Fix body language - Dogs fighting. Help?

Dogs fighting. Help?

I deleted the last question because I felt it was not clear enough (although thank you for all the helpful advice I did receive) I have recently taken in a dog until a friend can take her back (a pug) shortly after taking her in, she began to act dominating towards my dogs and soon fights broke out. The fights have gotten very, very serious and it is 2 of mine against the pug (please note that I always break them up.) I read that in this situation I was to allow the dominant female to be dominant over the others (food and petting first) I read that in several different places. I do not allow any of my dogs to dominate me however. Also, when the dogs are not fighting, there is a lot of affection between them (my dominant female and the pug constantly curl up together) I do try to minamize fights as much as possible by reading into their body language but generally the fights occur around my mother. Is there a way I can fix this or should I find another home for her?

Public Comments

i would consult a trainer but for now ware her out the dominant one by long walks or a tread mill, also walk them togather to try to astablish a "pack" and im sorry to tell you but by them fighting they are dominant over you, read any book or consult a trainer they will tell you the samr thing until you get full controll of them they are dominant over you.
If it tends to happen a lot when your mother is around, I would have her come over and do some supervised activities. When ever you read into the body language that suggests an oncoming fight, firmly correct the dog that is starting this behavior with a very sharp firm No, like your REALLY pissed off. Clap your hands together if necessary. Be sure to make eye contact with the dog. Keep your mother around, and see if this helps with the problem, if the firm NO does not help, the next time this behavior starts again, give the No correction and depending on the size of the dog, do one of the dominance holds. Either Roll the dog onto its back and place your hand on its chest until it stops fighting against you. Or position your dog infront of you (Dog facing straight ahead) Place one hand under one of the front limbs onto the chest and lift the dogs front quarters off the floor. Hold here until the dog settles. This is called the domance hold and releases chemicals in the dogs brain which causes it to relax. If that doesnt help, again, give the dog the firm NO command, you can then try giving it a gentle scruff shake ( Gathering the loose skin on the back of the neck in your first and shaking it side to side, not gently but not to the point where it will hurt.) This usually gets the message across to the dog. Again if that does not work, give the firm NO command when the 'bad' behavior is innitiated and put the dog in its crate for 15-20 minutes while contending with the dogs that ARENT showing the bad behavior. Let the aggresive dog out and repeat until the drill is successful. Hope this helps.
just simply keep them apart!
Ok sorry, but that "they're dominant over you if they're fighting" is crap. Wolves fight amongst themselves, even the lesser pack members, lesser members fight to change positions, they just don't challenge the alpha, so if your going to put "natural behaviors" on dogs that theory is absolute crap. Back to the point.... Honestly letting them work it out themselves is not a good idea for more than one reason, least of all size... My "alpha" lol, female Amara is my largest dog and the top dog beneath me (and TRUST ME there is NO question who is boss in my house), Ruby is my second and Diesel stays out of everything as he is a wussy boy.... Amara is about 75-80lbs, Ruby 45-50, Ruby recently came into the picture and was very weak and ill for much of that time (car wreck). She's been getting better and since about New Years has started challenging Amara. Problem is, Amara KNOWS that Ruby is not in fighting condition (intelligence and fairness go along with being "alpha"), so she won't fight her. This is giving Ruby a complex, she now thinks she's a bad@ss and the challenging almost-fights have gotten worse. My first reaction was to let them work it out, but on the recent advice of a trainer friend (who is my hero!) I was told to give the offending dog(Ruby) a strong correction when she started to challenge the other dog(Amara). I did this about a week ago, with one or two more times between and haven't had any issues, or far fewer issues. It's worse when Ruby is up on the furniture (couch). I'm guessing your problem is a lot like mine. The pug is challenging your older girl, who probably doesn't really want to go there, but when the little one keeps at it. It gets ugly. You need to be correcting the pug. You said it usually starts around your mom. Probably because your mom is seen as a high value object(I bet she doles out cookies ;), the pug is claiming your mom and challenging the other dog. THAT is what should not be allowed to happen. If the pug even starts to THINK that she is going to start something, she needs to be corrected, in a way you feel appropriate. I don't know if I would punish your dominant girl (aussie right?) it's not really her fault and at this point she's probably fed up. If the pug is ON the furniture when she's starting crap, get her off instantly. Get her back on the floor at a lower level than your larger girl. If she's on your moms feet, she needs to be booted away. Here's a scenario, mom is on the couch or on the bed. Big girl comes in, pug starts getting huffy. Mom scoots her off the furniture.... Mom is sitting on the furniture and pug is near her, mom MOVES pug away (not nicely either, a scoot, not a come over here little doggy), OR Mom gets up and walks out of the room completely. Try that first. If it doesn't get the point across the pug needs to be corrected more clearly. Can of pennies, whistle, spray bottle etc. Personally, I use an e-collar but I have dobermans so it's a little different. The PUG is the problem and she needs to be dealt with. The issues your facing are different than mine, ideally they would work it out. MY big girl WON'T and your big girl is too dang big... Add the third girl in and that's asking for a bloodbath. But the underlying problem is the same. The little bi*tch that's starting it and getting away with it..... If you think I'm close let me know, otherwise email me and point out whats wrong, I'll see if my trainer buddy (hero) is back and get him to look it over and see what he says. For now, keep them separated. As much as a pain as this is, it really shouldn't be too hard to resolve. FYI... Scruffing, alpha rolls, and dominance holds are stupid and outdated. They're also dangerous (even a little dog can bite). Even though I'm not adverse to physical correction, I think, and have been told, that those methods are stupid, to put it nicely. Please don't try that. It sort of goes along with the theory that fighting has to do with dominance over the human, it doesn't, it only puts you in the middle of something that otherwise has nothing to do with YOU as the dominant person. If they were evenly matched in size and age, and it was a few times thing (just to get it sorted out), then yes I would let them work it out, but this isn't the case so you def. need to do something about it.
You might have to crate them or at least the visiting dog. Just make sure to separate them when you can't be there. If a fight started with no one to stop it one of them could be seriously injured or killed.
if the dogs are going to fight so much and one isnt yours, myself, i would have to give the one that wasnt mine back.... stress on the dogs, vet bills etc. sounds like (depending i suppose on which dogs starting the fights) there is jealousy and yes dominance. if your own dogs are doing it, you need to ignore the new one for a while while they are present.. it will let them know they are still number 1 so to speak.... there is heaps of advice that i am sure eveyone else will answer also.... its hard with full grown dogs:)
this might sound barbaric but animals need to show their dominance. If the fights aren't too serious it would be best to let them run their course. my dads cat constantly hit and growled at my dog (which is the same size as the cat) for the first 2 weeks or so to let him know who was boss. slowly but surely once the dog began to know his place the fights lessened and now the two are best pals.