Dogs character has changed

I have 2 female staffies which have 4 months between them, the youngest is just over 2 years old and i got them as pups i bred the oldest one of them. when she was 4 weeks pregnant she was sat at the side of me and the other was on another chair, she jumped up and dragged her off the chair it was a struggle to seperate them but managed really quick. i spoke to my vet who said it was normal and to seperate them until after she has had the puppies, so i have. The pups are 3 months old now the last one leaves me tomorrow. I have them in different rooms and a large running area outside which they are on a rota and change, my other staffie with no pups runs with 2 pugs less than 1 year old, by accident my son has let the one with no pups out and even tho there is a fence between them they still manage to bite each others lips my son has to get one dog and i have to run round for the other dog and eventually we seperate them as they dont just let go, i am not really sure which one starts the fight going but i am now thinking its the one with no pup as the other day i let her out in the run with the 2 pugs while i took mum out for a walk and left the pups in the house and the other staffie was going mad at the fence the one on the lead just wanted a walk, but i cant trust them being together. What can i do to get them friends again or at least even looking at each other with out going crazy. They use to walk together and i cant even do that as i walk them on my own.

Please help anyone

Hi ya, welcome to the forum from Flo and me

Sounds like you've got your hands full there. I wonder if it's something to do with one having pups and the other not? It could be that once all the pups have gone things might settle but I would start them off on neutral ground on lead and walking apart. Of course you will need another person there to help.

If they walk ok separated then try walking them on lead next to each other and slowly over days and weeks see how they get on. I guess the last resort is having to try and find a new home for one of them if things don't settle but let's hope it doesn't get to that.

We have a great moderator on the forum who has far more experience with these things than me who, I hope, will be able to offer some better advice

The only problem is i am keeping one of the puppies

New home is not an option i would rather keep them apart

i believe its normal for them to change when they are pregnant its my first experience

i bought a muzzle as i thought to walk the mum staffie with a pug and muzzle the staffie as i think it would be easier if anything was going to happen but thought i would ask first incase it would make it worse for her

Muzzle training is always a good idea and a good solution if the trust isn't quiet there so yes, give it a go. I am kinda pleased to read that you don't want to rehome as that is often the easy answer but not always the best.

Hopefully Liz will reply when she sees your post and offer some more advice

i had to take the mum one to the vets for her jabs and thought its quiet i will take her for a walk around the lake somewhere new for her , then i noticed someone a bit in front with a dog, the dog wasnt on the lead i thought i will keep the distance and keep back then they turned round as it wasnt on a lead i couldnt chance it in case and turned around aswell heading back to the car then 3 people where walking towards me one on no lead and the other on a long stretchy lead, the old man ran and put his dog on the lead as i stopped and kept my dog close to me she didnt bother as the dogs where walking passed she doesnt see many people so just wanted them to stroke her but the older woman with the stretchy lead decided let her dog come towards mine i put my leg in front and said she just had puppies can they keep her back just to be safe the lady understood, i dont know if she would do anything but dont want to take any chances, i think if she was going to do something my leg wouldnt of stopped it but i dont want my dog have to be put to sleep because of what the other lady was doing luckily the lady thanked me for telling her

i had a thought and didnt know if this would work or make it worse in the fenced area i have i have sections where i open and close for each door they use. i can put one dog in a section to the left, me in a section in the middle and the other in a section to the right, this way they can not get to each other, i read everytime one of them acted wrong to water pistol them to show them i am the boss as they are trying to show who is the boss and thats why they are reacting in this way. Has anyone tried this or think its a good idea to try, if it worked i could at least have 2 seperate sections and they can go out at the same time rather on rotas

The water pistol thing in my opinion doesn't work as they don't understand why it's happening to them, it's much better to reward the behaviour you want than to reprimand. For example, if you can get one to sit nicely whilst the other walks passed then that is the behaviour you reward. Most dogs are food orientated so that's the reward I would use.

I think you are also wise to be wary that of other dog walkers just now, as you say, it's better to be safe than sorry