Two Maltese sisters fighting - 2009-02-03

Question

My two female Maltese are sisters 4yrs old they just started fighting growling and biting each other. Before two months ago they were very loving with each other playing and sleeping in the same crate and if you saw one the other one would be right next to her they are not fixed. I am so puzzled with what’s going on. It gets so bad that I have to separate them about two to three times a day HELP

Answer

Sibling rivalry often comes about due to lack of clear leadership and leadership pretentions between the dogs. This often occurs with same sex packs, which is what you have with both of them being females (and not fixed). This can be through jealousy, lack of transparency who their leader is etc. The best way to tackle this is to seriously increase your leadership to the dogs, less attention, only interaction when you want to and above all remove any reason for jealousy – eg feed them apart, when you pat them, pat both at the same time, no favouritism, when they come for attention ignore them etc. If persists, call on qualified trainer to assist as this can develop in rather serious fights if not addressed properly.