Why are my two relatively mellow dogs, now attacking each other when they're in the same room?

Question

I have 3 dogs, a black lab, a chow/australian shepard, and a jack russel, the first two are male, the jack russel is a spayed female. The males have never had any problems with eachother, never growled at eachother or anything, then 2 days ago I was taking a tick off the chow's back, and the lab walked in, he growled then they both started growling the chow attacks the lab, I break it up, tried to put them together an hour later it happens again, since then they've attacked each other two more times, neither are showing signs of rabies, they're drinking water. I just honestly don't understand why the sudden change.

Answer 1

Sounds like a call to the "Dog Whisperer" is in order.  

Answer 2

This can happen with dogs.  Like others said are they neutered?  

If not get that done.  It may help a little but it's not a guarntee. If they are neutered,   How old are they?  

This is a risk dog owners take when having a mulitple dog household.  With same s*x dogs.  You may have to keep the males seperate from now on.   Get a behavorist also.

Answer 3

If they are not neutered you may always have this it is a dominance issue. your males must have reached that age, where one thinks he can dominate the other. They most likely do not have rabies they should have a rabies vacine as all dogs should .

Answer 4

i think its a case of dog dominance my dog once started attacking the other male dogs we had because he wanted to be the pack leader. its natural for dogs to at first get along but then they decide they that they are competition. i'm not sure of the "cure" because my mom made us get rid of the other dogs but...i'm sure its a dominance thing. but u may want to keep an eye on them because they could seriously hurt each other. if they do get in a fight plz don't go in to stop them because they will not realize you are their owner and may attack you as well adn you could get hurt.

Answer 5

it could be several different things i say jelousy or getting older, best bet would be to get them fixed

Answer 6

Lol @ rabies..

K firstly are your males fixed?  Males tend to be aggressive to other males if not neutered.

If they are both neutered, I'd seek out a behaviorist.  I've never had to deal with dog-dog aggression in my house, so I can't offer any advice past that.

Answer 7

Maybe they're both dominant males and they see the other as a threat, so they try to attack each other. There's no way to cure this.  

Answer 8

I read about this somewhere on the net where it is termed as dominance issue among pets. In order to understand why your dog is acting "dominant," it's important to know some things about canine social systems.

Animals who live in social groups, including domestic dogs and wolves, establish a social structure called a dominance hierarchy within their group. This hierarchy serves to maintain order, reduce conflict and promote cooperation among group members.

A position within the dominance hierarchy is established by each member of the group, based on the outcomes of interactions between themselves and the other pack members. The more dominant animals can control access to valued items such as food, den sites and mates. For domestic dogs, valued items might be food, toys, sleeping or resting places, as well as attention from their owner.

The SOLUTION? Spay or neuter your dog to reduce hormonal contributions to aggression.  Don't feed your dog people food from the table and don't allow begging. Ignore barking and jumping up.  Always remember to reward good behavior.