Dog Owners Facing Difficult Decisions

“I'm looking for advice from people who have successfully managed two dogs living under the same roof who cannot safely interact. I have a 5-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP), and my girlfriend has a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix with a history of dog-directed aggression and resource guarding. We've been together for a while and were planning to move in together this December. Unfortunately, we've had several incidents between the dogs, and we're now questioning wh”

“I guess I will just get right into it. My husband and I have 2 dogs. My husband has had our rescue pit bull mix for about 8 years (we’ve been together for 4 years) When he adopted him, he was estimated to be 6-7 years old. He is estimated to be 14 years old now and in the last few months he has been deteriorating quite a bit. He has his moments of energy but we especially see it at night. You can hear his extremely labored breathing from 2 rooms away. He almost seems to have sleep apnea and ther”

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“I got my resident dog 3 years ago from a neighbor. My neighbor kept 2 of the puppies and unfortunately due to cancer she kept them outside most of the time (day/night/ rain etc). She passed away a month ago and I couldn't take my dogs brother to a shelter. It broke my heart thinking of him getting put down (he's a bit aggressive towards dogs and sometimes with ppl). I took him in and so far it's been 1 month. We have him in the room and my dog in the living room. They eat inside thei”

“I have a 5.5 year old German shephard mix, Forest, that my husband adopted almost 4 years ago from a no kill shelter. He was brought there because he didn’t get along with an older dog in his first home. The first weekend he met my dog and he bit her a few times when she went near his kennel and toys. He didn’t break the skin and we were able to break it up but it really shook me up. We moved in together a few months later. About a month after moving in together my parents visited with their mal”

“A little over two years ago, my significant other and I decided to expand our family and get a puppy. We already had an older mixed-breed dog who does agility, and since I really enjoy dog sports, we were excited to raise another dog and hopefully do the same with him. We brought home an 8-week-old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier puppy. Unfortunately, things went wrong almost immediately. When we first introduced him to our older dog, the puppy became extremely aggressive. We did our research and took”

“Please, no judgment, I am not a professional, and I am seeking help. I have a two year-old 100 pound half pitbull, a quarter German Shepherd, a quarter husky dog. His name is Gus. I got Gus when he was 12 weeks old. He has been well socialized since day one. Many play dates, even with my mom’s small toy poodle, Chico. They played very well until one day Chico was instigating Gus, and Gus grabbed his head in his mouth and tried to shake him. Luckily he didn’t get enough grip on him to kill him an”

“We’ve had our dog for 3.5 years and had our cat for 11 years. They get along sometimes and our dog has never hurt our cat, but she chases and tries to control him (chasing him out of the room, jumping up and nipping him when he’s on the counter) pretty often. Besides these behaviors she’s a good dog. We tried behavior training before having our baby in 2025 and it maybe helped a little but not enough. The dog is good with the baby but problem is now that he’s crawling around, if she tries to cha”

“We adopted out boy Pluto who believe is a boxer/hound/Pit mix 11 months ago. We were told he had been passed around multiple times and came with some behavior issues, just not how bad it actually was. Pluto is extremely reactive towards other dogs and strangers. We can’t take him on walks in neighborhood anymore because there have been many times he has lunged at children, walkers, and other dogs and completely had a leash reactive breakdown. When people come over, he jumps up at them attempting”

“I am hoping we can get some professionals to weigh in on this dispute. My wife has a pet pit bull mix, female, approximately 11 years old. I will call that dog "M". M has severe anxiety and spends most of her time in a kennel or hiding in a closet. M shakes at loud noises and has to be sedated for thunderstorms, block parties, fireworks etc. Lately M has been refusing to leave her kennel even on calm days and I have to drag her out to relieve herself in the yard/avoid stiffness and cra”

