One of our dogs started attacking the other.
For context, we have 2 mini poodle mixes. The first is Lucy, mini poodle + Cotón de Tulear, 6. The second is Ruby, cavapoo, 3.
Background info
We got Ruby as a puppy. Despite some long-suffering looks on Lucy's part, they bonded fairly quickly. Lucy is a cat in a dog body, so Ruby actually taught her how to be a dog. They sleep together and play together.
Ruby is actually the easier dog. She is happy-go-lucky, bouncy, and always wagging her tail. She was easy to train. Other than the fact that sometimes she would legitimately forget what sit meant 😂
She has always been stressed around children, which makes no sense because we got her when our child was seven and she's always lived with a child. But every time my kid would have a friend over, as soon as they entered the room, Ruby would run after them, barking and jumping around. Of course I stopped the behavior and took the time to sit with Ruby and do repeated gentle introductions that way, and over time she has gotten better. Once she knows someone, she doesn't react that way anymore.
I started noticing a while back that Ruby would seem jealous if someone else, dog or human, got attention. For example, if I hug my child or pick up Lucy, she would start. I did stop the behavior each time.
She also developed a weird habit of being aggressive toward Lucy when she would come home from the groomer's. As soon as she would sniff Lucy, she would start to growl and go for her, snapping and growling. Bizarre because they get along so well otherwise. We changed the grooming schedule so that they get groomed together and thought that was the end of it.
A few months ago after routine vaccinations including lepto and bordetella, Ruby developed a nasty abscess, presumably at the injection site, and it required a late night ER visit for the abscess to be lanced and drained. Poor thing was very distressed. She is jumpy now, and startles and runs away every time I make an unexpected move or noise. It did seem to get a little bit better over time, but still not enough.
Now on to the current main problem. Within the last couple of weeks, Ruby has started to attack Lucy seemingly out of the blue. Last night and the night before, both of them were laying in bed with me. Around 4:30 each night, Ruby suddenly lunged for Lucy, growling and snapping. I stopped it right away with a verbal no. And scooped her up. (Ruby is 13 lbs. Lucy is 19 lbs). But afterward I could tell she wasn't her normal self. Her body language was stiff and she wouldn't look at me. She also had what I would call crazy eyes. The first time I put her outside the bedroom and closed the door. I didn't let her back in for a while. Last night I sat with her in a chair in the living room for a while until she calmed down. Interestingly, when I told her, just talking, you have to be nice to Lucy, she gave Lucy the side eye.
I am going to take her in to the vet and discuss this with them, but I'm just wondering what might be going on. And if anyone has suggestions of what to talk about with them or ideas about how to manage this, I'm all ears.