2 mix breed 3 month old adopt dog barking issue

[arlenet4]

Hi there!

Almost three weeks ago I adopted two street dogs two months olds from a shelter. They are brother, we don't know what the mix are but they look a lot like labradors. They are males and now have like 3 months old. The problem i'm having is that they are fighting each other, i think to stablish dominance. We let them fight, they don't last long fithing and later they are ok.

With this i'm having two problems. First, I think I know who is the dominant, but i get really confuse. Spock is a little smaller but is the one that want to eat first, is the one that takes the toys and in the fight it's the one that is almost always on top. Polux is a little bigger than spock, it's really lazy when fighting, almost all time give the belly and when i'm serving the food is the one that come later. But polux eat more and quickly and when he finish he then go to the food of Spock and take his food away, other time he don't want to eat more, leave his food and spock eat from his and polux plate.

My real problem is that I dont know if i'm spotting the real dominant here and when spock fight is a barker, and is barking in the night. So I don't know if i'm supporting the right dog so the fight and barking at night finish one and for all (I don't have very tolerant neightbors).

Sorry for the long post, i'm just trying to make it clear.

ps. Sorry for spell, english is not my native language.

[kjd]

Arlene,

Are they fighting or roughhousing? Dogs often play fight. If neither one is getting hurt, it may not be real fighting at all.

As for choosing the dominant one, from what I have read in this forum, as long as you are consistent with the one you pick to be dominant, it doesn't matter which you pick. They will fall in line.

Hope this helps you some,
kjd

[arlenet4]

Thanks for responding!

And you are right, they are not getting hurt but my real problem is the playing and barking in the middle of the night, by the time i get to them they had stop playing and i don't know how to teach them to not bark at night (they bark because they are playing with each other).

[KOPcaroline]

Hey arlenet,

First off, I'd just like to advocate getting the two castrated anytime after they're 6 months old. Especially in siblings, it can cut down on the "rivalry" behaviour.

From what I'm reading, I'd say Spock, the smaller dog, is the dominant one. Eating first, and being on top of fights are two big clues as to the "boss" in a multi-dog situation. Eating each others food might just be a carry-over behaviour from growing up together.

Try to encourage Spock as the dominant one, and the fights should cut down. Do this by continuing to feed him first, give him attention first (when you enter the room or come home, or anytime the two are looking for attention from you), give him toys first, put him on his lead first, everything. You're not picking favorites, but choosing one dog first consistently gives them confidence in the order of things, and both should quickly learn who fits where in your family.

At the same time, some amount of fighting is expected and is a normal puppy thing. My and my flatmates dogs still fight and they are both over a year old now You should be able to tell when its play fighting versus actual fighting, its usually obvious when things get serious, and I doubt that with your 2 being brothers that they'd have a real go at each other.

Hope this helps, just remember to expect some acting up from pups

[arlenet4]

Thanks a lot, I think that help me.

[arlenet4]

...just to know something, is there a way how i can teach them to not bark or bark as little as they can when playing, because my problem is they are playing and barking at night.

[KOPcaroline]

Hey arlenet,

I would something along the lines of giving a stern "enough!" when they start barking, seperating the two for about 10 minutes, then bringing them back together once they've calmed down. Do it everytime the barking starts and they should learn that barking means no more playing. Hope this helps!

[arlenet4]

Thank you so much! I would try that and let how it goes.