When I got home today, I greeted my dogs (Andorra - Golden...

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Question by Andi @ Cirrutopia
Submitted on 5/20/2004
Related FAQ: rec.pets.dogs: Golden Retrievers Breed-FAQ
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When I got home today, I greeted my dogs (Andorra - Golden Retriever and Chloe - Newfoundland) and started to put my books down. Andorra went to go pick up a toy in a corner of the room and Chloe came up behind her and cornered her. Chloe didn't intend to hurt her, she just wanted to play. But Andorra felt threatened and turned around and attacked Chloe. They've fought a couple times before and cut each other a few times before, but watching this was horrible. Chloe was fighting back and I couldn't get them apart. (Last time I tried this, I ended up in the emergency room - oh this is an interesting story I'll have to tell it to you guys someday - parts of it are kind of funny, parts are really horrible, and parts would give you some insight to how little my dad seems to care about me) Right. Back to the dogs. We took Chloe to Animerge, an emergency animal hospital, and the vet said the way we were treating the cut was fine, and to keep doing what we were doing. After a nice trip to Polar Cub where Chloe enjoyed a vanilla ice cream cone we went home and reintroduced the dogs. Chloe tried to attack Andorra again. Dr. Zacchio (our vet) gave us the number of a dog psychologist, which is something I thought my mom would never be interested in. He also said that we could try spaying Chloe (that would make the 99.9% non-aggressive dog less aggressive; sounds effective, eh?), or that we could put Andorra on a sedative. The sedative thing makes me nervous. I don't know why I have a problem with meds that alter your mind, but I do. On the one hand, it could be better for everybody if Andorra is put on medication, but it's like labeling her as a dog with an aggression problem, which I feel horrible doing. She's like a child to me. I don't like seeing her as not perfect. And I definitely don't like thinking of her as having some mental issues. She's a dog! Anyway, I guess she might have an aggression problem. Her issues with Chloe seem more like sibling rivalry to me. Andorra has never shown signs of aggression toward any other dog or person, even dogs that have/have tried to attack her. She prefers the company of people and would rather keep a foot or two between her and other dogs, but she has no problem regarding aggression towards other dogs. I'm not sure what to do. What do you think? Andorra is a great dog - she's good with ALL people and all other dogs. How can I keep her from hurting Chloe again?

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