# Moody Female Dog - Any Thoughts/Advice?



## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

My 3 year old female spayed Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Lily, who is normally good natured occasionally gets really crabby with my other two neutered males. She seems to lose patience with them on occasion and really lights into them and we have to pull her off of them. She's never hurt them - it seems to be more of a female screaming at them in their face, telling them off kind of thing, like PMS or something...LOL They always give her a wide berth after that for a few days. 

A friend told me that she is probably still feeling the effects of hormones from her heat cycle even though she's been spayed for months - is that possible?

Lily also has one blue eye and one brown eye. I know that is common in dogs. A lady stopped my DH the other day while he was out walking her and told him that Lily was a "spirit dog" because of her eyes, according to old Native American Indian lore. Anyone know anything about that? I thought maybe that lady was just flirting with my DH. LOL

We do call the blue eye her "crazy eye" as you can tell when she's getting mad at the other dogs, she gets a real fiery look in it....this happens every few weeks - the getting mad at the other dogs. Kind of like a cycle or reaction to weather/moon changes or something - I don't know...maybe hormones like my friend said???? 

Well, anyway we love her so much in spite of her occasional bad moods, she is a super smart and loving dog. So pretty too. She holds the alpha position here and has my DH wrapped around her little paw.


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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

I'd get her vet checked, maybe nothing, but brain tumour could cause what is happening


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

She is just a dominant dog. She disciplines them when she feels like it. It is not a hormonal issue.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I agree with mekasmom. She's just making sure they don't forget their place.


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

She may be the alpha dog in the pack, but I'd be concerned with her thinking it's okay to discipline them to this extent. Does she back off as soon as you lay the law down?


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

SilverFlame819 said:


> She may be the alpha dog in the pack, but I'd be concerned with her thinking it's okay to discipline them to this extent. Does she back off as soon as you lay the law down?


Yes, she does. No problem with that, but she seems so angry at times that it doesn't make sense to me. She minds us very well, but I think if we weren't around that she wouldn't stop on her own and that's what worries me.

She is always crated when we are not at home, which isn't often as we are home most all of the time. We would never leave the other two dogs alone with her. I worry that she might not stop on her own and cause some real damage. They all three are small dogs.

When she first came to live at our house, she was around 6 months old, our Pug did the same thing to her for about the first year, then she turned the table on him, which makes sense. She definitely knocked him out of his role of Alpha dog. Problem is she gets just as angry with our little Chihuahua, who has always been submissive to her from day one. She really scares him sometimes....poor little guy. 

Then a few minutes later they will all be happily playing together....

And I might add - she is wonderful with children. She is loving, tender, and affectionate with my grandkids. She totally dotes on my grandson who can be very loud and obnoxious, she never loses patience with the kids. Of course, we supervise them all together too. But she sees the kids in a totally different way than the other dogs here, which is good. One of our other dogs, now since passed away, used to compete with the grandkids. That was a big problem, that I would never ever want to deal with again. But again, thankfully Lily has always been great with the kids....


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## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

I agree with the others--she is simply an alpha female, and feels the need to make sure everyone knows it!! As long as the others back down, and she doesn't hurt them, I don't think it's a huge issue. I wouldn't let her go TOO far with it, though. For example, it's okay for her to put them in line if they are misbehaving, but I wouldn't allow her to simply bully them or "guard" you against them.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your wisdom. I've never had this situation before so obviously in my face with my dogs. My dogs in my past years all got along great with no extreme alpha behavior out of any of them. My females were all very peaceful with the males, although one female was the alpha for years, but she didn't feel the need to correct the others like my Lily does....but there are probably things that I don't see as far as these 3 dogs communicating goes. She's a herding breed, so that may have something to do with it too....

So no one here has ever heard of "spirit dogs"? Native American Indian lore deemed dogs with one eye blue and one eye brown to have spiritual qualities . They thought them to be special dogs...


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

I would be concerned about a dog you cannot trust around other family dogs. I have a tendency to think she wants to be the alpha dog but isn't exactly sure she is. When we went to service dog boot camp the agency's owner said that the absolute to dog never showed any aggression at all. She knew she was the top guy and everybody else did. She didn't sniff the other dogs. They all sniffed her. Nobody ever got out of place with her.

Tootsie was top dog here. Now, our Rebel has always wanted to be the boss. He has the desire but he doesn't have the personality. Heck, even the new kitten gets to drink out of the water bowl before Rebel does. Rebel is the one who vies for the spot. Tootsie never did.

