[motherhen]

Originally Posted by WinstonMom

I have two girls that hate each other as well. It started over a heat and a pregnancy, it did die down after the pups were weaned, but the next time one of them went into heat it started again and never stopped. I also have the same situation with two boys, my intact male will not tolerate the old neutered boy. So I have an ex-pen set up in my kitchen and we rotate, one boy and one girl in the ex-pen at all times.
The boys, I have actually had less problem with than the girls. At least with the boys, I can always tell when it is going to start. There is always lots of posturing first, but the girls, you just never know. The can be sound asleep on different sides of the room and then one of them will just fly across the room and attack the other for what looks to me like no reason. I just can't trust the girls.
The other thing I have found with the girls is that family ties run strong with mothers and daughters. I have four girls, the two that fight and each one has a daughter living with us. If a fight does break out the daughters will jump in on the fight as well, each of them backing their mother. I have also never seen a daughter challenge her mother for anything even when they are older they seem to have a certain amount of respect for their mom.
Although our dogs have long been domesticated they are still dogs and their instincts still run strong.

Audrey

Thanks, Audrey! You described how the females will do perfectly. We don't have any daughters here by either of them, so at least I don't have that problem. We will just have to try to make room somehow, to do the xpen thing -- that would be better then a cage/crate. We do have an xpen, it's just finding enough room to put it up. Anway, thanks for stating it better then I could, on how they can change their attitude so quickly!
Barb