, they don't back down, they weren't designed to.

Can you keep them in separate rooms, or possibly kennel one of them, when you're not there to keep an eye on them?

they are fighting when we are there we only seperate them when they fight and we pay attention to them both the same thats what we cant understand.

Try the muzzles. It really does sound like a good idea. If that doesn't work you may have to consider letting one of them go though. We had to let a Collie go when we got our Stafford. They never saw eye to eye from day one :(

i mite try the muzzle but where is the best place to buy muzzle from as i bought 1 for the male but it wont fit his small nose and nowhere seems to have them to fit staffies.
there's a couple of places at thoresby market that seem to specialise in staffy harnesses and claim to actually be making this stuff, so perhaps they're the best people to ask?

if you google for muzzles, you'll see some very different designs to those available in your average pet shop

Staffies just don't seem to have the face shape for being muzzled with an ordinary muzzle

I got mine from the pet store in the castle market

Thanks for this thread it is helping me with my two staffs also.I have left my two alone but from now on I won't be.The muzzles sound good but I think I will have mine in seperate rooms.Nezzoz I would muzzle your two with your little ones around.

could you not crate one or both of them when you are not around????

We have two staffs and to be honest we all get along however we have a very clear pecking order in our house and one staff is an elderly gent so i guess this could be why we dont have many problems.

I do hope you manage to get them sorted i would definatly try muzzleingem both for safety. It does not help when even a little set to with Staffs sounds so horrid with the monkey chatter war cry as i call it.

hi could the problem be due to the male being casterated as an entire male the female is submissive to him when castrated he is no longer dominant and his status is changed this often happens when the female scents the loss of male hormones and then will challange for dominance over him if the male will submit to her and things will calm down if not the fights may continue