Does your female stop her aggression without you physically removing her from the situation? I wouldn't let her be alone with small children. If you're afraid she could hurt your other dogs, I'd be doubly afraid she could possibly hurt a child.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Joshie said:


> I would be concerned about a dog you cannot trust around other family dogs. I have a tendency to think she wants to be the alpha dog but isn't exactly sure she is. When we went to service dog boot camp the agency's owner said that the absolute to dog never showed any aggression at all. She knew she was the top guy and everybody else did. She didn't sniff the other dogs. They all sniffed her. Nobody ever got out of place with her.
> 
> Tootsie was top dog here. Now, our Rebel has always wanted to be the boss. He has the desire but he doesn't have the personality. Heck, even the new kitten gets to drink out of the water bowl before Rebel does. Rebel is the one who vies for the spot. Tootsie never did.
> 
> Does your female stop her aggression without you physically removing her from the situation? I wouldn't let her be alone with small children. If you're afraid she could hurt your other dogs, I'd be doubly afraid she could possibly hurt a child.


Our Pug will fight back when she jumps on him, so maybe they are still working this Alpha thing out. He was the Alpha originally and didn't want to give it up to her. I think maybe she doesn't feel secure in the position yet and still fighting for it. She certainly appears to be the Alpha to us, but maybe not yet.... Again, this aggression from her doesn't happen often, maybe once every month to 2 months...

She stops the aggression when we tell her to in a harsh tone. Sometimes just walking near her stops it immediately... Early on we would have to grab both her and the Pug by the collars and pull them apart. No blood has ever been drawn. My SIL thinks we should just let them fight it out, but I fear an injury might happen to the Pug's eye or worse. She has a much better chance to cause damage with her teeth than he does with his tiny teeth. It's also hard for him to get a grip on anything with his mouth.

Out of all 3 dogs, Lily is the one that is wonderful with people, especially small kids. That being said, we don't leave any of our dogs alone together and never leave them alone with our grandkids. Just to always be on the safe side....


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

Often when humans try to interfere with dogs who are communicating, they will only add confusion and imbalance to the situation. Usually totally ignoring it and letting them work it out works best - as long as you dont have a dog that goes off the deep end and escalates things beyond what is acceptable. In that case, I would send a clear signal to end it now.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Haven said:


> Often when humans try to interfere with dogs who are communicating, they will only add confusion and imbalance to the situation. Usually totally ignoring it and letting them work it out works best - as long as you dont have a dog that goes off the deep end and escalates things beyond what is acceptable. In that case, I would send a clear signal to end it now.


Good point! There's a difference between growling and nipping and real, aggressive fighting. Dogs can sometimes make a whole lot of noise when they're figuring things out. Dominance is a normal thing. Aggression is what's undesirable. 

Is one dog humping the others? If so, that dog really wants to be boss.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Joshie said:


> Good point! There's a difference between growling and nipping and real, aggressive fighting. Dogs can sometimes make a whole lot of noise when they're figuring things out. Dominance is a normal thing. Aggression is what's undesirable.
> 
> Is one dog humping the others? If so, that dog really wants to be boss.


Well, truthfully I think Lily and our Pug would fight to the death if we didn't put a stop to it, with the Pug getting the worst of it injury wise. They are always both so angry, but then a few minutes later they are playing again. They got in a fight today over a toy laying on the floor. This after days of getting along. Lily will not share anything with the other dogs.... She is possessive of all of the dog toys even though they're not all hers. And if a piece of food accidentally hits the floor there is an all out death brawl amongst the three of them. Mostly things are peaceful though. I take great care to create an environment where they won't feel a need to fight over anything. She just always seems to start it....

The Chihuahua is the only humper even though he's been neutered. He likes to hump the Pug and he has no issue with it. However, he doesn't try to hump Lily as she will not put up with it. He is neutered and has always been very submissive to both dogs. He humps his bed daily too. Vet says he's just a horny dog.... :shocked:


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

Joshie said:


> Good point! There's a difference between growling and nipping and real, aggressive fighting. Dogs can sometimes make a whole lot of noise when they're figuring things out. Dominance is a normal thing. Aggression is what's undesirable.


 Mine sure do. I have a trio that run together each day and they play so rough an outsider would think they are killing each other. They reprimand each other with growling and snapping when one of them gets too rough. None of them have ever actually fought each other - being together for 2+ years. Those 3 are just rough players and enjoy it.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

SageLady said:


> They are always both so angry, but then a few minutes later they are playing again. They got in a fight today over a toy laying on the floor. This after days of getting along. Lily will not share anything with the other dogs....


The alpha dog owns everything. She is just reminding the pug of that fact. They like each other. They aren't angry. It's just a pecking order that is established. She might nip the other dog, but she won't kill him. The main "serious" injury resulting from that type of dog arguing is aural hematoma. She won't kill the dog. The pug just needs to learn to back down.


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I work for a vet that breeds corgis. This is how corgis are. She plays musical crates because dog A fights with dog B ect. There has been times were the fights were almost to the death so do be careful. Corgis are cute but they are tough dogs that are more terrier like then herding dog.


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