Alpha (4 months old) and our other dog, Charley (approx. 3 year old female), have been fighting lately. Over the past week they've gotten into it 4/5 times. At first, I saw it as Charley kind of putting him in his place, teaching him manners, but it's getting worse (more intense squabbles). They don't generally last long, maybe 30 seconds, and no one has been hurt (yet). They are great together 95% of the time, what can I do to stop this? Lots of times it's over Alphas crate, Alpha has gotten kind of territorial about his crate and he gets upset if Charley even walks by it, or sometimes if she's laying across the room, but looking at him.

If you see staring snap your fingers or squeak a toy to distract them from it. Invite play or do something to break the stare down. Staring often leads to outbursts in dogs, especially dogs that are territorial or a little dominant.

We've been stepping in a lot when one does something rude. We do let Kai correct the puppy, but have learned that if we don't protect Kai from the puppy she will have to do it herself, which led to some fights in the beginning. For example, we protect Kai's food while she is eating - mako isn't allowed to go near her. No toy stealing. If one is playing with a toy and the other steals it we step in and give the toy back to the first one playing with it. If one is resting and the other starts to annoy them we break it off. It has really helped to stop the fighting as they know we are there to police and they don't have to solve it with aggression. Maybe the crate needs to be a safe place and if the other goes near you should step in. That's what has worked for us.

I wanted to answer this, this morning. I just can't seem to be able to express the right words. im still not able to, haha, but I'm going to try.

I think any household with more than one dog, there will be small fights/arguments here and there. Each argument will have its own triggers, for example, as well as my two get along, I know I can't give them each a bone in the same room together, yet with my last two I could. So currently, I know a bone could be a trigger to an argument so I seperate them to alleviate that problem. So first off, I'd say to try and figure out the most common triggers, and adjust the situations accordingly. You did mention the crate, with Alpha (btw, is it possible Alpha has something hidden in his crate that he is protecting?) with Alpha, I think a lot has to do right now with his age. 4 months or so and up a bit, they can get pretty bratty, so challenging Charly, is probably going to happen here and there, I think it's that whole trying to establish himself in the pack hierarchy thing. With my two, Mishka is pretty bossy, she will take things right out of Kohdi's mouth and he lets her...to a point, there are other times he just won't tolerate that, so he puts his foot down. My personal opinion is to let them establish those boundaries themselves. That doesn't mean to let them fight though, with each situation you're going to need to judge if and when to step in, and you will probably be stepping in pretty often, and correcting the one who was the instigator, but in most cases I think, each little fight is pretty quick and solved between the two of them just as quickly, like "no, this is mine, you're not getting it this time", I think it's pretty rare it gets past that...but if you can identify the triggers, adjust things accordingly around those triggers, you can probably eliminate much of the fighting. Like Jenah mentioned with food, if they can't eat together in the same room, seperating them will alleviate any issues between them. Mine can eat together in the same room, so there is no need to seperate them, but I will have to seperate them if giving them each a bone to chew on, whereas Jenah may not have to. Each dog and each situation is different. My two seem to understand each other now, I can't remember the last time there was any kind of disagreement between the two of them, and most was figured out between the two of them, with me stepping in when needed. Ugh, I feel like I'm just rambling and not really "helping" you I've tried typing this like 6 times today, lol, I'm just not good at explaining stuff. I'll post it and hopefully someone can elaborate better or I can add to it as things come up.

Jessica, since Jimmy voiced my opinion I won't go more into than to say that if they can settle the issues themselves, it's going to work out better in the long run.  

We humans have the fallacy that we're the "alpha" of the pack when, in fact, we're not even part of the pack.  If that were the case then by 'dominance theory' the children of the household would probably be at the bottom of the "pack structure".  But we all know that our dogs recognize us as master (or mistress) in our homes and our children are people, not dogs.  (( Yes, even when I'm being cute and referring to the kids as puppies your dogs know that they're small humans. ))

Your dogs MUST establish their own hierarchy.  Every time you interfere (since you say that there's no blood, these squabbles are dominance issues) you don't allow them to establish that hierarchy and they will have to do it all over again until they establish their own order.

As an example, I have two dogs both about five years old now.  I've had them for a little over three years and they are both rescues.  One wants nothing more than to lay back and take life easy, one wants to do nothing more than play 24/7.  Over the years I've had them there have been a few "corrections" issued.  Sasha is my dominant dog and when she said that she didn't want to play, Avalanche normally ended up in a corner.  Sasha will now play - not as much as Avalanche would like - but when she says that she's had enough, there is no doubting it.  Where before she would literally drive him into a corner and keep him there, now all it takes is a quick snap from her and Avalanche backs off  (of course, when *I* say "enough", they both quit! )

BTW, I completely agree with Jenn's comment that when they're in a stare down - break that off.
Ditto with Jenah's comment about setting them up so that they don't have anything to argue about - separate feeding, for example, if food is an issue.

So, IMHO, as long as there's no (serious) blood and as long as one or both of them back off when the "discussion" is finished ... it's better to let them settle it themselves.

Sorry y'all! My sons birthday is tomorrow so I haven't had a chance to write up a response. Al, your train of thought was mine, I was trying to let them sort it out, but was concerned because the frequency was escalating. Alpha can be super bratty though and I've kind of given Charley freedom to correct him.


Ok, so in terms of separate feeding, we feed them both in their crates, but I'm curious is that causing alpha to be extra territorial about his? We don't allow them to enter each other's crate, but Aloha does kind of board toys up in there. @Arctic Wind

@Jenah, if they are fighting over a toy, I take it away entirely. Not sure if this is right or wrong?

Also I never knew about the stare down being a negative body language. I have no idea how I missed this bit of info, but I've been following your advice and haven't had any scuffles. @Twister