“The dog had been fine with me before. My wife and I are temporarily staying at her mother's house. The pit bull mainly lives with her mom, but my wife is very familiar with the dog and it's used to her. Yesterday, my wife and I were trying to retrieve a piece of chocolate that had fallen under the sofa. We used a stick to get it out, and suddenly the dog became aggressive toward me. It cornered me and jumped on me. I tried to stay calm because I didn't want to hit or hurt the dog or”

“Hi there, recently my female dog lost her brother companion due to an illness. She is 9m old, Boston Terrier x. She is fixed and has been since 4m old. Her brother was also fixed @ 4m old and i never noticed they played like that or anything. I noticed that ever since he died (.a week or so ago) she has been "humping" my partners arm. She doesnt grind down on it or anything, she just makes the motions. Obviously, I realize this is harmless but I am wondering if this is a stress sign or”

“I sam so sad. My two girls(Husky 31/2 and Lab Mix 6) have had two vicious fights in less than 3 weeks. Both of them about food they weren’tceven going to get. Before this they always got along well. They are separated now, but do I have to keep them from each other in perpetuity? So scary and frustrating. submitted by /u/Time_Introduction318 [link] [comments]”

“Hi all I am in England: United Kingdom I will try and keep this as brief and factual as possible On Saturday gone, I was walking my two dogs and we came across another dog. Me and the other owner allowed them to greet as neither of my dogs have ever been reactive or shown signs of any aggression. We were stood talking and suddenly one of my dogs had seeming latched onto his however I am not sure what instigated this. We managed to get them apart, I checked the owner and his dog were okay. At the”

“My dog is 14. She’s a spayed pitbull Rottweiler mix and weighs about 46 lbs. She has declined over the past year or so with having accidents in the house initially. Then my husband killed himself with her in the house and she had really bad anxiety (understandable) but we started to try 100 mg of trazodone and 5mg of melatonin. We moved homes to get out of my old house, that house had 3 dogs living there and I don’t think she adapted well. It didn’t get better even after months and prevented me”

“Hello! I have an Australian Shepherd that I literally was forced into taking. When I got my house, he was part of the deal. From what I know of, the owner’s other two dogs would bully him and get aggressive with him over food, space and toys. Their solution was to keep him kenneled 99% of the time and I know the husband was pretty physical with him. Now that he’s in my care, I want to get him adjusted if possible to dogs and men (which seems to be what he’s reactive to. I don’t know if it’s actu”

“Hi all. I own 5 dogs in total (Magnus-XL, Lucas-L, Coco-L, Molly-L, Booker-S) and I have two dogs that within the last 6 months have started fighting- to the point of drawing blood on each other, and once having to be choked out in order to get him to let go. I am now crating and rotating. Here’s a bit about Magnus (the aggressor): he is now 3 and about to be 4, neutered, mixed breed from the shelter- assumed to be Saint Bernard x, about 150-160 lbs, have had him since he was about 8-12 weeks. H”

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“I have a 2 year old Aspin (Philippine native dog) he is the most energetic ball of joy when he sees people he knows, but due to his behaviour with other people he has become a problem to keep. He aggressively barks at people, the type that would make you jump when you hear it and he sneakily nibbles guests behind their foot when they aren't looking, as of now there is no cases of breached skin when he nibbles but it is a scary behavior that he has. Another behavior he does, is when any of my”

“I currently have 2 male dogs, a husky and a shepsky, who lived together for about 2 years. Me and my partner ended up staying with his mums for a while (she has 2 females in her house) and the first night we were there all the dogs were fine all together but the next day my 2 male dogs got into a fight and we’ve been trying to reintegrate them since During our time at his mums we would take them on walks together with both dogs muzzled so they are in each others space in a safe way but because o”

“this is my 3 year old golden retriever and border collie mix, Nacho. I’ve had him since he was 8 weeks old and he turns 4 in April. He weighs about 70 pounds and most of the time he is so sweet. He’s my first dog and I love him more than life so I’m crying as I type this. Starting last June, so about a year now, he began having extreme aggressive outbursts. He has bitten people severely on 3 different occasions since last June. First, he began growling and barking and snapping at people when the”

