I desperately need advice!

[Tinab28]

Hello all, first let me give a quick back story. I own 3 beautiful chows! Bella (5 yrs old) Musashi (4) and Nya soon to be 1 next month. The problem I am having is between Nya and Bella... I got Nya last summer. Everyone got along well and things were great for a while. Then Bella started instigating fights with Nya slowly...it would start with a shoulder bump or a low growl. Nya fought back one day and they got into it real bad....Bella needed stitches and an over night hospital stay! When that fight happenes I realized Nya was going into heat so my vet spayed her and things seemed to settle. Now 2 months later and they are at it agian only this time its Nya starting. Usually it happens when there is a lot of excitement like someone knocking on the door. She will just put rest her head onto Bellas shoulder than bam fight! The issue is Bella submits but Nya won't stop. Musashi will jump in and try to get between them. Its easy to get Nya off of Bella anf she calms down quickly and we haven't had any blood shed...I just need to learn how to prevent it from happening. Aftrr their scuffles they always kiss and make up. I know that I have slacked on their exercise routine with the holidays and all but we are getting into a good routine where I walk/jog them daily for an hour. What else can I do? Are they doomed to be enemies now? Any advice would be appreciated and they are all fixed.

[kingalls]

Well, I should do a little more digging on this but I think you need to start with positioning yourself as the alpha. I know somewhere in the archives there are similar situations wherein people have given advice on how you should - as the alpha let Bella and Nya what is acceptable behavior. I'll see if I can find old posts about this type of situation.

[Doppler]

Sounds an alpha thing too to me, especially for Nya. Kingalls is right for enforcing yourself as alpha and master among them. You need close supervision to interrupt any possible start of fight by making loud sound such as stepping on the floor or spraying them with water and then saying firm "no!" or stop. You are lucky to have Musashi as neutral and trying to stop them. Hope soon your Nya will get mature and be more calm.

[JasonandNat]

Well, keep a cardboard box handy and throw it down when they start. We call ours 'the box of death'. You going for volume. Your trying to refocus their attention. Don't do/say anything else, you need to be in charge, thus calm. Have you determined the order they go through a door, get attention, get food, etc., this is very important so they understanf how they must relate to each other and you.

[Crumpet]

It sounds like a typical scenario where 2 chows of the same *Censored Word* have difficulty coexisting peacefully. They are both female, right?