My 2 year old bitch staffie and 12 year old staffies are starting to fight!

I stumbled upon your forum when i was researching a problem im having recently. Thank god for that, i have an elderly staffie bitch and a 2 year old bitch who love each other very much who up until recently have never had a so called tiff. I was away overseas and my adult son was watching them and he said they went all in fighting until he squirted them with the hose to stop...in the end my youngest came off second best and had scares all over her nose and a deep cut to her neck, my 12 year old had a chunk taken off her ear. My question is why has this started now when my older dog has been her mum since she was 10 weeks old, slept together, ate together, housed together. My eldest is spayed but my yougest is due to be done before my next os trip. When im here they are lovey dovey but when im away they fight...what can i do except not go overseas and i cant take them with me. Ohhh also important to mention is my yougest is my favourite who gets most of the attention and my son gives all his attention to the eldest but they both sleep in my bed with me. Thxs

Hello again, I have only ever had one dog at a time so I have no experience in the matter but lots of people here have more than one so I'm sure you will get an answer soon!

You shouldn't really have a favourite (at least, they shouldn't know you have a favourite) because it can create jealousy. It could be that maybe when your son's there and he gives his affection to the oldest, the youngest doesn't like it because she's used to all the affection that you give her? Either way, it's important that they both get the same amount of attention from you, so I'd start by making sure you treat them both the same, give them the same amount of affection, etc.

There could be more to it than that, but that's the only thing jumping out at me, so I'll leave anything else that can be added to the members with more experience

Thxs for that, i am concerned about it as i do go os twice a year for up to 3 weeks at a time. When im her they never have real fights just when im away but my eldest is also getting old and grumpy even to me so thats why i dont have the connection to her as much as elaa my youngest. My eldest is the dominant one and lets ella know when she has had enough of rough housing at her age so i usually take ella for a little walk. My concern is that they are together all the time and they soak and moan when i seperate them, well actually they cry very loudly for each other when i put them in seperate rooms for time out but im wondering if the fighting will get worse as my eldest gets older????

They do have to be feed raw meat or bones seperately, this always creates fights. So dry food is fine but its seperate quarters when a bone is on offer. Also with that i could put my hand in and take food away from ella no problem but my elderly staffie would growl at me so i wouldnt dare go near her when shes eating.

I think as your oldest gets older she might get a bit grumpier, but as long as you can spot the signs of when she's had enough, you can get in there and separate them before it gets to that. Even if it's only for a few minutes while the youngest calms down, sometimes dogs only need a minute and they're best friends again.

As for the growling when eating bones, that's possessiveness, you can work on trying to stop it. I don't know how you'd go about stopping it with Ella, but this is what I did to get Loki to stop growling at me when he had bones: whenever he'd be eating something he got possessive over, I'd walk by him and drop some treats as I walked past, so he'd gradually get more comfortable with me being close to him while he's eating. Then when he was OK with me being close to him, I'd work on it so that I could hold a treat out for him while he's eating without him growling. Eventually he learnt that I wasn't going to take it off him, and if I did, he'd get it back.

I still think the main thing would be to try to treat them equally the same though, even if it's difficult, I think it'd help. Do you know who 'starts' the fights?

Thxs, i will try and educate my son aswell because i know he always favours rocky the eldest when im overseas and ella is frettin for me. Im very diligent when it comes to my 2 coz i now know what they are capable of. I will try and work on my relationship with rocky as she can be grump and i dont like her when she does that, ella is soo affectionate towards me and she is very possessive with me aswell. Thxs for all the advice guys...i do put it down to getting old aswell.....lol

I hope things turn out well, I'm sure with some time & patience you can get them back on track, I agree with Tara on the jealousy thing, this is perhaps what's setting either one of, good luck & keep us updated

