millie just attacked sam...

just finished my my lunch, put my plate on the floor next to where im sitting (on the floor) - sam (bc) walked over to see what she could get - i said "no" - and millie went for her!!!!

millie was lyiing next to me, but just went in - bit hesitant, and they had a scrap

i should have moved the plate straight away i know - but it hadnt been there 10 seconds!!! its not the first time ive left my plate there - but they have never done that before

so its my fault, i separated the dogs, millie settled straight away and so did sam - it just took a loud "oi no" and they settled,

anyhow the point of this post is - millie trying to be more dominant in the past few months, sams top dog (bitch - 9 years - whos quite quiet because of her stroke)

sam is very food possesive - as i said - i should have known better but they never fought about that b4 - millie imo is trying to take over as pack leader????

what do you think and how can i stop these litttle scraps - i dont want millie being top dog and thinking she can get away with it.....

someone did say bitches fight more to get pack leader.... as for nick - well he just sat and watched... hed never join in - hes a star

thoughts anyone - and yes this scrap was my fault.....imo

Sorry but thats something YOU can't change..

If Millie is going to be top dog (among the dogs anyway) then you will have to go with that.. IF you don't you will upset the pack order..

When I brought in my pup, my older dog had been here alone for 7 years.. he is now 8, pup is just over a year and is top dog.. no doubt about it.. they had their fall outs and their tussles, but no damage was ever done and they all respect each other..

You can't mess with pack order..

My two have scraps over food all the time, I always try to feed them seperately and pick up their empty bpwls as they have been known to get competitive over them, but sometimes it will be just a crumb and there's n othing i could have done to prevent it. Sometimes one starts it sometimes the other, it seems to change quite a lot. I don't think you can stop them, it's just dogginess.

As long as the dogs aren't killing each other, then leave them to get on with it! Dogs will sort things out for themselves, and if the newer dog turns out to be 'top dog' then that's just the way it has to be. If you try and change that, neither will be too chuffed.

When we got our crossbreed, 3 years after we got Molly, we fed Molly first, put her lead on first, etc, although we all knew Molly would be 'top dog'!.....but when it came to play and certain other things, we let them get on with it. I don't interfere, and life with them is a joy! Neither are a bit of bother.

Now they are fed at the same time, and it really doesn't matter whose lead is put on first, although we do try and put Molly's lead on first.

Try and let them sort it out for themselves, and try to not leave food around where they can get, if none of the food is for them!

Good luck.

Westie N, with all due respect, leaving 2 bitches to "get on with it" is very dangerous advise There is a saying, male dog fight for breeding rights, females fight for breathing rights.
Much better advise is to suss out the situations where these spats occur, and simply avoid them.
I live with 3 female dogs, and we had to do a good deal of thinking and managing when bringing the last one in to this house, but it worked because we knew what we were doing. Had we let them get on with it, we would with all posibility have 2 dogs who could not have functioned together at all. If one hadn't killed the other first, or tried to.

i woudl never leave them to fight it out - sam would kill millie - shes a lot bigger and stronger

we never leave them alone together when we go out, milile just starts trouble, winding them up lol

i will leave them to sort any problems they have, anything aprt from food aggression, sams quite possesive over food anyhow, but i wont let them fight that out, cos it really would be a fight to the death

thanks for the advice

Having had dogs killed by my others I would never say let them fight it out. You need to nip things in the bud. You need to find out why they are reacting in the manner that they are for any given situation and try and resolve it.
Becky

I don't mean for a minute to let them tear each other to threads. Obviously! Perhaps my Westie is just very well adjusted, nothing seems to bother her. I'm sure she could happily live with several male dogs, or several bitches, or some of each, with no problems at all!

I let my dogs be when they were playing, and obviously I supervised. They are best buddies, and have been from the start.

I often find them sleeping next to each other when I get up in the mornings. I can leave both of them with the run of the house when we're out without any problems.

When they play wrestle, it never turns into a real fight, and has never done.

I suppose it helps if one is less dominant than the other, which in my case, my Westie is a bit more so than my crossbreed.

We all live in harmony with no problems whatsoever, and both dogs are a joy to own and live with.

There is also a ritual in our house that when they both finish their tea, they then go to each others bowls and have a lick. Neither leave a crumb behind anyway, and both know to wait until the other is finished before approaching each others bowl.

I think danish and the others were right to point out the danger in your advice....you hadn't qualified it at that stage.
Atlhough your story about your Westie is interesting, there aren't any relevant parallels (that i can see, anyway ) to what's happening between suze's bitches, so i think it right to err on the side of caution, especially as we arent there to actually witness what is going on.

However, on the whole, i do agree with your assertion that humans interfere too much, and dogs should be allowed to "get on with it", or "sort it our for themselves" - i just dont think that this is necessarily one of those examples.

BTW - i am the other half of the picture involving the 3 bitches being integrated that Danish referred to....as the introduced bitch was mine