My 2 girls are fighting again!!
I have 4 girls in total.  11 yr old, 6 yr old, 3 yr old and a 1 yr old.  The 11 yr old gets on with the 6yr old and the pup but has never accepted the 3 yr old.  And for no reason.  The 3 yr old submits to her.  When the oldie starts to growl, instead of walking away like the others do, the 3 yr old does a kind of groveling thing right in close to the oldie which really gets her annoyed.  I have no idea why she does  this?
They have had some scrapes but nothing too serious and they have been getting better(slightly) but today when I came home, all hell had broken loose.  The oldie was really going bell tinkle at the 3 yr old and she was screaming blue murder.  They stopped as soon as I appeared in the house and after checking them both, their are no injuries(the 11 only has a few teeth left!) but they were really going at it.  Or rather, the old girl was really going at it.
The 3 yr old has AI problems and things like this can set us right back so now I'm terrified.
I don't know what to do?  Why do they not get on?  Why can the 3 yr old not just give the old dear some space?
Re-homing either of them is not an option.  Both are not of the greatest health so I couldn't give that to someone else. 
I'm really lost with this.

Before I forget, I won't be leaving them alone together ever again.

When the oldie starts to growl, instead of walking away like the others do, the 3 yr old does a kind of groveling thing right in close to the oldie which really gets her annoyed.  I have no idea why she does  this?
They have had some scrapes but nothing too serious and they have been getting better(slightly) but today when I came home, all hell had broken loose.  The oldie was really going bell tinkle at the 3 yr old and she was screaming blue murder.  They stopped as soon as I appeared in the house and after checking them both, their are no injuries(the 11 only has a few teeth left!) but they were really going at it.  Or rather, the old girl was really going at it.

Both of these scenarios I recognise. My Cavalier will walk around my oldest Malinois in circles, being very VERY submissive to her in body language, but doing low little woofs at the same time -and she is growling and telling him to bugger off, but he will just continue. Never understood why he does it (he's done it as long as I've had him) and it's very annoying when he doesn't take the hint as all the oldie wants is to be left alone.

Anyway you said this latest incident happened when you came home, and then stopped. The fact it stopped obviously means it wasn't a serious fight no matter what it looked like. What I am wondering is, is it displaced aggression/frustration you are seeing? I.e. is it the excitement of you arriving home (or anything exciting) that sets it off? If it could be, then your simple answer is to make sure they are not together in those situations. I would not leave them together if you are not at home for instance. Last year I had a problem with one of my Malis going for the weakest (both in body and temperament) Papillon if they were outside when my husband or anyone else happened to arrive home, or if the dog walker with the annoying Beagle that they all hate walked past. She couldn't get to the source of the excitement because of the fence, so went for the smaller dog.  I managed to train her out of that, but then just recently had the exact same thing happen with my 8 month old Mali pup, and the Cavalier. The pup (who, needless to say, is very big at 8 months and also a VERY strong character being the daughter of a police dog) would go for the Cavalier in the exact same scenarios. Frustration by having the fence in the way, nothing else, as had she been able to get to the other side of the fence, she'd greet any dog or human happily. I decided to play safe and therefore never let them be outside together, it's all small dogs or all big dogs going out into the garden now, not a mixture.

In the past I've also had a Cavalier bitch that would start attacking the male Cavaliers every time collars and leads were taken out in preparation for a walk. Over excitement that sets off an attack.

That first scenario, I complete recognise.  That is exactly what is happening here.
It's not excitement at all as it happens more often when they are in the kitchen in their beds, by that I mean a big pile of vetbeds, and the oldie will be curled up sleeping and the 3 yr old will wander around her.  This starts the growling(the rest of the girls beat a hasty retreat!) and the submissive behaviour.  She is always far more relaxed about her being around if they are excited, eg - feeding time or going out.
I just thought it would help if I could understand WHY they do this? I cannot see the sense in any of it.

I am watching this post with interest,I have a 2 year old that approaches 10 year old very summissively  ,tail between back legs,ears down ,older one grumbles ,snarles really sounds like he means it ,but younger one always ends up with what he was after be it ball or bone ,
If I tell younger one of the older one walks away as if I have told him off.
Any help please.

Codysholasmum, Your young boy does this because he is getting his reward(ball or bone) whereas my girl is approaching the old girl for nothing.  No food is ever around them as the old girl would murder her for food!
I tell the youngster off for this too but mostly she will leave if told to but sometimes will sneak up for another go!

I just don't understand why the old girl hates this bitch so much.  She gets on great with the rest of them and will, in fact, inniciate play with the year old girl (who is petrified of the oldie cos of all the growling).  The oldie also loves the 6 yr old and will lie grooming each other.  It's so strange that she won't tolerate the 3 yr old at all.  They have all been here from puppies so it's not a 'rescue' thing or anything.

