# How to prevent 2 chis from fighting?



## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

I need help and advice. This is the first time we are a multiple dog family.

As most of you know, we adopted Lina about 3 months ago from Kristin (PinkPrincess21). Bella and Lina get along quite well - they play, run, chase, wrestle and sleep together. They have their occasional sisterly spats when one chi steals the other chi's treat or toy. They're quite loving and sweet individually and with each other. The photos I've posted of them on this forum are exactly how they are with each other - loving and playful.

However, we are puzzled that just recently one chi would start growling at the other chi and within seconds they're on top of each other fighting. They're not fighting over any possession, like a toy or treat. We believe they're fighting for the alpha position over each other, and neither chi wants to be the submissive one. _Both girls are spayed._

From the very beginning when 3-year old Lina joined our family, 2-year old Bella showed that she was the resident alpha dog over Lina, and Lina accepted it. We backed up Bella's position by feeding her first, petting her first, greeting her first, and she goes through doors before Lina. 

Yesterday evening my husband got bitten when he separated Bella and Lina as they started to fight. The girls weren't injured. We now make sure the girls don't stare down each other and we immediately separate them when any growling starts. The growling doesn't occur every day.

We're worried this fighting could escalate and they injure each other.  I've done research on this subject on the Internet, and need advice on solving this problem. Help!


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## Ivy's mom (Feb 15, 2008)

Yikes.....I don't know. Ivy and Willow have their spats at times also. I mean the will get into a "dog fight" so to speak and snarl etc. But I usually just clap my hands and tell them to stop and they are fine. I think they seem to just get to playing to hard, and one or the other gets fed up and wants to quit. And seems the only way to stop is to show them who's boss. Other than that they love each other to death. I hope my girls don't go in the direction that you mentioned. Gosh.....Do you think it could be their age?? Ivy and willow are only 3 months apart and I got Willow when Ivy was only about 4 mos. old. 

Lori

Lori


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

Ivy's mom said:


> Gosh.....Do you think it could be their age?? Ivy and willow are only 3 months apart and I got Willow when Ivy was only about 4 mos. old. Lori



I don't know. We adopted Bella when she was 11 months old and she is now 2-years old. Lina is 3-years old and was used to being the alpha dog over Boss (her 2-year old fur brother). We also clap our hands and say "no!" and this works to stop their growling most of the time. 

What we find puzzling is that Bella is happy to have Lina to hang out and play with while my husband and I are at work. Bella adores Lina and wants to be with and play with her. Lina also enjoys being with and playing with Bella. They just recently started to fight each other - why?


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## Ivy's mom (Feb 15, 2008)

Dang...... At times like this I wish dogs could talk lol!!! It's kinda scary to think what could happen when they are together and your at work isn't it. There has got to be others here with multiples that have gone through this. I'm really curious myself. Anyone????

Lori


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## Harley Ridin Chopper (Nov 8, 2007)

It sounds like Lina is def comfortable in her "new" home. She is probably trying to resume her position as Alpha and of course Bella wants to be the Alpha. My parents had two JRTs that would be best of friends and then rip each other apart, literally. Their first JRT was 3 when they acquired the second one at 8 weeks. They got along fine until the second one reached about 2 and then all hell broke loose! Maggie the older of the two became the "Fun patrol" and any time Katie was playing she would rush her trying to make her stop and if she did not they would fight. A handful of the fights were extremely serious, I am talking blood everywhere, holes in the roof of their mouths, a hole one time through the top of Maggie's muzzle. Both of them lost teeth. They literally would lock they jaws onto each others mouths and would not let go!! My parents were gone away once and the pups slept together in the same kennel. (it was def a love/hate relationship). They did not want to be apart. My GM called me and told me to come over the dogs had something on them....it was dried blood. I am not joking when I say their entire bodies were covered in dry blood. There was not a white hair left on them. I think my parents ended up finding one or two teeth in the kennel. They only had 3-4 serious fights like this over approximately a 2 year period, my parent's had tried all, they finally had to rehome Katie to a home with no other dogs as the last fight ended with my Dad getting injuried trying to seperate them and their was fear that they were going to end up killing each other! They were 4 and 8 I believe when they finally rehomed her. There were little spats like you are describing during that time where there would be growling and it was correctable with a raised voice or loud sound but there was that handful of times that a bomb could have dropped, nothing was stopping them. Maybe you need to seek a behaviorist and see what they suggest you trying to do. Maybe even try carrying a squirt bottle or watergun around and when they start to show a dominance issue squirt the initiator. I don't know...I do know that a lot of people will tell you they will work it out, eventually one will give in and be the submissive one, well IMO that is a bunch of bull - neither of my parent's dogs were giving in. I wish you much luck and I will pray that it all works out for you and the pups.


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## Stephy (Aug 29, 2007)

We had/have a similar situation on our hands. We have a corso and a smaller mixed dog. They every once in a while test each other for the alpha position. At one point the smaller dog wasnt allowed to walk where the corso was. She walked around with her tail down all the time. I said enough. We started NILIF (nothing in life is free) training with the two of them. It's so simple it's kind of silly not to do it. Basically you make them sit/lay for any attention, before being fed, let out, putting a leash on, anything at all. It really worked for them. It tought them that I was in control and they just don't need to worry about it. We have 4 dogs, and have no major fights. I pride myself on that because the size difference is crazy here! Our corso has other behavior problems (bad breeder ) and this helped her out so much. You can find a free link online, I had one until my hard drive went dead and we had to replace everything.


