This is a new one - fighting

Once we learned the girls' triggers, we've done pretty well handling the fighting. They have one maybe once every several few months now. They had one earlier today that surprised me. Lucy was laying on the back cushion of the couch and Nell was laying on the couch right below her (something they do all the time). I walked into the room and saw that Nell had turned around and started staring up at Lucy. I was about 2 feet away and I just stood and watched them because I could tell by the stare down that if I got involved, it would just provoke them. So, all of the sudden they start to fight anyway. They will often get snarky with each other but typically, if we don't get involved or one of them isn't cornered, etc. they'll eventually just walk away. It made me a little nervous because they've never gotten into a fight that wasn't either 1) over food or 2) because they were already snarky and one of us got involved or a jealousy issue. As a result, we've never had an issue leaving them alone together, etc. Do you think I can assume it escalated simply because I walked into the room? They have NEVER had a fight when one of us wasn't in the same room with them.

Here they are now. These 2 lumps really look prone to fighting huh?


Bitches. This was right after Ava had been in 2 time outs in 5 minutes. Glad it's nap time!

when you say fighting, do you mean that they could do physical harm to one another? That's scary! do you leave them together when you're not around?

First, I must comment on the squished down couch cushion....I cannot keep my guys off the couch cushions, and our old couch, the cushions were so flattened by the pugs, I could never get them to fluff back up the right way!

About the fighting...maybe they were just feeling cranky in general, and when you walked in, they just sort of let it out?

I'm not much help here. I don't have two girls, and I've only ever fostered a girl once. She didn't fight with my one girl, because she got her ass kicked once when she first got here, and then she knew her place.

When Snifter was at the height of his humping frenzy that I posted about I did leave them separately one evening when we went out as Toddy had been showing signs of getting seriously peeved and I didn't want anything to kick off while we were out.

That said I have noticed with my boys that they very much like to fight around me (by which I mean play fight, they don't generally fight out of snarkiness) and I have always supposed it is because I can referee if things get out of hand. Which I do.

When we go to bed I can hear if they make a noise in their room and I don't generally hear anything, which makes me suppose that if we are not around they don't do much other than sleep.

In your position I think I would probably worry a bit (coz I'm like that!) but would probably continue leaving them together unless there were any other signs of issues or if one of them was in a particularly bad mood one time I had to go out.

Mel wrote:when you say fighting, do you mean that they could do physical harm to one another? That's scary! do you leave them together when you're not around?

It's real fighting. Luckily we've never had any serious injuries. Lucy is scrappy but Nell is bigger and stronger so Lucy usually ends up on the losing end. Nell tends to go for her head and ears so Lucy has gotten some bloody ears. Someone with more experience in dog behavior can probably tell me more about the motivation behind going for the head/ears, rather than the neck. I admit that I probably make it worse (and possibly cause more of the injury) by breaking them up but I'm just too scared to let them go. When they're starting to get worked up, usually if I walk out of the room, one will follow and that'll break it up but when they're in the middle of a fight, I just can't imagine not stepping in.

We do leave them alone together because they've NEVER fought when we're gone or even when we're in another room. If they ever did, I certainly wouldn't leave them alone. 99% of fights are over food (that really doesn't happen anymore since they never eat together) or jealousy. Nell is a major instigator but Lucy will snark back, then they get into it. She was the same way with Hoover but we never once had a fight between them because he didn't react.

Are you able to distract your girls once you see one do the stare? Not necessarily touch them,but make a noise or call the name of the one that's staring? I don't know the history of your girls,but from reading this it sounds like they lay claim to you and are resource guarding you. When you mentioned you felt a bit nervous,they can sense that and feel that they may need to protect you from the other dog.

My dog Clara can be like this. With her being an Am. bulldog/Am.Staff mix,the females of the Am bulldog breed are more the alphas and protectors of this breed. If our dog Quigley is being a shithead to me and throwing a temper tantrum and back talking,she will interfere and I have to reassure that I'm fine and don't need her help and to go away. Quigley can hang off of Clara's lips,bite her "area" and all she does is walk away or say hmmph. So maybe something like this is going on with your girls? I am no expert with this,but this is what I have learned over the years from working with the bully breeds,behaviorists and trainers that specialize with aggressiveness strong minded stubborn dogs. Clara did have a pug in her class that would always stare her down. Penny was a naughty pug at times,lol.

Trish

Miss Pit wrote:Are you able to distract your girls once you see one do the stare? Not necessarily touch them,but make a noise or call the name of the one that's staring?

I can, but I don't always do this, depending on the situation. Lucy is the more anxious and jumpy of the two and given that, she'd be more likely to move first if I called one of them or walked out of room and tried to get them to follow. Since she was sitting above Nell and would likely have jumped on top of her when she moved, it would have escalated the situation.