Our housemate has a husky who is kind've feral, I guess, and she has attacked Pooka over 5 times since he started living with us in August. She has 3 small scars on her face and they are taking very long to heal.

He is whipped by his dog and seems to like that she is kind've wild and pushes him around (woofs until he take her on a walk) Most of the time she is sleeping and being anti-social. She's pretty much like a cat. If you mess surprise her when she is sleeping she is likely to attack you (this was what happened to Pooka the first time, she jumped on sleeping Aurora) and she nearly attacked our housemate once too.

The housemate is my husband's best friend and my husband is soo soo angry about this. He is very protective of Pooka and does not appreciate the way his friend won't train his dog to submit to him and instead treats her like a queen (she doesn't go in a crate or get baths or brushed because "she doesn't like it") He never tells her no or corrects her meaningfully. If Pooka and the dog are fighting he tells her no and then once it breaks up will hold her head and apologize to us. He always feels really sorry about Pooka getting little bite marks (he likes her a lot) but its never enough that he'll really wail on his dog to try to stop the fight.

Anyways, my husband thinks its best for me to confront the housemate because he would probably ruin their friendship by not being able to control his anger.

The fights are usually because there is a toy, but more likely because there is a rawhide/bone and Aurora decides she is going to be protective, even if it is Pooka's. It's not all the time, just if she gets in that mood for some reason. Pooka also likes to be protective to other dogs and considers it a game. She knows how to submit to a larger dog, but she's not SUBMISSIVE; she won't be pushed around. If its her bone, she will still go for it (in submissive pose) even if Aurora is growling.

We don't want them to move out. We actually think its good for Pooka to have another dog around and to learn how to be submissive to an aggressive dog and read other dogs behavior (socialization) but we need more from the housemate's end to try to prevent this.

SO! Any advice from anyone who's had something like this? Or tips to stop fights? I've never known a dog like this. She doesn't get along with most dogs at all and they often have to lock her up if they go somewhere with a lot of dogs. It seems like the housemate is always home when the fights happen so its not like locking up Aurora when he's not home would help. I just mean... if I can't come up with a solution myself, what am I supposed to tell him I want to do about the situation? I think I will tell him it is unacceptable and that I want, when a fight starts, him to grab his dogs back legs and physically pull her away and then correct her, not just hold her. I also want a policy of if there is any growling coming from Aurora towards Pooka, the chew needs to go away for a few days, or Aurora immediately needs to be taken to his room.

The reason this has come to a point is that their last fight was really bad (I wasn't there) but the housemate was on the couch, my husband at his desk across the room. The fight happened behind the couch and my husband still got there quicker and was the only one to take active action to remove one of the dogs or even raise his voice in a serious manner. He didn't see a cut at the time, but last night I noticed an inch long, scratch under her jaw, with dried blood which is dangerously close to her throat which put my husband in a rage about that Aurora could kill Pooka. The housemate was gone for the weekend but I want to have our conversation when he gets back.

Advice on confrontation? Advice on what to tell the housemate to do?
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UPDATE: Found two more bite marks right next to each other in the area between her shoulder and neck. I guess this last fight was a really bad one and that my husband needs to learn to check her better. This gives me a good jumping off point, cuz three bites by her neck is... scary =(

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Comment by christy fry on January 8, 2010 at 4:32pm
Aurora could kill Pooka that alone would only have 1 reaction from me and that is the roommate and dog would go period. It might hurt his feelings sure, but how are you gonna feel if the next fight is the one to cause major damage or death???? How important are his feelings gonna be then? I'm sorry if this sounds a little harsh but I think the best policy for you at this point is going to have to be a zero tolerance one. Aurora should prob. not be off lead around Pooka while bones/chewys are around in the mean time

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