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

I have heard that it is hard to keep the same sex dogs sometimes? I have also heard that females are worse for this? I thankfully havent had issue with this yet as I have 4 males only 2 are chis. I do forsee some issue with my two largest due to my Dane being an intact male occasionally rough housing turns into a fight but not a major one. 

I agree that NILF would be a great tool for this I also agree that you need to keep them seperated when you are not home and when you are home and they are together just continue to get their attention with spray bottles and such and try to stop the behavior before it starts.


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## ola amigo (Jan 11, 2008)

WOW it all seems so intense, I do know this happens, not because my dogs fight but because I recently had a call from the person who bred Amigo and she asked if I knew of anyone who might like his brother. The person who owned Amigo's brother couldn't keep him because he was fighting with another chi, and even though they were all experianced chi owners and everything had been tried these two male chi's just couldn't get along. p.s. He was fine with all other dogs it was just the one he lived with!! Hope all turns out ok.


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## Rah (May 3, 2007)

Haha! Solution = adopt a new MALE chi to keep the girls in check!


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

Stephy said:


> We started NILIF (nothing in life is free) training with the two of them. It's so simple it's kind of silly not to do it. Basically you make them sit/lay for any attention, before being fed, let out, putting a leash on, anything at all. It really worked for them.



We've implemented NILIF (nothing in life is free) from day one when we first adopted Bella as a 11-month old puppy and with Lina when we first brought her home. They're very obedient with my husband and me and they look up to us as their pack leaders. This is why we're puzzled with their recent behavior in starting fights with each other. Thankfully this doesn't occur every day, but we're very concerned.


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

Harley Ridin Chopper; said:


> It sounds like Lina is def comfortable in her "new" home. She is probably trying to resume her position as Alpha and of course Bella wants to be the Alpha. There were little spats like you are describing during that time where there would be growling and it was correctable with a raised voice or loud sound but there was that handful of times that a bomb could have dropped, nothing was stopping them.
> 
> 
> > Yes, they have their little spats, but this recent fighting with each other is... :banghead:. My husband and I want to find a solution for this and nip it in the bud.


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## BABY BABS (Feb 5, 2008)

I have watched several episodes of Dog Whisperer on this type of thing. Seperating them is the wrong thing to do. You need the aggressor to submit to the victim and not let the victim run in fear. So they need to end these spats, in a calm submissive to you behavior. The other thing you need to look at doing is reinforcing your pack leader status. As long as you are solidly in charge, it is less important to them as to whose in line next. If you can contact a dog behaviorisist or training in your area with an understanding of these concepts, you can get these two under control again.


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

I'm bumping this up on the forum. Any more suggestions and advice?


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## Harley Ridin Chopper (Nov 8, 2007)

I def hope it all works out for you. I know all cases are not like my parent's dogs. JRT are very head strong dogs and neither one was giving in unfortunately. They tried so many different things and nothing seemed to click for either of them. Unfortunately for my parents the safest action for the dogs was to rehome one of them. SHe is missed terribly. I think since you are acting right away to keep things under control that you will beat this and get the girls in order. I will pray that it all works out for you and the girls to stay one big happy family (hugs)


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

Harley Ridin Chopper said:


> I def hope it all works out for you. I know all cases are not like my parent's dogs. JRT are very head strong dogs and neither one was giving in unfortunately. They tried so many different things and nothing seemed to click for either of them. Unfortunately for my parents the safest action for the dogs was to rehome one of them. SHe is missed terribly. I think since you are acting right away to keep things under control that you will beat this and get the girls in order. I will pray that it all works out for you and the girls to stay one big happy family (hugs)



Thank you, Traci. 

Within the last couple of days, my husband and I reinforced the NILIF (nothing in life is free) training even more so with the girls, as if we were starting the training from the very beginning. We spent more time individually with one chi at a time to give them breathing space away from each other. We worked on being a calm and assertive pack leader (not mommy and daddy) with the girls. 

However, I would be glad to accept more suggestions and advice on this subject. I appreciate all the help I could get.


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

I don't have any ideas on this, as I have always only had 1 chi at a time. I just wanted to say Good Luck.


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## Jangles021204 (Sep 20, 2006)

Could they possibly be fighting over YOU? Does it tend to happen when they are both near you or your husband? I'm just trying to brainstorm. I know you said it was definitely not over any toys or anything. I'm glad that reinforcing the NILIF seems to be helping, at least. I certainly hope you can get this under control -- you are wonderful chi parents and are obviously trying hard to find a solution.


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

Jangles021204 said:


> Could they possibly be fighting over YOU? Does it tend to happen when they are both near you or your husband? I'm just trying to brainstorm. I know you said it was definitely not over any toys or anything.



Thank you for brainstorming. Yes, it does tend to happen when they're both near my husband or me and only in the evenings after my husband and I come home from work - as if they're competing for what's left of our time. 

They never stare down each other or growl when we're home with them on weekends or on days off from work (holidays) when we could give them more time and attention with play and extra walks. We bring them pretty much everywhere with us. The girls were happy and loved each other when they were with my husband and me on our recent vacation in Michigan - we were together 24/7 during the entire vacation. 

I need to do more research on the Internet on how to prevent the girls from fighting over my husband and me. Does anyone have suggestions and advice about this?


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## ItZy BiTzY (May 15, 2008)

I have been watching this thread with interest. So far it has been very informative with several scenarios for what might be going on with the girls. In the future I hope a time will come when ItZy and I are ready to bring another Chi into our home. I can't give any advice but, do hope all the kindness and information given here is helping you figure it out. I for one really appreciate all the experience here.


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## BellaLina's Mom (Mar 16, 2007)

I'm bumping this up for more suggestions and advice.


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