I have a two and a half year old Golden Retriever and a 6 month old Springer spaniel/collie cross.Both are bitches. The GR is so laid back as to be horizontal the phrase 'yeah whatever' sums her up. The puppy is very fiesty. Up to now they have got on very well. The older dog lets the puppy get away with a lot but then will suddenly put her in her place. Recently though they have had a couple of fights (not play fights). The older dog seems to have become wary of the puppy even when the puppy is not doing anything or appears to be trying to be friendly. They seem to suddenly growl at each other for no reason. We have followed the rules about letting one dog (the older one) be dominant in our eyes by feeding her first /greeting first etc. We are not sure what to do now. In my view the puppy seems to have a more dominant nature and I think she may well become the dominant dog. My partner wants to resist this and disciplines the puppy for growling etc. The older dog seems to be acting as if intimidated at times this week when the puppy appears to be nowhere near her. How far do we interfere and how far do we let them get on with it? Do we let them fight or stop the fight? Will this get worse or will they sort it our themselves? I appreciate that the puppy is coming into sexual maturity and may be vying for dominance. Any advice please

Its not unusual for this to happen with two same sexes in the same house. What an adult will take from a pup and vice versa becomes different once both are matured. At 6mths the younger will be undergoing hormone changes and her season is likely to be approaching. Either the pup will start to compete with the older or the other way round, in this case it seems to be the pup with the adult being goaded into fighting her corner.

I had it with mine. Pup came at 12 weeks accepted by 11 plus year old female who had been spayed best part 10 years. Pup came in season my adult started on the pup, pup finally retaliated, however it didnt escalate as I was there to stop it. Season finished, back to normal, had her spayed 12 weeks later at a year and no probs since.

You will need to not leave them alone unsupervised. Triggers that will especially set them off are food, chew,toys, confined areas, attention, visitors coming. At the moment you need to avoid all these. I would feed them separately and take bowls up straight away, No food to be left otherwise. Only give chews and toys when you are there and then make sure they are not in close proximity to each other, any eyeing up,growling at each other nip it in the bud before it escalates. Dont give attention or fuss each one where they are likely to compete. Dont leave them together in confined small areas. In all honesty I would even get two spaced apart water bowls because Ive seen them even compete over that. Be very wary if you have visitors that can give them reason to compete.

Other than this the only thing I would advise is to have them both spayed,in the meantime dont let them get into any serious fights by avoiding triggers as much as possible above. Until the younger or boths either had/finished a season and or spayed, you need to be careful. Mine were managed until I got them spayed plus also I think the older and smaller one realised eventually that although she started the problems the younger one who is bigger was going to retaliate and she had the sense to realise to a degree that if I hadnt protected her she might just come off worse. However this is not always the case and you can get two dogs especially of the same sex who wont give in whatever especially if they remain entire, then even if semi ok they will start again every season. Then if they get into the culture of fighting you cant always stop it, thats why you need to ensure it doesnt happen bu supervising and management in the meantime. Hope this helps.

I absolutely agree with this (althought mine were the same size) our older dog was trodden on actually but when she retaliated she did with some gusto but even i knew if the younger one retaliated the older one would have had no chance and i know she knew this as she always stopped short.
Everything sled dog said makes perfect sense good luck

I've got 3 adults and 2 youngsters here. The two adult boys get along fine with the youngest male who's 11 months, they've not gotten into any nastiness or aggressive outbursts but one of the adults does play alot with the youngster... licking and nibbling each others faces whilst lying down facing each other. I tend to put a stop to this as soon as I see it purely because of it wrecking the head falls as both are shown.

