Expert: Have4Paws - 1/2/2010

Question

 We have 2 beagle puppies, Kelso and Butch, that are about 12 weeks old. They are brothers. The last 2 nights they have gotten in to two serious fights with each other. They don't even acknowledge it when you grab a hold of them when they're fighting.
The first time was over a piece of wood that they found. The second time was over a set of raw-hide bones. We gave each dog one bone and for awhile they were fine. Then Butch decided that he wanted both of them. Kelso was content with just having one bone. Butch started to set on Kelso and growl at him. Butch wouldn’t even chew on the one that he had.  We took Butch out of the cage and he stopped growling so we put him back. They then started fighting. I shook the cage trying to get them to stop. We had to pull them a part by prying their mouths off of each other.  They kept barking at each other even when one was in the cage and one was out. They do bring blood when they fight. Kelso even limped for a while afterwards.
When we put them back together after the first fight they got along fine. They were fine all the next day too until that night.
After the second fight we separated them. Should we keep them separate?
We always feed them separately so it isn't like there is competition for food.
What is causing these fights?
What can we do to stop them?
We had planned on putting them in a pen outside together but now don't know if we should.  

Answer
Hi, I am sure this is very upsetting. You didnt mention if they were true littermates but I am going to assume they are. You have a serious problem on your hands. Puppies at 12 weeks that draw blood with their own littermates are NOT normal. If they were raised in the same litter an Alpha should have been established and I am thinking that they were removed from the litter too soon. At the very least they should remain with the mom and litter for 8-10 weeks but 12 weeks is the ideal so these kinds of issues are overseen by the mom and an Alpha is firmly established. It sounds like Butch is trying to establish that he is the Alpha. Both times you have described Butch has shown dominance in that he wants to take it away from Kelso. The unfortunate thing about this scenario is that it is going to escalate. It will go beyond toys/food and soon become about all aspects of their lives. They have no conception that you are the true ALPHA. I don't know how you got them, if it was from a real breeder, a backyard breeder or a pet store but this type of behavior in a puppy so young is not good and may have a direct link to their breeding being unstable. If you got them from a pet store or a true breeder you need to go back to them with this issue. If you got them from what we call a backyard breeder you have no recourse.  In my estimation you have a couple choices;

1) Get a trainer to come to your house who has experience in aggression ASAP  
and work with you on setting this straight before someone really gets hurt

2) Get rid of Butch, who seems to have the aggressive nature and is not going to back down as he ages, he will only escalate if this is left unchecked and eventually his aggression WILL turn to people.

In the interim ABOSULTELY KEEP THEM SEPARATED! Every time they fight this reinforces the behavior
I cannot stress to you enough that this is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with ASAP