Aww. . . you bred a litter, or you visited a litter of some super cute Aussie pups. You thought to yourself, just one? Why not two? With careful supervision, this can be a successful arrangement, but all too often I get e-mails about fighting sibs. Why would they fight?

Dogs have a pack order. This means that ideally, you are the alpha-dog or "top dog" and your family is the beta-dog. Your actual dog should be a subordinate. When two dogs of the same age are reared together, they do not have the age difference and size difference, and so they will do what is natural to them. That is, duke it out. Often times a little scuffle will solve the problem, but most of the time, humans interject (and rightly so) to stop the fighting. There are ways to settle the dispute without allowing your dogs to fight.

One way is to figure out who is the most dominant dog is. This is the one that usually eats first, leads the other dog, or anything that is done first. While you may not like it, the best thing to do is favor that dog. When feeding, be sure that that dog eats first, that that dog goes through doors first, that that dog goes upstairs first and that that dog is pet first. This forced behavior on your part will make both dogs less confused and eventually you will not need to enforce the dominant dog's dominance.