How interdog aggression develops in multi-dog households and evidence-based management approaches that protect all dogs involved.
Interdog aggression within a household creates welfare harm for all animals involved - the aggressor is often anxious and hypervigilant, the recipient experiences fear and is unable to move freely through its environment, and any additional dogs experience the chronic low-level stress of unpredictable conflict. The welfare goal is not to achieve dogs that perform tolerance of each other but genuine management of incompatibility that allows each dog a quality of life not constantly compromised by social threat. This sometimes means permanent management of incompatible dogs rather than attempting behavioural rehabilitation that is unlikely to achieve genuine positive inter-dog relationships.