I posted a few months ago bout my two Border collie bitches that were having some disagreements. (I have joined with a new ID as I have had PC problems)On the recommendation of a behaviorist they were both spayed and things seemed to have settled down.
Today however out of the blue they have just had a fight. Neither of them were actually injured apart from the odd nick, but they really seemed to mean business. It too me and my teenage son about 10 minutes to separate them and it took all our strength. They just would not stop, each time we got them apart they would fight to get back to each other until we managed to get one into the house and shut the door..
They are both now in separate rooms and are both extremely wound up. Of course being a bank holiday I can't get hold of my behaviourist until Tuesday. I am planning to keep them separate at least until tomorrow, but am not sure if I should try and reintroduce them again or leave it until I speak to the behaviourist.
I know bitches can be a real problem. Just wondering if I am right to be hopeful that we may be able to sort it out as there were no real injuries?

I would keep them seperate myself as I wouldnt want to risk further injury. These girls may never get on you may always be walking on egg shells.
Bitches are much worse when it comes to a.herm..dissagreements.
I had 2 boys who were fine together until there was post shoved throught the door as they both wanted to get there first.  I always seperated them if I wasnt in the room ..for thier whole life... as I could not trust them not to kick off, makes life more difficult it was usually all noise but I would not risk it.....either that or re-home..

Roni

Bitches will never forgive, once they start fighting. Unless you are capable of keeping them apart for the rest of their lives I would rehome one of them. I had to do this several years ago when sisters fell out. There was 18 months between them but the younger one would push the older one to the limit. In the end I couldn't live with the fear that I might come home to a dead dog. :-( It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I don't regret it. The home she went to was a very good home. She went in, sat with her back to me, and ignored me for the rest of the visit. When I went back a few days later she said hello to me then went and sat down beside her new family. She was there to stay :-p

I know this situation could lead to having to re-home one of the bitches but  obviously I am keen to,avoid this if I can. This morning everyone is much calmer. The two girls have seen each other through the baby gate and didn't take any notice of each other which I am hoping is a good sign. I am not leaving them where they can catch even a glimpse of each other if I am not around and I never leave then together when I a out.
I might see how they cope in the van as they can go in cages next to each other and are used to traveling quietly together.

I agree about bitches not forgiving, we have 2 that have to be kept apart, even when things seem calm, the slightest opportunity and they will go at each other, even if we are present it happens so fast that we are resigned to the bitches being kept apart forever now, but we have several dogs so they each still have companionship and excercise buddies. If they were my only 2 dogs and lived in the house full time I would never be able to cope.  I think you just need to be extremely vigilant, and hope that it was a one off. Good luck, hope it works out for you

hi,Im sorry youre having problems,and i hope you dont have to rehome one of your dogs.ive no proper advice,but i think id walk them together,nice long walks(less energy for pasting each other!)on leads unless or until youre confident,feed them separatly,no excuse for a scrap!Probably stuff youre already doing!
 
when i had my first two collies and a small black cross(Lady!!),all pups at the same time(collies were litter sisters)one of the collies,and Lady began fighting,once theyd grown up,rarely was there blood drawn,but its not what you want!  I didnt separate them apart from feeding times,and had water spray bottles everywhere,and things did settle eventually-perhaps they were sorting out top dog?so i hope youl be lucky too.Good luck!

I've got 3 bitches, only 1 spayed, they get on and I wouldn't expect otherwise. I'm not sure about bitches "not forgiving", not something I've ever come across and I'm not quite sure why that should be the case. What ages are your girls? Not litter sisters by any chance? When did the disagreements start - age? What was relationship like prior to the start of disagreements? Are they both fit and healthy? No underlying health issues with 1 of them? Is everything all right at home, I'm thinking relationship-wise (all family members), no upheaval going on, anything that may unsettle the girls? You say the fight was "out of the blue", were you in the room with them? Can you think of anything that may have triggered it? You'd expect there to be something to trigger a set to, but you may not have noticed.
Can't think of any advice to offer at the moment, but if you can let us know the above for a bit more background, will gladly have a think and it'll make it a bit easier for other CD people to come up with suggestions.
I think you need to be positive about this, yes, easier said than done. :-)
Edit: sorry just read previous post re walking together, I'd agree. It's definitely something I would do as I'm a great believer in walking endorses the family unit (be it humans or dogs!), but I guess this depends on how confident you're feeling ... you've got to be confident for the dogs, 'cause if you're worried they'll pick up on that.

I'm not sure about bitches "not forgiving", not something I've ever come across and I'm not quite sure why that should be the case.

It's very common indeed and I'm sure if we had a figurative show of hands of people here on CD who has had to rehome a bitch due to fights with another in the same household, there would be a large number.

> I've got 3 bitches, only 1 spayed, they get on and I wouldn't expect otherwise. I'm not sure about bitches "not forgiving", not something I've ever come across and I'm not quite sure why that should be the case.

I think generally bitches get on well, and are less likely to fight than males.

But when they do really fall out (not talking the normal spats) it is much more serious than when males fall out, as with males who as the saying goes fight for breeding rights, not breathing rights as in the girls.

I keep my dogs seperated by a stair gate unless I am constantly supervising them.  My boy is still a bit too boisterous for my girl who likes to be left in peace so she lives in the living room and he is in the kitchen with a stair gate across the french doors.  Life works well for us and it may be something like this that allows you to keep both your dogs and keep them both happy.  In my house it also means that there is unlikely to be any spats over any high value treats like bones and neither of the dogs is shut away from people.

that is pretty much what we have done today. they have been able to see each other but not actually get to each other. there has been no signs of aggression, but the older one who is boss has been looking at the younger one with a bit of a hard stare, and it is her I think might start a fight if they got together at the moment. This is a real change round as it was always the younger one that seemed to be pushing the older one and looking for trouble.
I have not been brave enough to let them together today. I was wondering if it might be an idea to muzzle them both and let them back just to see if they would be OK, or would I be better keeping them apart for a bit longer?

> I was wondering if it might be an idea to muzzle them

Hi, I have 2 bitches that fight and I muzzle them when they are together,they seem to know they cant get hold of each other so they dont bother trying. However if the muzzles are off it's a different matter and they would fight to a standstill. You may well find that you can never trust them as once bitches have had a major set to they will start looking for the slightest excuse for another fight.

I had a bitch that always pushed her mum to the limit when they met. They used to live together until I left my ex. Mum was always the boss and had to put her daughter back in her place. There was never any fighting though. Just the stand, growl and hard stare. Another daughter was welcomed home with open paws ;-) She could do no wrong. (except open doors, cupboards....... :-p ) These 2 sisters lived with me. I am the boss in my household and they knew it, but would argue if I wasn't careful. Usually when I had been out and came home, but not always. I rehomed the younger sister. It is never an easy decision, but the dogs' welfare had to come before my feelings.

I now have 3 bitches and a dog that get on great. The male is the mediator, always stopping any tiffs before they become serious. My only problem is the youngest bitch (3 years old) really doesn't respect the oldest one (11 years old) She only wants to play, not be dominant, but the old girl just isn't interested, and tells her so. ;-)