“Hi y'all, first time poster, long time reader, I'm in a difficult spot right now with my dog Freyja (3 year old Dutch Shepherd) and my roommate's dog Heimdall (5 year old GSD and Malinois mix). Freyja has reactivity issues, mostly same-sex aggression with other dogs that has only gotten worse after she went to live with my parents while I was without a home for 6 months. That 6 month stint got rid of what feels like most of her socialization. She was left outside on an acreage in Mon”

“Hello. I have a 5 year old male desexed Bull Arab x Ridgeback. In the last year my partner has moved in and brought along his undesexed male Irish wolfhound X Lab. Big dog. Lovely boy. Lovely nature. They are great friends and my partner is a hands on dog dad However the dynamic in the home has shifted hugely. And I’m not sure what adjustments are appropriate or just making matters worse. These are the problems I’m facing since having two big boys. \-intense exercise is just not enough. They get”

“My husband (38M) and I (39F) live alone in metro-ATL, no kids. We've had several dogs, including multiple Great Danes. We adopted male and female Blue Danes from the same litter 3 years ago when they were 3 months old. At the time, we had a 10.5-year-old pit-mix, Molly, we'd gotten from a rescue as a young pup, and she was very well socialized. We brought Molly with us to help pick out the Dane pups, and the 3 got along beautifully. A year later, a dear friend of mine passed unexpectedly”

“tldr - good boy bit everyone in our family, not sure if trainable or need to go to sleep. I recently adopted a 3–4-year-old male black Lab. He’s a big dog and was abused by his previous owners which I didnt know until now. He’s generally very friendly and has never attacked a person or dog without some legitimate reason. The problem is that he also has ultra violence in his toolbox and has no problem using it. The first incident involved our other dog, who has pretty bad resource guarding. He ha”

“One of our dogs passed in July and it was by far the worst time of our households lives. He was a great pyr mix and just wonderful. Our second dog, a 4 year old Chinese crested powderpuff mourned him greatly. We’re now looking for a new family member. Today we met two dogs we were approved for and my current dog, who is generally very loving and submissive, was not a fan of the dogs we met. My previous dog was male, so I wasn’t worried about gender but the dogs we met were both boys too. I also”

“I have a 1 year old corgi who I’ve had sense 2 months, and before we got him we already had 3 other dogs. At first it was fine they all got along but i honestly don’t know my corgi has suddenly been experiencing extreme aggression towards the other dogs for little to no reason at all. For example all there food bowls where previous lined up next to each other and they would all eat fine but now the corgi specifically will attack my other dogs if they are eating even if he’s not the one eating, s”

“It’s been a year since the last attack, both of my dogs are adopted street dogs. 5 years old F (Bug) & 1 and half years old, M (Chase). Bug the 5 year old is a massive bitch and randomly attacks the younger one out of nowhere recently. I threw a toy too close to her and he was running to get it and she lunged at his face, he was quick to attack her back by grabbing on her arm. It was so difficult separating them that i fell on my knee and my partner threw his phone and cushion cover at them”

“The dogs I have raised together are now fighting! My wife has just hit 28 weeks and my two male dogs have started to fight when we get home. Both are fixed, fine when we’re not home, but start fighting as soon as we pull into the drive way! I coach at a hs 45 minutes from my home, and I don’t want my pregnant wife to have to break up a dog fight. We’d like to avoid rehoming, if possible, but need help! submitted by /u/PieEastern7412 [link] [comments]”

“I’m not one to vent, but I feel like I need to. My wife and I have had our Dogo Argentino for almost 8 years now. We got him through a reputable breeder, did all the socializing, training, exercise, enrichment activities, etc. We did everything we could to fulfill him. There’s been dog aggression, a few cases of people aggression. No bites, but might’ve been. Because of this, we can hardly have people over. We never know who he’ll like or who he doesn’t. We’ve had to either crate him when people”

