[Sookie's mom]

Bogger, my 3yr old black lab is a laid back dude. Sookie, my 16mo old yellow lab/pit is very active, has that puppy energy, and mostly shows her lab side, especially with people. She's very friendly, smiley. But........when with Bogger, if there is any possible contest (in her eyes) she wrestles for the prize: going first through a doorway, getting to a window first, chasing a ball or kong. Tonight I saw something kind of scary to me. She growled and bared her teeth at Bogger when there was a nylabone between them and Bogger was reaching for it. I was at ground level and saw a good view. I don't know if it's just because of her pit looks, but her face looked just like those awful pit bull photos of the angry ones. These spats happen many times a day. I don't know if I did the right thing but I calmly stood between them, didn't say anything, and gave the bone to my laid back dude. Sookie is so pushy and Bogger is such a wimp that when he has a ball or toy in his mouth she just comes up and takes it. Very rarely he does give her a low, rumbling growl, and very rarely she respects it.
So my question is, how and how much should I intervene when I see a flat out fight going on or coming soon? (I use a spray bottle, clapping, just loud noises and physical separation when all else fails.) The two dogs are about the same weight, but Sookie is much stronger, thicker, than Bogger. What kind of training exercises should I do with Sookie to get this under control? She is very smart and catches on quickly to many commands, but sometimes has a mind of her own. (And I know I should be more assertive and alpha-like.) I've had Bogger since he was 9wks and Sookie since 5mo (a rescue). We have a third dog that is the alpha queen that Sookie definitely has respect for.
Sorry for the length of this. Thanks for reading this far.

[Dutchie]

I would tell her to knock it off firmly and stand over her. I don't let my dogs growl at each other. Jake the old hound will growl at us and petra if her has a bone or food, I'm sure biting would come next. I repremand him and control bones and food. At this point he is ok w. food and they can eat right next to each other and even out of the same bowl now. I stand next to them while they eat. It's not that the growls are bad but what they can lead to are. I'm not allowing fights between them .He's too old to be scrapping with a young pup. And I dont wat her to learn bad behavior. So I dont like growling. He hates all toys so that is not an issue between them.
I would let your pup know that growling doesnt get her very far. And its your toy and you let her play with it.

[Sookie's mom]

[quote=And its your toy and you let her play with it.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I always forget that part. She's good at responding to "don't touch" (most of the time) so she will probably pick up on "it's mine" pretty fast.

[Curbside Prophet]

So my question is, how and how much should I intervene when I see a flat out fight going on or coming soon?

Protests between dogs who live together are very common. Dogs compete for resources such as food, bones, toys, owner attention and have individual preferences and moods. There are a number of options, including non-intervention. Fights are usually context-driven and, once the triggers are uncovered through detective work, some combination of obedience routine to manage the dogs, selective reinforcement of better behavior, changing emotional associations (good things happen to you when the other dog is around) and time-out penalties for fights will bring relative peace. If a fight does happen, efforts must be much stricter, with an airtight management regime.

[TooneyDogs]

You did the right thing...good for you! Calm, assertive, no fighting allowed in YOUR house over YOUR possesions is the right attitude. It is a dominance issue and they will work it out between them. Petty squabbles that last seconds should be ignored. Potential all out fights need intervention before they happen.
One thing that you need to watch out for....Bogger becoming a bully. The best approach is giving Bogger something else to do besides pick on others.

[Anela]

I have three large females, and will never tolerate this. Initial low level growling when a new dog is introduced is O.K., because they are working things out, but I don’t like it. I’m always aware of what is going on.

All of my dogs know that I'm the boss, and I have the authority to give (and take) their food when ever I want. To assert my authority, I do sometimes take their food when they are eating, but I always give it back a few seconds later. They also visit each others food bowls after meals, which I encourage.

Anela

[Alpha]

These problems are handled a tonne of different ways.

Some people let the dogs work it out, others set boundries and limitations to how they can work it out and others don't allow it at all.

I'm in the middle. I've set boundries that my dogs abide by. If one of them tries to steal a toy from the other and gets corrected APPROPRIATELY, I'll let it go. If the dog doesn't heed the correction, I will step in and correct.

There are some things that I do not allow at all, like correcting over food. I've trained my dogs to eat with their heads in their bowls never looking at the dog two feet next to them. If ever I see them eyeing the other dog's food, I'm right there with a firm verbal correction.

It's dependent on the dogs involved really. Hades is quite submissive so most of the time he gives in to Roxy's demands. And generally, Roxy gives corrections appropriately, not too much but enough to get her message across.

If it's clear that your dogs aren't on a level playing field when it comes to these corrections; ex) one dog OVER corrects the other, and the other dog never corrects the "dominant" dog for anything, than I would play a very active role in setting the boundries.

If you've seen any type of behaviour from the "submissive" dog that shows he can stand up for himself APPROPRIATELY when need be, I would stand down. Biggest, most importantly, is: Is the correction appropriate? If it's all out snarling, growling and mounting over who gets to go through the doorway, that's not an appropriate correction, I would quickly interevene and cease that behaviour.

If it's a low growl over a toy that the other dog is eyeing. I might watch to make sure the other dog listens, and let that go.

The other side of the matter is, if the dog doing said crime, is doing a crime that would require a harsh correction from the other dog, I step in. For instance: Hades used to ram Roxy, hard, and often. Roxy would correct him mildly the first few times, than she would really lay into him. Technically, her rough correction WAS appropriate, but I didn't want Hades to think that behvaiour was acceptable at all. So I stepped in from that point on, and he's stopped.

I guess this has gotten long, but what I'm trying to say is, it's kind of a personal choice when it comes to this matter. And a lot of things have to be evaluated before making your decision.