Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 10/4/2008

Question
"I have 2 female Alaskan malamutes both from the same litter. They are 7 months old. One of my malamutes ( the smaller one ) is very selfish with the food. I put two bowls in there kennel and she guards both of them and wont let the other eat. If the other malamute does she will growl and they both have there haunches up and if Kita goes to get the food while Mya is guarding them they start to fight only for about 10 seconds. Anytime I scold Mya Kita will attack Mya Like she is telling Mya to listen to us and do what she is told. Yesterday I called them into the house and Kita came right in like usual ( she is very obedient ) and Mya took off. 5 minutes later I have to go grab Mya off the lawn ( she stopped and layed upside down being very submissive ) and bring her into the house as I was doing so I led Mya into the house by her collar and I scolded Mya telling her no that she was bad and Kita jumped on her and started to fight. This fight lasted longer than usual so i tried to separate them and Mya bit my thumb nail right off. She didn't do it on purpose she thought I was Kita I shouldn't have intervened. My question is how can I stop that even if i yell no they still go at it with there haunches raised? I Looked at some of your other answers about aggression and i see that it says to favor one to make the other one know she is last in line but we kinda already do that cause Kita always wants our attention so we are always giving it to her. Mya wants attention just not as much. The way I see it Kita is higher rank than Mya but when they eat I see it change. I really don't want them to fight and they are not aggressive towards people or other animals just with themselves I need help before one of them hurts each other

Answer
Hi, Brandy,

Thanks for the question. I'm sorry to hear you're having this problem.

First of all there's no such thing as dominance or submission in dogs. In primates, yes. In dogs and wolves, no. Both behaviors are merely reflections of an unconscious emotional state, not of an instinctive need to rise in status in a mythical hierarchy.

Here's a link that explains this further: http://tinyurl.com/2q2esp

So what's going on with Mya and Kita? I would imagine that when they were in the litter Mya, whom you've described as being the smaller of the two, was often pushed out of the way by the others at feeding time, so in order to feel satisfied she learned she had to be defensive over food resources. In the initial stages it was over her mother's milk, now it's over kibble (or whatever you feed them). So on a certain level Mya has learned a valuable lesson: "I can take care of myself if I act assertive over food." or "I desperately NEED to act assertive over food or I'll be left hungry." She's smaller but she's smart and tough. Good for her!

Scolding her or punishing her is probably NOT the best approach because when you scold or punish her, on a deep emotional level she feels like you're messing with her survival needs. Also, dogs are very sensitive to our emotional states. They're easily "infected" by what we're feeling. So shen you get upset with Mya, and express your feelings of anger or displeasure, Kita reacts as if she's feeling the same way. In fact she may ALREADY be feeling something similar, but your actions set her emotions overflowing, like too much water being poured into a glass. Some of it is going to overflow. The same holds true for when you scolded Mya and grabbed her roughly by the collar, and Kita jumped all over her. In both cases the dogs were just following your example, or rather, they were being affected by your emotions first, and your physical and vocal actions second.

So you have to stop scolding or using direct physical punishment on either of these dogs for anything. That's a simple fact. The more you do that, the worse things will get. You have to set the emotional tone. Both of these doggies love you to pieces, and on a certain level will do anything for you (as long as it makes sense to them instinctively and emotionally). But they're still very young and not in complete command of their own emotions. You have to set the example and be in command of YOUR emotions. If you don't do that nothing will change. Does that make sense?

Okay, so how do you do that?

First of all, since there's a conflict between the girls over food, feed them separately. In fact, if I were you I'd hand feed each dog all her meals outdoors while the other is kept inside the house, or in a kennel. I'd also use what's called the "pushing exercise" to help each dog gain confidence and lose some of her anxiety about food. You have to follow the instructions carefully to make sure that you're not creating the opposite effect. But if you do, you'll see a big difference in the behavior of each dog (though they'll learn this in their own way and at their own rate).

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream (how the pushing exercise works)

Secondly, whenever a conflict arises between them you need to train yourself to take a deep breath, then act happy and excited about something else entirely, like a game they can play together. In other words...

DON'T CORRECT, RE-DIRECT!

Let me repeat that...

DON'T CORRECT, RE-DIRECT!

Finally, you need to take some time to play with each dog separately every day outdoors, even if it's only 10-20 minutes a day. You need to be a play partner for each doggie. Play fetch and tug, run around and get each dog to chase you separately. And reward her for winning by giving her a game of tug-of-war. The more you play with them individually, the happier they'll be. And the happier they are, the more emotionally balanced they'll be, meaning it'll be harder for them to get upset with one another.

Here are some more links:

http://www.tiny.cc/MythofTug

http://www.tiny.cc/playbenefits  

I hope this helps. I know this is a lot to absorb, so let me know if you have any further questions. The main thing you need to realize is that it goes against a dog's nature to be in conflict with her packmates. They're always striving to be in harmony. So if there's any conflict between them, it's not because they want it to be like that. They just need to be gently directed back to the more harmonious emotional states that is their canine birthright.

LCK
http://www.LeeCharlesKelley.com
“Changing the World, One Dog at a Time”   

PS: You wrote: "I Looked at some of your other answers about aggression and i see that it says to favor one to make the other one know she is last in line..."

I have never said anything remotely like that to anyone. I don't know where you got that idea, but it's not something I would say.