Greenbriar Animal Hospital

When family dogs growl, snap, or fight each other, ever, it is a dangerous situation. This will get worse, and usually results in repeated emergency visits and/or finding new homes for one or more dogs (permanently). This situation arises most commonly with female littermates (sisters), but any dogs can be affected.

Major tips for handling family dogs that sometimes fight:

If there have only been one or two mild episodes, the prognosis is good, but major and permanent life-style changes are needed. See details below.

Your dogs fight because there is no agreement about “Who’s the boss”. Dogs need rules about this to be able to get along. Dogs have rules about every little thing (but not all the rules are the same – one dog can be in charge with food while another is in charge on walks). If dogs don’t agree on who’s boss, they’ll fight.

Your dogs decide who will be boss dog; you MUST reinforce their decision or you will make matters worse. If Joey grabs a toy from Bella and Bella lets him, then Joey is “toy boss”. If Joey grabs a toy from Bella (or tries to) and she snarls at him, he lets the toy drop, and backs off, then Susie is “toy boss”.

If you cannot tell who is “Boss Dog”, work with a dog trainer or behavior specialist. They’ll help you to determine the correct ‘pecking order’. We can refer you to local trainers and/or behaviorists if needed.

A confident ‘boss dog’ only needs to look at a subordinate dog and they’ll turn away. ‘Boss dog’ has nothing to do with size, age, sex, or who was there first (or who’s your favorite dog).

Puppies often start getting ‘I want to be boss dog’ ideas when they are between 5 and 18 months old. This is a gradual process, so don’t let it get out of hand!

Miscellaneous helpful things to know about family dogs and in-fighting:

As soon as ANY problems begin, start with the following changes immediately and stick to them. No dogs should be allowed on your bed, in your lap, or on any furniture. They can have their own dog beds, but they should be physically separated (in different rooms with closed doors, or use crates). This single change stops lots of competition and fighting all by itself! All dogs should be trained to sit for their food (at mealtime). No sit should mean no food right then. Separate dogs when feeding meals, especially if you have dogs that fight over food (it may be best to feed them in their crates). Your dogs should be given edible treats and toys only when physically separated or crated. All your dogs should petted and/or praised ONLY when they work for it. This means having them respond properly to a basic command (sit, lie down, etc.). They do a ‘task’ and then they are rewarded. They should get no more than 10 to 15 seconds of reward per task. You dole out rewards for work, not just because the dog is there. And be stingy! Watch your dogs and see what is most important to which dog, and who’s the boss in each situation. Then you MUST reinforce this pattern, even if you don’t want to. Don’t expect dogs to share food, toys, treats, or attention. Dogs will not willingly share unless they feel very secure in their place in the world. Sharing cannot be forced and it is not natural to a dog! Also, never add a new dog to a situation where any of your other dogs are not always getting along really well all the time, as it will probably make it much worse. The above changes need to be for the life of the dogs, and really should be followed in all multi-dog households as they really help prevent fighting and competitive behavior between dogs.