“I made a post saying that these dogs im watching for the first time keep getting into fights and nothing has changed. One of the males keeps growling and aggressively barking at the other male through the crate and sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. So far he hasnt had any other instances with the 2 females. I have not let him on the bed with me but he continues to growl at the others. I leave tomorrow so this wont be my problem anymore but if I do end up watching these dogs again I”

“When I got my first dog I had it in my mind that after a few years and they were trained I'd get a second. He'll be five this year and in my heart I still want a second but the reactivity issue is making me have doubts. While my dog has gotten way better than he used to be he's still a challenge. We also have some upcoming appointments to figure out some health issues and potential pain he's having which means we've really cut back on outings and training. I wanted a dog to d”

“For any curious this is an update post to my 6 month old male pitbull/lab see previous post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskVet/s/dCaHCHCsAU [TRIGGER WARNING: rainbow bridge/ putting an animal down] He had his neurological assesment, all 12 points in the face registered signaling no deficits. During the spinal assessment she noted some weakness in the middle back, given the history the MRI is still strongly suggested but its most-likely a spinal tumor that apparently tends to develop around hi”

“My 4y, 72 lbs, rescue, Amstaff mix attacked my 10 pound dog last week. Her triggers are sudden, and she gives my other dogs very little warning. Her warning is staring, going still, and a very slight (I mean VERY slight) lip raise. More like a quiver. Then she snaps. She will grab my other dog by the scruff and a fight ensues. She will do this if she is tired, or hungry. If I take her out for the day? She needs isolated or she will do this. If she thinks theres even a smidge of crumb on the floo”

“I’ve had my dog for a little over a year. She’s a mixed breed and has always been such a great family dog. She loves our kids, does great with other animals, and is very loving with the people she knows. Over the past couple of months, though, she started showing some signs of aggression toward certain people/strangers. We took it seriously and got her training, and things seemed to be going well. Unfortunately, about two weeks ago, she bit a girl badly enough that she needed a few stitches. I k”

“i have 2 dogs, jenni, a ~16yo chihuahua/pomeranian mix, and luna, a ~2yo husky. if jenni and luna are in the same room, jenni will bark and growl at her. on a good day, she'll pretty much just ignore luna, and on a bad day, she'll bark and growl at luna nonstop and i'll have to separate them. she does it completely unprovoked. luna will just be doing her thing, leaving jenni alone, and jenni will start freaking out. sometimes she'll go out of her way, coming in from the other roo”

“I have two dogs, a 12 year old female and ~9 year old male. Both are fixed. For the past few days my male dog is completely obsessed with my female dog and will not leave her alone. He incessantly licks her ear, eye, smells her all over, licks her privates and humps her. She just lets him. I’ve been putting him on a leash to keep him away from her and he cries and acts like he urgently needs to get to her. It seems like he can’t even control the impulse. My female dog has been diagnosed with an”

“Yesterday, I was pet sitting my parents dog. He is 6 years old and is a Pitbull boxer mix. I grew up with him and just recently moved out of my parents house and he was at my apartment. He has never been aggressive with humans and is such a lovely and cuddly dog. He has always been a little reactive towards dogs (lunging and pulling a bit) but in the past 2 years it has gotten worse. He has had training but he has been screaming and doing everything to get to a dog when he sees them out on the s”

“We have an approximately 6 month old, male pitbull/lab mix (we're told her also has some cain Corso but haven't seen traits emerge) who has shown major decline and were not sure what options are left. To preface mom has seen the vets, records and has better more accurate info than me/access to images and records are restricted on my end. Here's whats been going on... when we brought him home he was fine, regular pup, good energy, food motivated the works, we noticed a bit of toe curl”

“Hi everybody. My wife and I are new to this page and are seeking some advice. 10 days ago we rescued our 4yr old pit mix Manchego (Manny) and we are having some difficulty adjusting emotionally. My wife and I just moved from an apartment in NYC where we were not allowed to have a dog, to renting a house of our own (without a fenced in yard) in Delaware. This has been a very difficult year for us both. I lost my job, and we have also found out we might not be able to have children. 2026 has not b”

