r/corgi • u/rentatter • 17h ago
Two female corgis close in age – can this work?
So, we have Ruby, a feisty almost 4-year-old corgi girl who's spayed. We recently added a puppy to the madness: Oscar, a little boy who's currently 11 weeks old.
When Oscar had been with us for about a week, his breeder called us with a question. Would we be willing to take in his mum, Jill, too?
After the last puppy left the nest, the breeder had a complete breakdown. I don't want to go into too much detail, as it's not really relevant to my question, but let's just say she suffered a burnout due to a combination of physical and mental factors. She kept going for the puppies, but once they were all gone, she really struggled.
I've known the breeder for several years, and all our corgis come from her, so I went to pick her up. I felt like it was an emergency situation.
Jill is 3.5 years old, which means I now have two female dogs who are very close in age, plus a young male puppy. Anyone who's been around dogs for a while has probably heard that two females, especially those close in age, can be a recipe for some pretty nasty fights.
Jill has now been living with us for three and a half weeks, and, for the most part, things are going well! She's very sweet, is crate trained and likes people. She knows corgis but especially bigger dogs are still a bit scary.
We feed the dogs separately and are very mindful about giving attention when both girls are around. Ruby and Jill even play together, which is great to see. The only issue is that there's a certain tension between them, and when their energy levels get too high, their play can turn into a fight.
They both seem to have equally strong personalities, with plenty of energy and spunk. Neither seems particularly inclined to back down.
The good news is that the fights are relatively easy to interrupt. A loud voice or a clap is usually enough to stop them, after which we call them over and give them treats. They can sit next to each other and take treats without any snapping or growling. They don't seem to hold grudges, and there are no unprovoked attacks, freezing, or fixating on one another. So far, there have been no injuries or any yelping.
The fights seem to happen when play gets too intense, rather than out of nowhere. This happens once every 2 days or so (remember, Jill just got here so she's still getting used to her new home).
At this point, I'm not overly worried, but I really, really want this to work. I want all three dogs to be able to live together happily, and I definitely don't want these little spats to escalate into something more serious.
When Ruby and Jill play, I usually call them apart before things get too heated, but occasionally I'm too late.
So, I'm looking for some experiences, advice, and well-intentioned feedback from people who've been in a similar situation.
- Have any of you successfully kept two female corgis of roughly the same age together?
- Has anyone dealt with similar tensions between two female dogs and found a way to manage them?
- Is there anything I can do now to prevent these little fights from escalating?
- And, ultimately, can this work?
Is the idea that two female dogs can't live together peacefully really just a myth, or is there some truth to it?
I'd love to hear your experiences, especially from people who've been in a similar situation. I'm really hoping we can make this work!
I used ChatGPT to organise my post a bit as it was all over the place.