Any ideas very welcome :)

Unfortunatly I do not have any advice .
I had 2 bitches from different breeding same breed,5 weeks difference in age that got to approx 5 years of age then fought for england,any excitment & they were at each other.If I had not been able to part them they would have fought to the death,Both my OH & I got bitten in different attacks .75% of the time they were fine .The only way we could deal with it was muzzles when walked or in the car together,We spent the rest of their lives keeping them seperate .I could not have rehomed either at that age so dealt with it as best we could .
I keep trying to get to the ball or bone before youngster gets it & have now started to bin the bone/ball as soon as he gets it so no reward.

Could she be a bully.thats what I think my youngster is, just trying it on & older one is so soft that he takes it !!!

She's giving off a lot of appeasement signals - she upsets the oldie, who then growls, so she's then trying to appease her and stop her growling, which uspets the oldie so she growls, so the younger tries to appease her to stop her growling... on and on it goes.

Best thing you can do is intervene - some dogs just go OTT with the appeasement to the point of causing a fight, which of course then they have to REALLY try and calm the other dog down and so on!  If the older dog growls, move the younger dog away and reward her for moving away (even though you've made it happen).  Do this every time.  She'll twig what's going on and start to hesitate or may just go straight to moving herself away - reward either one.

Codyshola, mine is defo NOT a bully.  I would say she is the least likely of that in the entire house.  She's so sweet but to the point of annoying!!

Nikita, you definately have the behaviour correct, this is exactly what happens but I just don't understand why?  Why does she not know to stop the behaviour like the other dogs do?  Saying that, she is majorly thick!  She will move away from the oldie after I call her back but never does it of her own steam.  My thoughts on treating at this is, she very quickly learns where food is concerned. I'm worried she will do it more to get the treat?  Like when she was young, she got rewarded for 'asking' to go out and after a few days, she was asking out constantly.  I thought she had a UTI but it turned out she was just a greedy minx!lol  Trains me well!! Clever with people(got the choccy box eyes down pat!) but thick as mince with dog language!

I am sorry if you thought that I was saying your dog was a bully,
I just think that mine is trying it on in a bullying way,so thought that your girl might also be trying it on .
He is a sweet dog apart from this behaviour,but having 2 bitches that would have killed each other get worried when he will not take notice of warning noises from older dog (his nick name from my daughter is dumb dawg)

LOL @ Dumbdawg! Awwww.  Boys are a bit 'special' aren't they?lol
No, absolutely no offence taken at all.  I was just emphisising the fact that she is the opposite of a bully.  She's not interested in getting anything off the old girl, she just annoys her for no reason? I don't understand her at all.

My main issue is, the 3 yr old has IMPA(an immune disease) which can be worsened by times of stress.  We have been struggling with this disease for  some months now and finally seem to have her in remission and are reducing the amount of meds she needs to take.  Fighting at this time is really worrying me incase it makes her worse again.  Especially as we are going on holiday in 3 weeks and I really want her meds controlled before leaving her.  I'm so scared of a relapse.
And my old girl's not doing too well this weather either.  Her cancer is returning/spreading and she is very aged, tired and crabby at the best of times so she certainly doesn't need any hassle either.
I have just been keeping them away from each other as much as possible.  Seems such a shame

Do you think she (younger one ) is attention seeking ,realises that something is not right with older one but cannot asimalate what it is so just gets in her face.
perhaps she is stressed because of this .
Do hope all resolves itself,& you can have a stress free holiday !!!

> but thick as mince with dog language!

Did you breed her yourself, if not what age did she leave (or more importantly was she separated from her mother).  Did she have the opportunity between 5 and 7-8 weeks for plenty of interaction with other canines within her family pack, which is the age they learn how to be dogs and that not all dogs will interact with them, or tolerate the same behaviours from them.

Did her mother have good social skills, or was she a bit harsh with her pups resulting ion over egging the appeasing behaviour?.

How did you handle her interactions with your adult dogs when you first had her (assuming she wasn't bred by you)?

The answers to these questions may give the an insight into the why of the matter.

As someone else has suggested your are best to intervene and call her away before th older dog has had it with her, so that the oldie doesn't get to dislike her more because of her behaviour, and that she learns to behave appropriately (come away when the older dog makes it clear she wants her to go away).

No, Barbara, she was brought in at 7 weeks.  She lived in a home with her mum and aunt and 5 siblings.  I know the breeder very well and their was loads of people interaction but she never met any dogs other than her mum/aunt till she came to our house.  Her mum and aunt were as sweet as her and their was no grumbling/bad reactions between the pups/mum.
I brought her home and my others met her in the front garden(which is not a 'dog' area).  The oldie hated her on sight but she never is good with puppies.  We kept chicken in a bumbag so every time the pup came into the room, we gave the oldie a treat.  The oldie 'tolerated' her but was never very keen.  She was like this with others but came round after a week or 2 when she realised they were staying.lol  But not with this one!
The little one was taken to obedience and ringcraft classes where she interacted with other dogs fine.  No over-appeasement with any other dogs either in or outside the house.

I have been calling her away and that works fine and when I'm not around, they are not left together any longer.  Don't think my blinking sofa is going to take much more though!! The oldie lies on that when we are out and scratches it.  All the leather is all scored with her.  When I went out shopping yesterday, I left her with my daughters socks on!!lol