Thxs for the great advice and i will keep you up to date as i need to work on it as im off to Greece for 3 weeks in 10 weeks and i dont want to come home to world war 3 again coz it may be a fatality next time and i lov them like my babies since my kids have flown the coop....lol

dog fights are horrible, but to them as dogs its quite normal and i'm sure there is no bad feelings between them. Younger dogs do usually have respect for older dogs so maybe something could have sparked the fight such as a toy, food or even a bed. I'm presuming your older dog is the dominant of the two and sometimes they can be challenged by the younger dog who may feel there age makes them less dominant, though it sounds as though your older dog came off best this time. Also, do you feed the older dog first? Show affection to him first when you come home? These sort of things are noticed by the younger and help it understand the hierarchy if you will. I say all this as we have two dogs one old, one young and there were signs of dominance from our youngest rolo, but he's soon caught on that he's not the boss and is a very happy dog, probably because he knows his place and is content with it, they do play fight but he knows the limit now. I hope it's something you can sort out and be relaxed about as i know what a worry it can be leaving two bully breeds alone together sometimes.

I have no experience here but I do hope that things improve Keep us updated

May be the younger one is just challenging the elder for her position.. it happens in all packs.. the young one comes through and try's to overstep the mark by throwing their weight around. As long as the elder is up to it she will put the young one in her place.. But one day... the younger one is gonna be the head. I wouldn't put up with the growling around the food thing.. You are above both of them and if you choose to take the food away from them then that shouldn't be a problem.. you need to get on top of that.

Thxs ....Ella bella is my youger one just turned 23 months and the other is nearly 12.
"Also, do you feed the older dog first? Show affection to him first when you come home? These sort of things are noticed by the younger and help it understand the hierarchy if you will"

In response the above they r both bitches and they get feed the same time about a metre apart and they r fine unless its raw meat or bones then i feed them in seperate rooms...one in their outside run and the other in the laundry...they'd fight to the death if raw meat was in between them and to the other my you ger one is the one who jumps all over me when i get home, cries and needs attention when the other rocky doesnt want attention she just wants to keep clear of ella for a while then she'll have a private cuddle later. I do think the youger one is vying for dominance and rocky is starting to respond in anger, ella bella sleeps all night in bed with me and rocky stays for a cuddle but soon sleeps on the floor in her special bed. She also lays on the couch at my feet but rocky likes to sleep on her mat on the floor but she has also been well trained to be obedient and sit on a mat unless told to move but i havent been as strict on ellabella...i hate when snap at each other even if they play fight it scares me, they sound like they are serious but my son said that if they were you'd know. I havent witnessed them full at it and never want to but ellabella has the scars to proof that staffys go for the neck and nose. Thxs everyone, im going to try and figure it out before i go away again coz i stress leaving them in someone elses care.

Sorry for putting him when it's a her I feed mine in the same room together i just put our older dogs (she's called ella too! )food down for her first then give rolo his, so they are eating together he just has to wait. The affection thing is up to you all dogs are different, i can only offer my experience and hope it helps. As above, you are the boss so they should both have respect for you. I know it's stressful, but good luck!

Thxs

Have a look into inter bitch aggression as well, I don't have much experience with this as i've always lived with pairings of the opposite sex, but i've just done a quick google search and there is some interesting stuff concerning this that might be of some help to you.

I will thxs

When you go away you say the kids have flown the coop so are your 2 girls looked after in a different environment or in your home

In the same environment i have house sitters who live in my house on regular basis when im away and my 20 year old son visits regularly. They adore my sitters but yes they do fret for me, they tell me that my little one sits at the front door mat for the first couple of days and won't move waiting for me. The eldest has the shits with me as soon as i get the suitcase out. Id much prefer having them looked after at home and not a boarding kennel they would hate it. And yes they only fight when im not there. Im starting to think that when im home im the dominant leader but when im not after reading all the advice i think they try and figure out whos the boss when im away.

I have 4 bitches living together. It sounds like the problem is that the pack is unbalanced when you leave. The dogs feel all over the place and can't settle which is why you will get problems like this. Food agression is not acceptable, you need to work on this by taking away food & treats and giving them straight back to the dogs. This way they realise even if you take something you will give it back. Age is an important factor too, your younger bitch is still intact and just became an adult. The older bitch will then get all manner of challenges and problems from her as she tries to push herself up the heirarchy.

I would maybe get a behaviourist in to work out exactly whats going on, much easier when you can see the body language. Also make sure the younger dog is walked a lot while you are away and that your son sticks to the same routine that you do. This will keep them happy and stop them feeling unsettled.