“Title says it all, we've had our first dog for 5 years and our second for 3. They've been inseparable and have not had a single problem in the entire 3 years. I left the house for about 20mins, came back and as I knelt down on the floor, the old one latched on to the youngest and went off. I had to lock the oldest in the bedroom because she kept going back to attack her. They've never once had an issue like this. They eat together, play together and sleep together. Some additional in”

“My wife is currently 8 weeks pregnant. We have had our dog for over 3 years. He’s a mutt that we got from a rescue home when he was 10 weeks old. He has never been violent, but has never liked people touching his paws. We trained him from a young age to be okay with everything else: you can grab his mouth, get his food or treats as he’s eating, play with him, etc. and he wouldn’t get violent in any way shape or form. We did this because we have 5 young nephews and 1 niece that love to play with”

“Hello, I have a doodle/catahoula mix female that is roughly 2 years old and a male doodle that’s is almost 4. They have lived together since the female was born and get along great. We had a female german shepherd show up at the house over a year ago now and she has stayed with us but the females do not get along when my mom is around. the german shepherd follows my mom around like she is herding her. She doesn’t let my mom get out of her sight. Anyways, the 2 females constantly have been having”

“I have two dogs one is 10 years old and his name is Rex and one is 4 years old and his name is Rocco. I’ve had Rex since he was almost 2 years old and I had Rocco since he was about four months. I haven’t been home to see this but my family was there when it happened, about two weeks ago my dogs started getting into intense fights, which seemed to be out of nowhere, which I know it’s not really the case. They had about four fights in one week and now that I came home over the weekend. I witnesse”

“I have two dogs one is 10 years old and his name is Rex and one is 4 years old and his name is Rocco. I’ve had Rex since he was almost 2 years old and I had Rocco since he was about four months. I haven’t been home to see this but my family was there when it happened, about two weeks ago my dogs started getting into intense fights, which seemed to be out of nowhere, which I know it’s not really the case. They had about four fights in one week and now that I came home over the weekend. I witnesse”

“* I tried to upload with a photo of them but it would not * I need some experienced input on 2 rescue dogs(male pitt mixes) me(43f) and my partner(34m) took in on April 18th, 2026, almost 5 months ago. 2 males. Vet and us guessed they were about 4 months old. Not neutered. Partner wanted to wait as long as possible for neutering. Since they arrived there is lots of fighting between the dogs. Biting the neck and whole body fighting. In the 2nd week I expressed that they need to be kept separate t”

“Hi there, I have a four year old golden retriever male who I love more then anything. He has been my special boy and comfort since I got him so this is actually breaking my heart right. From the start we had issues with him resource guarding, food sticks you name it. My partner and I read a bunch of books like mine etc when he was young. We went to numerous obedience trainings with him etc. his resource guarding continued to worsen so over a year ago we started working with a trainer and he did”

“I actually have 3 dogs and two puppies I'm giving for adoption, but one of the puppies has several behavior issues that I don't know from where they came from. He was born at home in a litter of two of my dogs (small breed). Problems: Tries to steal food whenever he sees the opportunity (even from the trash can), acts like a dog with abus3 background, acts scared when you try to pet him and screams even if you just look at him. His sister doesn't have any of these problems. Possible”

“Been a rough couple of months financially and we weren't able to get our dogs Apoquel prescription refilled for two months now. Her itching and chewing has gotten bad. We're finally able to get some medicine ordered for her but I am curious as to alternatives because the first vet we took her to basically said it was going to be $100 a month for Apoquel for the rest of her life and that's pretty much our only option. I've done a bit of research on cheaper alternative medications”