The two girls are mother and daughter, so far, they've not had any issues that would make me think there's a dominance thing starting but the daughter has gone through this with her dad. She used to pounce on him in a playful way and in the beginning he would tell her off with a low growl or a little snap and I would tell her off for bothering him and sort of wag my finger at him with uh uh sound. She ignored my warnings and has brought her dad around to her way of thinking... ie that she's the boss of him She showed our youngest boy that she was the boss when they were both little, not by being nasty but just by playing with him and sitting on him lol... he doesn't care who's in charge though and is happy to just do what he does, nothing much phases him. The only one that will not allow our youngest girl to take top spot is my oldest male. Since she brow beat her dad into submission she's taken to pouncing on the oldest male who does not give in, he will growl until she gives up or until I make her leave him alone... maybe he has stood his ground because he knows I'm on his side ahhh well, he was my first and will always be my No.1

If the behaviour is bothering you or you think it could get out of hand, then perhaps you should stop it as soon as you see something happening or start to develope. This could go on for a while unless as sled dog has suggested, they are neutered.

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ShazaLhasa
My fabulous furry friends

Don't punish growling.
growling is CRITICAL information and is to be heeded, not ignored,
and DEFINITELY not punished - what do U expect a dog to do,
send a politely written petition?! hold a sit-down demonstration?!
go on a hunger-strike?!

a BITE without warning is what results when
humans PUNISH growling - then they kill the dog,
for biting without warning, %#@!&*@!

please spay both dogs ASAP. good luck - U will need it.

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

I had this with two bitches recently oner was as payed bitch aged 6 the other a younger entire bitch aged 3 and there fights got worse , we stopped the fights as soon as they kicked off but in the end and after much soul and searching and tears i had to rehome the older bitch, she was found a super home in Cumbria with a amazing family and she is much happier , not saying this will be needed in your case but in my case it resorted after one fight of the younger bitch having to go to vets as her face had been ripped open

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I was just going to say that! Growling is their only way of warning and the other dog will recognise this. You should not be "punishing" the dog anyway, just take her out of the room if you are worried, but calmly not making a big deal out of it.

As said, get them both spayed asap. I don't have any experience of bitches but I know that they will fight over different things to dogs. When you break up a fight, try to do it with a distraction. I always stand up and clap my hands loudly and say enough! But mine have probably only fought once or twice - they are boys, easier to sort out.

Everything already mentioned.

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If the younger one is the more naturally dominant, you're best not trying to keep the old pack order. Let it change to reflect the new situation and you're removing one big source of conflict. So feed the pup first, greet her first. Both will be happier with a settled order once the older bitch has accepted her new position. It may seem unfair, but that's from a human perspective. Dogs don't do 'fair'.

I have a similar situation; a 7-8 yr old spayed bitch (Ziggy), and a youngster now 16 months (Kite), just had her first season (yes I know that's late, but normal for her breed). Kite was the more dominant and confident from day 1 when she pushed Ziggy off her food and started eating it, Ziggy backed off and let her. I treated them equally until the younger was about 8 months, more or less full grown. I then started feeding Kite first, giving her attention first etc. Ziggy accepted her new role and I've had no more than 3 snaps (Kite to Ziggy in the first week of her season), and one growl yesterday. Apart from that, they get on really well. During the first 2 weeks of Kite's season I kept them apart in different rooms when I was out just to be on the safe side.

You were right to feed and greet the older dog first when the pup first arrived, but you don't need to keep doing it. I don't know how long you have had the pup, but I should think that by now you could greet and feed both at once. That could settle things down a bit.

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I am very suspect towards any behaviour described as dominant. For one, it has been proven that there is no such thing as a dominant dog, only dominant interactions. Secondly, dogs rarely vye for power as there is simply no need. They don't have a pack order like wolves (who hardly ever vye for power between themselves) and therefore we need to think of things of how they are and other possible reasons rather than reverting to dominance. A dog's ontological process is so complex that to call a behaviour like what your spaniel/collie cross is exhibiting could be a broad generalisation.

To help with the problem, firstly, do not punish or discipline harshly for growling. The GR is politely demonstrating his discomfort, not being aggressive (yet). You need to control their interactions and only allow interactions to continue when both dogs are calm. The younger dog may not have been taught the correct way to interact or being disciplined himself by parents and could simply be being over-exuberant and untactful. If he does not heed the warnings of your GR, work needs to be done to teach him more polite behaviour.

Get a qualified, respected behaviourist to help because, since the dogs live with each other, you'll need a good programme in order to stop this escalating. I do think it's very important to throw away the notion of dominance for now and look at things with a more level head.