Can someone please tell me why my 2 3yr old CKCS sisters have started fighting after getting along since their birth?? I have their mother and brother too and they are all fine but at the moment the get into a fight nearly every day and i stuggle to get them apart. 15 minutes later they sleep in their bed fine together. I have noticed its mainly when i come down in a morning. They eat together great out of same bowl.    HELP what can i do???????

Sadly sibling rivalry is common and especially in bitches likely to continue to escalate.  Only one of many reasons why breeders try not to keep two littermates or sell two to the same home.

As for what you can do, first thing I'd ensure is that they are never left unsupervised together - at least if you're around you can hopefully prevent or if necessary break up a spat.  If it really kicks off between them when you're not around you could come home/get out of bed to a blood bath.

The adage "dogs fight for breeding rights, bitches for breathing rights" isn't far off the mark.  Fortunately I've never had any disputes between my girls, all approx 4-5 years age difference though, but I've known many folks who have to keep them permanently separated and others where they've had to rehome one of the pair squabbling so no matter how things have gone thus far, IMO it is very probably going to get worse.

I agree with Teri , I would seperate them during the night or if I left the house and always be vigilent , feeding out of the same bowl would be pushing it for me.
I have 3 bitches who get on and know thier place but they are fed seperately, and during the night or if we go out two are left together the alpha bitch has her own space .

Hope you get this sorted .

R~

could it be their fighting over my affections as they never fight when i'm not there i think i could have overdone the affection with the smaller bitch now it looks like she doesnot like it if she thinks im near the other bitch who is the quieter most plassid of the two??

at the age of 3 yrs seems a little late to suddenly be jealous .... are they both well in themselves ?

Do they respect you ? do you let them rule the roost ? maybe you need to 'put your foot down so to speak' I find I have to be in control or my home would be bedlam , I only have to raise my voice 'lie down' and they all trot off to thier respective beds .

I would still be careful leaving them together.

could it be their fighting over my affections

Bitches trying to rise the pecking ladder, will fight over anything a feather could float in-between them and they would fight to be the first to get it, it is that sensitive and that provocative.  They will get on great, sleep together etc, but the moment something comes up which can excellerate one over the other the game or rather the fight is on, you will never predict when or where.

So as suggested, don't leave them alone together now. At 3 years it is strange that changes are taking place now, have there been any shifts in heirarchy, has their mum been ill? But there is no hard and fast rule when or if it will happen, just when it does you now need to be very careful.

One is a small bitch.
The other Placid and quiet, obviously larger.  (Is she placid and quite just with humans though and not with the other dogs, or generally with the dogs too?)  If so, then you could try to elevate the smaller more bossy bitch by feeding, grooming, petting her first, giving her a higher status than the placid bitch, that may well cease the fighting if the smaller bitch is the instigator, but only if the quiet one will take a back seat. 

And only if you are sure that she would naturally be at the bottom of the pack. :-)

The female of the species is more deadlier than the male.  Never a truer word said ;-)

What happens when you ignore both of them?  You could perhaps shift the dynamic of the pack by acknowledging their mother first in all things.  Show them that SHE is top dog in the house but that YOU are the big chief and decide who gets attention and when.

My boys, siblings, sorted themselves out at about 2.5 years and over a year later are going great together.  It was hard work though - I had to ignore them a lot as attention fueled the fights.  They are now mature and settled now, better than I could have imagined.

ETA also unneutered.

I had 2 half sisters that got on well most of the time. Then they started fighting. I never did find out why, but there would be blood up the walls on occassion so in the end I had to rehome one of them. If it is serious then I'm afraid this may be the only answer for you. It's not easy living on a knife edge and you will be amazed just how much tension there is in the household once it is sorted.

I don't know if I've missed it, but are they neutered? Is one due in season soon? This may be a factor.

the smaller one does seem to be instigator the larger more plassid seems to fight back they seem to the watch each other but will lay next to each other the larger is coming into season too

No none are neautered either

Hormones can be a big cause of fighting bitches, i would certainly spay them after their seasons this time round other wise the fluctuating hormones are just going to make things worse. However, whilst hormones can cause fight to start it can quickly become a learn thing, especially if one becomes scared of the other, so managing the time they spend together is very important. I would advise consulting a behaviourist as once this starts it can quicly escalate and you may find if you don't do something now you will end up having to rehome one of the bitches, or possibly end up with very injured (possibly worse) dogs.

when i said i smacked the one causing the trouble,trying to stop her fighting before she started the fight. i was heckled and called by all and sundry on here. Get a behaviourists advice first and foremost

> when i said i smacked the one causing the trouble,trying to stop her fighting before she started the fight. i was heckled and called by all and sundry on here

Who has advocated hitting one of these bitches ?

Havent read the whole thread, so sorry if someone has already mentioned it.

But my girls fight when they are coming into season, or are in season.  It is chaos until they are done their seasons. 

This especially came to my mind, since both my bitches are in season right now, and they are HORRIBLE.  But any other time, they get on great. 

well im going to try everything and get them spayed aswell and hopefully everything will work out..... fingers crossed  and thankyou to you all for the advice..

I would say three years old is when they reach full social maturity and if they are so minded want to get a higher place on the totem pole ,and being same age and same breeding are more likely to be equal which is never good.