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in two weeks,we'll be having relitives staying over,mine,and Peanuts,even when they were puppies and lived together,her and her brother(Leo) fought over everything,and even playfights soon got seriouse,now that thier older,it's much worse,are they too evenly matched for dominance?there are no other dogs,and I've heard with 1 male and 1 female,they'll just see themselves as alpha/omega male/female,and that those roles don't require one leader out of the two,so why so much fighting?they've both been fixed as puppies,and there's plenty of food,toys,and space for both(though my dog will steal and hide/sit on all the rawhides,and Leo will not let her play with the beagle puppy thats recently been adopted into his household),I could understand if they were both males,or unfamiliar with each other,but this level of aggression/competition between brother and sister I don't understand.......
stepping in as alpha helps,but never for long

>>in two weeks,we'll be having relitives staying over,mine,and Peanuts,even when they were puppies and lived together,her and her brother(Leo) fought over everything,and even playfights soon got seriouse,now that thier older,it's much worse,are they too evenly matched for dominance?there are no other dogs,and I've heard with 1 male and 1 female,they'll just see themselves as alpha/omega male/female,and that those roles don't require one leader out of the two,so why so much fighting?they've both been fixed as puppies,and there's plenty of food,toys,and space for both(though my dog will steal and hide/sit on all the rawhides,and Leo will not let her play with the beagle puppy thats recently been adopted into his household),I could understand if they were both males,or unfamiliar with each other,but this level of aggression/competition between brother and sister I don't understand.......
>>stepping in as alpha helps,but never for long

>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Sounds like the people involved are putting these dogs in competition over food and high-value chew toys such as rawhides. That's dangerous. They need to be separated completely whenever they are fed or have any item they might guard. If one or both of them are used to having food out all the time, that just isn't safe when they are together. It's one of the major drawbacks of free-feeding: aggression between dogs.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

maybe we have in some way,though both have been housed with other dogs and are not competitive with them,we fed them on opposite sides of the living room,and though we didn't leave food out,we made sure there was more than enough toys and rawhides for both,thier fine with other dogs in this situation,so I don't know why thier so aggressive with each other,the stealing chews and being possessive about other dogs seems more like an extention of thier fighting rather than the cause,when they lived together,we had a third dog,Debbie,they would steal from each other,but not her,though Leo and Peanut would fight over her attention

thier pound puppies,and came to us in bad shape,(they were not quite weaned,but the litter was dropped off without a mother,they had worms BAD)perhaps the competition has roots in thier early days?if so,why aren't they like this with other dogs?

>>maybe we have in some way,though both have been housed with other dogs and are not competitive with them,we fed them on opposite sides of the living room,and though we didn't leave food out,we made sure there was more than enough toys and rawhides for both,thier fine with other dogs in this situation,so I don't know why thier so aggressive with each other,the stealing chews and being possessive about other dogs seems more like an extention of thier fighting rather than the cause,when they lived together,we had a third dog,Debbie,they would steal from each other,but not her,though Leo and Peanut would fight over her attention
>>
>>thier pound puppies,and came to us in bad shape,(they were not quite weaned,but the litter was dropped off without a mother,they had worms BAD)perhaps the competition has roots in thier early days?if so,why aren't they like this with other dogs?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

No matter how many pieces there are, dogs consider rawhides to be on the same level as food. Fighting that starts over resources continues into other areas quite often. If you act quickly enough to remove the "bones of contention" that trigger the fighting, the other fighting may go away. If you wait too long, fighting becomes a habit you may not be able to change.

Dogs who share a household have a completely different dynamic than dogs who meet and stay outside the home setting. That's why it's so common to see the advice of introducing new dogs on neutral territory.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com