Jelousy or Dominance?

Hello,
i wondered if you could help me with the behavioral problems i am recently having with one of my dogs.
Basically, i have two dogs both Staffordshire Bull Terriers .. My male vinnie is 1 year 5months and Female Skye is 10months old, Vinnie was castrated at 6months old, and Skye was due to be spayed when she come of age however she came into season that very week so obviously we couldnt get her done .. Some have told her to get her done asap (she can be done this month) and some have said it could make her worse?
The problem i am having is with my Female! .. She is very snappy towards Vinnie lately!, i have noticed the main triggers seem to be food and attention! .. She snaps at him baring teeth and snarling, to which vinnie will turn his back on her and try and get away.
She is doing this more the past 3days!, it started when my friend came over and she was giving vinnie fuss, skye snapped at him because she wanted fuss and so she was put in her crate for doing so .. My friend then continued to fuss vinnie .. When we let skye back out she snapped straight at vinnie!.
She then done this again when i gave them both a piece of treat, they had one each sat nicely for it and gave paw etc, she then went up to vinnie sniffing his mouth and when he backed off she snapped at him!.
She then snapped at him this morning because he had fuss and she wanted it!.
Its re-occurring pattern that it is over food and attention! .. They both play fight and snuggle up together fine but at these times in particular she snaps.
She is most defiantly the dominant dog out of the two, so i have started giving her her food first, she is fed in her crate and vinnie is fed the opposite end of the room, she is then let out when BOTH have finished there food.
They are both walked twice a day, and recently started doing one walk separate and one walk together, they get along fine on walks together etc!
She is a very loving dog, but these two triggers are worrying me and i want to have her sorted ASAP before one day it gets out of control, the LAST thing i want to do is have to permanently separate them because i adore them both.

Do you have any idea on why she is doing this?, and how i can tackle the bad behavior she is expressing?!.
Thankyou in advance!
Kelly.

I don`t `do` dominance. IMO it`s just dogs being dogs.
I`ve always found in my mob that the bitch rules the roost indoors but I don`t allow bullying. I think it`s more to do with good manners.
There`s a good book called Mine! by Jean Donaldson that I would recommend because it deals with the behaviours you describe.
Hope it helps.

I agree i don't do dominance thing either. however as she is in season I would think she is feeling hormonal, I have 3 bitches here with one male, people say Bruce is the boss....well he can be if the girls are ok with it, but if they say no its a no.

claireandaisy recommended a book...good advice. But remember she is in season too

Her beahaviour could be related to her season as youngstevie suggested. Did the behaviour start just before she came into season?

agree with above
Sounds like her being in season is making her more grumpy than usual
But its best to nip it in the bud before it becomes a habit

Personaly I would forget the idea of dominanace totaly. You have a male who is being polite in the face of a grumpy, snappy controling bitch
I wouldnt reward her with her getting stuff first, this wont sort out the pack structure, it will reinforce to her that her being snappy is a good thing

I would work on getting her to wait and seeing that nice things for him mean nice things for her are on their way

they sit nicely and do their tricks - thats great
Then HE gets the treat first, she gets hers a slpit second later
then next time slightly longer
until eventually she can sit and happily watch him getting a treat knowing that it means hers is on the way

same with fuss

Shes not actually in season, her season was november which was her first .. I have been noticing tho that she is resembling alot of behaviours as she did when she was in season last time, she licks herself more than usual, shes crabby, shes mopey unless play fighting with my male or on walks ... Shes eating and drinking as per etc so i was told she could be having an early or split season ?
Today she had her food first and when i let her out her crate she had ate it all and there was no snapping woth vin .. However if she hasnt finished some biscuits n they are left because she dont want em she will guard her crate .. This has only been happening the past few days!

She could be having a phantom, it's over 9 weeks since she was in season & not all bitches have milk nor the classic symptoms of a phantom(digging, whinging, carrying toys etc) some simply become grumpy as the level of Oestrogen & progesterone fluctuate.

I would get her checked & the vets & spayed 13 weeks after her season

My Keewee is in season at the moment & my oldest male has taken to humping my older spayed bitch-she really gets aggressive with him & he never offers to retaliate. It;s not dominence it simply her telling him don't do that, I'm not in season so b*gg*r off !

Can't help with much of this but this ...

I'd try to sort that by immediately removing anything she didn't eat when she's finished and take the bowl right away out of sight.

Whatever sort of dog I've had - there's only ONE boss in my house and that's ME! (But don't tell the dog lol!)

I did think 'feeding her first' was reinforcing her bolshieness - but I don't go much for this 'dominant' one stuff either. I've had a cat that was 'bossy' and a bit spiteful with all the other pets.

When I first started keeping a dog as an adult - you didn't really hear anything about 'behaviour experts' and all that. Barbara Woodhouse was, I think, the first thing to come along in that regard!

I treated my pets much as I treated my kids really. Didn't reward screaming and shouting with seeing to their needs immediately - tried to get it through to them that it would get them nowhere and only when they calmed down would they have a chance. Or, if they didn't like being put to bed - the LAST thing I'd do is keep going up there - that would be doing EXACTLY what they wanted me to do - pay them attention - even if it was only to tell them off!

I did go to training classes with my bigger dogs - because I do believe that, if a dog is big and strong enough to pull me along or knock me over - it has to be well trained to do exactly what it is told so it can be STOPPED immediately if it presents a danger to itself or others.

But, in those days, dog training classes were all much the same - the church or school hall venue - all of us lined up at one end - the instructor showing us the best way to get them to SIT, HEEL, STAY, FETCH and all that!

some 'got it' straightaway - some not so quickly - one of my lovely old GSDs was clever enough to be a star pupil in the class and revert back to NUTCASE as soon as we left the premises! But she wasn't a danger to anyone, just a very enthusiastic, loving, licky me me me dog! Trainer said it's just that she ADORES YOU! haaa! Can't complain about that!

Regarding the 'season' again, one of my GSD bitches just wasn't able to be taken hardly ANYWHERE when in season - she showed every sign that she would KILL any dog that tried it on! In fact, when she was eventually 'mated' as a 5 yr old maiden bitch, they had to muzzle her! Boy was she a good mum though!

JDs book is not very useful for resource guarding in multiple dog household, you may find this link more useful.

Dogs do not really do sharing, so the behaviour is normal, if not appropriate and does not mean your dog is spiteful or of poor character.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3339