Expert: Anne Springer, B.S., Dip., CAPCT - 10/19/2008

Question
My boyfriend and I recently moved in together and we both have female dogs
(Lee and Riley), along with a male, Charlie, we adopted not long ago. Our
females would fight often, not bad but they would make a lot of noise. Lately
it's gotten worse where they will bite at each other and sometimes draw
blood. It seems to happen the most when we come home or someone comes
through the door. Riley has had a lot of dominance issues we've been trying
to work out and I don't know if this has something to do with it. Our
roommate doesn't help much, he never disciplines Riley (she crawls up on
him when she's not asked to and wont get down when he does ask her unless
we tell her to, and she also jumps a lot, especially on him) and she tends to
get mad at the other dogs if they go near him while she's laying on him. I
think they may fight when people come through the front door because she
wants all the attention but I don't know for sure. When they do fight we split
them up and make them submit until they are calm again, but it doesn't seem
to be doing much good. Do you have any suggestions please?

Answer
You may be causing more problems by splitting them up and "making them submit".  I don't know how you are doing that, but if you are using physical force, then stop it right now!!!  The best way to gain control is to train both dogs to be obedient to your cues, so that you can keep them away from tight spaces where they have to fight to get first dibs on the human visitors, or go through doorways, etc.  A dog that can "leave it", "come", or "stay" is less likely to get into these tiffs, since you can govern their movements.  It might be better to crate the dogs when you have visitors until you do get them trained, and not let them charge the door.  

Riley needs to learn that she may be "top dog" among the dogs (and that's ok) but that she needs to regard the humans as the ones in charge.  It is not your roomie's job to train or discipline your dogs, but you should do it yourselves.  The roomie should cooperate by not sabotaging you by allowing the dog to crawl up on him if you don't want her to.  All he need do is stand up and ignore the dog each time she does that.  It's fine for him to initiate interaction with her once she has all four paws on the floor or is lying quietly by his feet, for example.

If you do not gain control of the situation, or if you are accidentally trying to make all the dogs "equal" when doggy society is not like that, you could do more harm than good by reinforcing the wrong dog as the leader.  The good news is that there are behavior professionals who may be able to help you deal with this (www.IAABC.org).  The bad news is that, unlike male dogs that, for the most part, fight ritualistically, females can and do kill one another if they really develop a hatred - that happens sometimes between females of similar age and status.  Don't wait before getting professional help - these dogs are already drawing blood, you are not yet effective at training them, and neither of those things is a good sign.