Why does my Chow do that?

[gebower]

Hello everyone from Tucson, AZ,

I have two Chows, one is Max and he's 2 1/2 years old and his half sister, Zeena, she's 1 1/2 years old. This is problem I can't figure out. If there's some animal, cat, squirrel, whatever, the Chows will start barking at them, but Zeena will sometimes turn around and attack Max!!!! I don't know if it's frustration because she can't get the animal or she doesn't want her big brother muscling in on her action. I've had to use a broom to separate them a few times. Now we have two cats right across the street from us that out at night and our Chows go ballistic over that. I thought the ones to go to we're the Chow owners for the answer to this one.

[kingalls]

We have the visiting rodent issues here, too. While they both get excited, we haven't had the problem of one getting so worked up as to attack the other. I don't have any suggestions on how to resolve that but perhaps another member will have some ideas.

[Boogie and Linda]

I think it is that they get so worked up they have to get out that pent up energy. I have one that will attack like that whenever there is anything causing stress. I think there have been posts on it in the behavior section. I have not been able to keep it from happening but I can tell when it is going to start and already seperate them. We have a neighbors cat that likes to look at them through the fence. Or are own cat that looks at them through the window and sirs them up.

[LEO's mum]

I haven't got a clue. But, I've seen it happen w/ the two chows I grew up with. A cat walks by the fence and the girl chow would attack the boy chow. She was older by a year and a half. She was smart & sharp, the boy was sweet & well, a bit slow. I've got a younger brother who is sweet and well, a bit slow. I've always thought it was the way my parents raised us.....

[Sirchow]

My two do that too and they are a VERY small cavalier spaniel and a chow. They go balistic at each other when the door bell goes or when they see a small creature that should not be in our garden. They have got used to the neighbourhood cats now and that doesn't set them off. I find that the easiest way to avoide these situations is to be one step ahead when ever I can see it coming. Is is possible to accustom them to the cats alone a bit. The more emotion envolved the more they kick off at each other. I think it is when their hunting protecting/instinc is not able to have an outlet it gets displaced into other behaviour. You need to find alternatives to the situation before it gets to that stage if you can. Trouble is you never know when a cat or small creature is going to appear.

[Victory]

It's mostly frustration. I'm betting that Zeena is a bit hyper. My Firesong is just like that and will attack Dreamdancer when she's hyper excited by squirels, birds, cats or other creatures outside the windows. Normally I tell her to knock it off and it stops, she never truly hurts him and if she does he yelps and it's over. When she was with Darkwind he's put up with it until she hurt him then he'd chase her. I think some of the females are hyper and need extra excersize or they go nuts when they go into "hunter" mode.

If you distract her right at the very moment she starts in on him, you won't need a broom, use treats, sharply call her to get her attention and then call her to you and then give her a nice treat. After a few times, she'll begin to associate the way you call her with a treat and stop going after him.

[JasonandNat]

Yeah we have had this as well. Paying attention and getting them to refocus fast enough works. If you don't, we found not interfering is better than interfering as they tend to use it for attention. They do seem to get 'focused' sometimes in a way that is almost savant like.