Super strength of male dogs when a female is on heat

By Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM | September 12th, 2018




I currently have 3 male dogs and one bitch in my custody. The bitch – a Lhasa Apso breed - came on heat and all the 3 males became uncontrollable. One of these 3 males is a huge Caucasian breed and the rest are toy dogs of Japanese Spitz breed and a Lhasa Apso breed. Since the female came on heat they have all acquired bite injuries from each other. It was very difficult to save the bitch from the Caucasian whose sheer size was a danger to the little Lhasa Apso bitch and to me the “savior”.


Ramsey, the Japanese Spitz that use to be friends with the Rex – the Caucasian - started to challenge him to the point of a serious fight. I always rushed out to save Ramsey because Rex can break his limbs in one bite.

Drizzy, the Lhasa Apso male got lots of injuries from Ramsey in the same struggle which made me to confine him in a different location.


The marvel in all these is the super strength these male dogs tend to express during this period. They are ready to starve in other to have the female to themselves. Each one fights as if he has what it takes to defeat his rival even when it is obvious he cannot win the fight. The determination to become the prime male among the rest heightens so drastically that anyone around must feel the tension in the atmosphere.

Releasing them to roam about is done with a lot of worry because they will never stop fighting. Sometimes they seem to be good with each other when released together but before you turn your face to the other direction a serious fight has started. This led to a one-by-one release of each male dog to ease themselves unlike when they were released together.


From my experience, this fighting may never end even when the female is removed or when the female’s heat ends. I guess the fight to subdue others in order to become the prime male continues so that the next opportunity to mate will be left for the eventual winner. This is typical to dogs in a pack. Usually the oldest or the biggest male around wins the fight and eventually becomes the prime male and every male around can only sneak around to have a taste of the bitch on heat.

The situation is different when the dogs are of different breeds. Sometimes some male dogs in the struggle might lose their lives due to excessive bleeding from the bite wounds. I have seen dogs that lost one of their eyes and became partially blind. I have also seen a small breed that was torn apart by a bigger breed that his life was cut short.


The issue is not the right to mate but the fact that these dogs forget their size and strength compared to their rival and will fight like they stand a chance. Sometimes they use different means to run from sustaining bite wounds during the fight and still try to inflict injuries to their rival. The super strength they show in these quest is the highest you can ever observe from your male dog.

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    Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM

    Founder of Fairvet Animal Clinic Ltd since 2011, studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is well experienced in small animal, large animal & poultry medicine, and also skilled at zoo medicine. He loves animals and builds both professional and personal relationship with pet owners in order to sustain a good interaction with pet and animal owners, coupled with His great skills in programming; he brought about www.fairvet.com which he personally built from scratch.



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