“Hi, everyone. I’m looking for some advice because my wife and I are in a really difficult spot. We have a ten-year-old Lab-Pit mix named Axel. We’ve had him since he was maybe9 to 11 months old, and he’s always been a big part of our family. A couple of years ago, he started occasionally snapping at our cat if the cat got too close when he had something. More recently, we got a puppy, and today Axel snapped at him while they were going for a ball and cut the top of his head. It wasn’t severe, bu”

“so i got a pit lab mix from the shelter. I got him when he was around 2 months, as a puppy he did the normal puppy things, chew, play, destroy. when he’s out in public he loves all the attention and will be completely fine and happy around other people. recently he’s had a lot of aggression toward my bf. he has bite him several times, where some are completely random bite attacks. one time my dog and my bf were on the couch, they were chilling where my bf was petting and able to touch him. out o”

“I have a pitbull mix who is now around 13 years old. I’ve had for almost 6 years at this point, I had gotten her from a family member that could no longer take care of her and didn’t want her to wind up in a shelter. For the 6 years of having her in had many ups and downs with her health. When she came to me she had a torn acl and had two masses removed that had tested positive for cancer. Shes had many health problems since then and I’ve dropped thousands of dollars to keep her as happy and hea”

“my boy is an 11 year old border collie, lab, spaniel and pit mix. 100lbs. He has either arthritis or a torn ligament in his knee, maybe both. He will let me help him in the car but is afraid to get out. We live in an apartment with stairs up to the walkway and more stairs into the unit. He’s on carprofen and gabapentin for presumed arthritis but I haven’t been able to get him into a clinic for X-rays because of the car aversion. A week ago he fell down twice, he struggles to lay down and he stru”

“So a family member of mine has a boxer mix who has become pretty aggressive. I’m not sure of a lot of the background, but she got the dog from a neighbor and I have a theory that he may have been being trained to be a fight dog. I dog say for her a few months back and the dog bit me 3x (only broke the skin once). After the first day, he got used to me and he was okay. But it still freaked me out enough that I won’t dog sit anymore. Apparently, he’s only gotten more and more protective of the hou”

“My wife and I moved in with a family member back in December and she has her own dog and we have 3 dogs. One of our dogs and his dog were super best friends, being together all the time and playing. More recently in the last few weeks one of our older dogs (9 female) has been growling at the family member’s dog and for some reason it has led to him taking it out on our dog that is normally his friend. This has happened more and more. Recently there were two times in which we couldn’t separate th”

“I’m looking for some outside perspectives because my husband and I are facing an incredibly difficult decision about our young male dog. He is just over a year old and is a small breed. We also have an older female dog (same breed), who we have had for 10 years without any behavioral or aggression issues at all, so we are not first-time dog owners. Our younger dog can be sweet, affectionate and playful. He loves being petted and playing with us and our children (2 and 6 years old), and the vast”

“Hi Redditors I’ve been reading posts and have seen how helpful and supportive this community seems to be I am faced with a really shitty decision and I know that the decision is mine but I would really appreciate some advice and feedback from people that understand I have a large (85lb) mixed breed dog and he is so sweet all the time to his family -I’m the owner I got him 8.5 yr ago when I was single. He’s loved boyfriends and friends and my parents and sister and aunt and uncle , etc. He has st”

“I have a 2 year old and an almost 4 month old. When my baby was a few weeks old, my 12 lb, 6 yeae old chihuahua bit my 2 yeae old on the hand. I was in the NB stage full force and knew my husband wasn't going to take the dog to the vet for evaluation so I set the idea aside and we completly seperated them all. Flash forward to last week I took my dog to the vet (the vet knows my dog) and she recommended behavioral eutnasia. For context, my dog has had aggression and biting problems from the”

“I have 2 dogs (both male Yorkshires, one is 6yo and the other 1yo) and live with two other people. Sometimes, the younger one wants to play and runs around with a toy trying to get someone's attention, but if the other dog tries to play with him, he'll just ignore him. If a person gives him any attention, and I mean ANY attention, while the other dog is trying to interact with him, he will lock eyes with them and only play with them, as if the other dog wasn't even there. If no one p”