Fighting females

Question
We have a problem with our two year old german shepherd and my sisters nine year old staffy.  Nearly everytime my sisters dog comes out to visit there a fight.  We normally manage to stop them but they are starting to happen more frequently.  The last one happened outside just this last weekend and it was the biggest and scariest one yet with the staffy getting the most of the injury's.  We want to stop them now as they are getting more aggressive.
We think its a dominace issue but are unsure. Advice would be appreciated haven't had to deal with dogs fighting like this before

Diane Edward

Answer
Hi Diane,

It most certainly is a dominance issue....both dogs being equally dominant and challenging one another.  It's unusual for it to escalate to out and out violence, most dogs sort out their ranking quickly.  I'm wondering if your 2 year old isn't quite happy with his placing and keeps testing the waters with your sisters dog to see if he can 'advance his rank'.

Could you possibly give me more details of an ordinary set up when a fight occurs?  Are both dogs on the lead?  Who growls first?  Who stiffens their posture first?  What are you and your sister usually doing when the aggressiveness begins?  It's very hard to gauge what the situation is without seeing it so I need as much information as you can give me about the scenario as it occurs.

Thanks and kind regards,
Lynne.