I have 2 male blackmouth cur dogs. 53 and 60 lbs. Larger one is 4.5, younger is 2.5. Neither is nurtured.

Younger one for the past 6-8 months has been challenging the older one non stop. Mainly when I am not around. The older one would avoid it for a month or 2 and then he'd whip his ass and we'd have to break it up or little one is going to die. The past 2 weeks it's been almost every day, young one bucks up, stands over him or whatever.. it jsut takes a look and then older one beats his ass. The younger ******* doesn't have quit in him. Even after I tear them apart, the little one ain't going to quit until I kick him out of his rage.

We have had to keep the separated when I am not directly in the room lately (edit: I wrote we have had to keep them in their crates. That's not true. My wife crates them when she's by her self and the kids are around because she doesn't want something to happen. This isn't "All the time" as I had said, but way more often than I like)

Will nurturing the young one help at this point? When I am around, it doesn't happen. It happens when I'm away (across the house our out of town) and wife is around mainly.

Anything else that will help? Getting rid of the wife isn't an option.

Sorry, I should clarify, I didn't explain that correctly at all - I live on 20 acres. They spend most of their time outside.

When the family is home and they come inside or they are outside with family it seems they end up in the crate more often than not lately.

Will removing balls of the young one help at this point or is it too late?

Older one is my best dog and I have dreams of breeding him. The younger is a ******ed hunter. Great at tracking deer and treeing squirrels, but outside of that he's mentally challenged.

They are hounds, they need a job. Are they being worked?

We had this problem once. Two of our males randomly started engaging in dominance fights when the opportunity arose, and unfortunately, once the behavior started and got patterned, we weren't able to leave them both in the yard or the same room without supervision. That went on for several years. We would occasionally test to see if they had forgotten the behavior but it was only when old age made them essentially incapable of fighting that the behavior stopped reliably. There may be some sort of training regimen to deal with it but we never found a solution other than close supervision or physical separation.

It wasn't that bad. They took turns in the yard and inside, or in one room Vs another. If we had both out for something, often they were leashed or kept at our side and not allowed to wander over to each other. It was a hassle at first but we got used to it, and so did they. We could walk them together without any problems. It was just when they were idle together at home that we had fighting issues.

I do that regularly. Side by Side running every day, and we go to the bike park for mountain biking/trail running on occasion. Side by Side was out of commission for about a month.. Just ogt it back last week, that may be part of this. Just occurred to me. And I throw the tennis balls to them regularly - when wife does it, little one attacks big one when he has the ball and it ends in a fight it seems.

Jobs to do - the protect my chickens and hunt squirrels mostly. Nothing comes on this property - squirrel, deer, possum, dilla, coyote without the young one knowing it and they'll tear about anythign they catch to pieces. I send the big one out with my 5 year old son when he wants to go roam the property and he never leaves his side. Damn good dog.

Little one scheduled for ball removal on Monday. Next step for me may be to just let the big one fight him until they stop. May mean no more little one, but I've about had it. He's gotta learn

I've had 2 ladners.. A female I wrote about before. Loved her to death but she was special, and now this younger one.

****ing trouble with legs. Hard-headed is putting it lightly. Pretty much built to work 24/7 and nothing else. Part-time hunters doesn't cut it. Not family dogs in the least. They want to hunt and that's it.

The other I got in Utah. He's half ladner and about the best damn dog I've ever owned. I can call him back from anything, he can run all day, he's a dog jui-jitsu fighting expert, and he's spectacular with my kids. I just send him out with my 5yo and he stays with him all over the property.

Woods Ag said:

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I do that regularly. Side by Side running every day, and we go to the bike park for mountain biking/trail running on occasion. Side by Side was out of commission for about a month.. Just ogt it back last week, that may be part of this. Just occurred to me. And I throw the tennis balls to them regularly - when wife does it, little one attacks big one when he has the ball and it ends in a fight it seems.

Jobs to do - the protect my chickens and hunt squirrels mostly. Nothing comes on this property - squirrel, deer, possum, dilla, coyote without the young one knowing it and they'll tear about anythign they catch to pieces. I send the big one out with my 5 year old son when he wants to go roam the property and he never leaves his side. Damn good dog.

Little one scheduled for ball removal on Monday. Next step for me may be to just let the big one fight him until they stop. May mean no more little one, but I've about had it. He's gotta learn

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I agree with all of it. Best of luck. My cur is 11 now and he just watches the world pass with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Colorado Mountains. Even at 11 he is strong as an ox and plenty of energy.

Is the little one territorial regarding your wife, and maybe that is the issue?

The solution may be just to split them up when it's just her around the house but it sounds like they generally get along otherwise.

I do not have the same breed as you, but we had the same problem.

Two Great Pyrenees run around our 5 acres...about 100lb each.

Both of these dogs fought and it was quite the spectacle when they got after it. I am 6' 4" and when these guys stand up, they must be 6' 2" tall. Their fights happened every time they saw each other, and were epic in nature, so it was very problematic. It was like watching a documentary on Animal Planet about wolves and how they fight. I am almost 60 years old and never witnessed such violent bouts between dogs...not even close.

Anyway, it was so bad we were going to give one up and called the GP rescue and all. They recommended to have them neutered (each were a little over 1 year old). We took one GP (the most aggressive one) to vet and did the surgery. This turned out to be a nightmare as he knew how to rid himself of the protective cone. One morning I went to the small area where we let him recover and it looked like Charles Manson came by = blood everywhere. I loaded him back up and had him stapled = could not believe he was still alive considering the amount of blood splattered about, but he did not seem to care.

That surgery was about 10 months ago and today both dogs play like a Lassie movie. Very enjoyable to watch and I do not believe there has been a single rhubarb since the surgery. NOTE: the other GP is still intact.

This is my experience and I hope it helps you somehow.

Kristi Noem is holding on line 2.

Shock collars and light up the aggressor

Cattle prod will solve the problem

Not neutered?

Make it so.

Get them out of the crates. Dogs should not spend 'most' of their time in crates. That's unacceptable.

Also, spend some time reading and training with positive reinforcement. If you need help, seek out a local 4H chapter with a dog club, they can help you out.

Skip the cattle prod and shock collar. Not necessary and will make your problem worse.

I know two people that lost part of a finger breaking up dog fights. Be careful.

Thank you. Young one was neutered on Monday. I've been gone for 10 days and got back last night. Whole time I've been gone after neutering, wife has said little one just charges older one everytime they are int he same room, so he's remained upstairs and older downstairs. Going out separately, getting 1 on 1 time with wife and kids separately, etc.

I got home last night, let them both roam freely and they've been great last night and all day today together. No issues whatsoever, no signs of aggression or apprehension, etc.

I don't know. I told her she needs to get some big dick energy

Yeah, I went and clarified the OP. I wrote - Crated most of the day lately and that isn't true. They've been crated by my wife when she's alone with the kids and scared they will fight.

It feels that way to me because in my mind these are my old yeller dogs that roam the land free and I hate seeming them kenneled.

Sounds like you hit on it here. When you aren't around they don't perceive her as the pack leader so they fight each other for that role. She needs to become the pack leader and they will accept their roles as equal members of the pack.
It really is this simple if she's willing to do what she needs to do to discipline them and not let them challenge her.