Food Aggression Problem...SOLVED!

[Brenda]

A few weeks ago I posted a concern I had about Tib, my mini aussie showing some aggression towards my other dogs at dinner time. I corrected her and kept them all apart and made a pretty big deal of it but they still hadn't worked out who was boss. I went to a horse show last weekend (a week ago) and left my husband in charge and as is typical, he solved the problem by doing nothing! He put the food in their dishes and set it on the floor in the kitchen about 3 or 4 feet apart, and of course a fight ensued, as usual there wasn't much contact, just snarling and circling and occasionally one lunges at another. Apparently that was all it took for them to decide that Skye (sheltie I've had for 8 years) is in charge and Tib (aussie I've had for almost one year) is second and command and Kit (aussie I've had for only a few months) comes in at the bottom of the heap. Funny thing is that now, since I have stopped trying to establish their heirarchy and they were allowed to work it out for themselves PEACE REIGNS throughout the house, no disagreements about who comes in or goes out first, no arguements about who sleeps where on the couch and not even any arguements about raw-hide chews. I'm not sure it would work for dogs that are more aggressive but all three of these dogs are generally of a submissive personality and I think my constant interference was not allowing them to decide their own pack dynamics.

[DaneGirl2208]

thats great news!

[Blaze]

That is wonderful!

[Sheltiemama]

They sometimes know better than we do how to solve their problems. That's wonderful in itself. We have to learn not to interfere in some cases.