sibling rivalry

LexiVale

Hello everyone, 

  I'm back with yet another question. I first would like to thank those who took the time to respond to my last few posts. Any help is always appreciated. I want to learn as much as possible about the precious bully breed and more importantly, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to prevent a bad situation. With that being said, today my 4 month old Phoebe and her brother Titus (just turned 7 months) started fighting over this squeaker toy, well more like the piece that goes squeak. They managed to rip it out of the actual toy. Phoebe had it in her mouth and I could tell she didn't want me or her brother to take it from her, long story short she became cornered in her kennel by her brother and because of this she started to attack him. He started fighting back, but he just wanted the squeaker, he didn't really seem that interested in fighting, it was little Phoebe who was giving it all she had. So I was able to separate the two and now I had to try and get the squeaker away from her brother. His tail was standing straight up and all his back hair was raised. My husband ended up having to intervene and pull the squeaker from Titus's mouth. I warned him not to do that 'cause he could possibly get bit. In a perfect world, dogs wouldn't fight, but I know that's not going to happen. My question's are, how normal is it for dog siblings to full blown out fight? Any tips on how to SAFELY break it up? I sure as hell don't want to get bit, but I don't want them physically hurting each other either. Thank you everyone for your time!

LexiVale

I should also mention that this was the very first time an incident like this happened. Phoebe absolutely adores Titus, but I have noticed she has major jealousy and possessive issues going on. Something I'm trying to properly correct, with little success

Mickjameslenehan

Hello a few yrs ago we had a mastiff and a staffordshire they lived together they had a really close bond but one day the mastiff attacked the other over a treat my wife threw down causing severe injuries. They got over it and had no further issues and we made sure that we never put them in that position again. No matter how close your dogs are there is always that potential to fall out generally over food or toys. Try to remove anything that may cause potential issues. In regards to separating them when fighting that is a tricky one I'm the same as your husband i am afraid I put myself in harms way to protect the dogs.