Hi,

I have a friend who has a litter of 6 week old pups(pastoral) who since 2 days ago have been fighting its not just play fighting they are injuring each other and are almost impossible to seperate without getting bitten,she said it is difficult to see which one or ones are starting the fight but she thinks it might be the bitches (there are 4 bitches and 2 dogs).Apart from keeping them in all in separate pens or rooms she is at a loss as to what to do, so anyone with any experience or knowledge of this would be gratefully received.

Thanks

They're probably either bored or hungry or both. Mine would scrap over raw meat when I was weaning them, they should all be able to have as much as they can eat without having to fight for it. Put down at least one more dish than there are puppies.
How are they kept? They will be getting adventurous at this age and if they don't have new things and places to explore are likely to get frustrated and bad tempered.

They dont seem to fight over food and they have the freedom of the house and garden when someone is in they are in a large pen at night.She said it happens more when they are outside.

May be they are just getting over excited, tired and tetchy. Know the feeling :-)

Is the mother still with these pups. I know lots of folk take the pups away from their mother thinking they are doing the right thing. However 5 to 8 weeks is the crucial time for the mother and other pack members to teach and disciplin the pups. Any good mum would stop the fighting by intervention and the pups would soon learn. It is however so very important that both the parents and grandparents are of lovely sound temperment.No pups shoul be sold before 8 weeks no matter what especially these as they do not yet seem to have learnt much dog to dog language.

Agree with Nova I think by the sounds of it they have to much room and are using up to much energy and getting tetchy with each other.

Agree with Auntywainwright.  Mum should be there, and putting them in their place.

Yup, Auntiewainwright is right!  Get mum with them to sort them out.  How will they learn otherwise?  I sewed a t-shirt to put over mum's teats so the pups couldn't hurt her or pester her for milk she didn't have and as mum could easily get away from the pups if she so liked I just left her to it.  I still get compliments on how fantastic natured my babies are.

In my breed the mother just stands and watches them scrap so I always stop them. I normally put them in their own crates when I go out or overnight just to be on the safe side.
Make sure they have plenty of toys to keep them busy. I did have one litter that were really bad and I started to get a little worried but all are well mannered adult dogs now.