Sibling Squabbles

Question
Hello!

We live in the far Canadian Arctic in a community of less than 1000. We have very limited resources for dog training.  We have rescued two Canadian Inuit Dogs, unfortunately we had to rescue them at 4 weeks of age. We know they missed out on very important social skills, but in this case it was life or death. We decided to rescue two in hopes that they would help each other learn. They are two females, which are now 7 months old, recently spayed at a traveling clinic (there are no vet's in the high arctic. Our two pup's have developed opposite personalities. The dark one is very shy and cautious. The lighter one is dominant and outgoing.  Our lighter one has been getting continuously more aggressive towards the dark one. If we are petting her, and the dark one walks by, she will growl and lung at her.  She is possessive of toys and will attack if her sister approaches. She is not, however, aggressive towards us. We can take her toys/food away and give them back without a fuss. It is only towards her sister. If she is sleeping and our darker puppy lays beside her, she will wake and attack. Surprisingly though, they eat out of the same food bowl with no problems.

They are crate trained, they spend the night in separate crates and go into them happily at the same time each night.  We take them for a 30 min walk in the morning, a 15 min walk at lunch, and a 60 min walk in the evening. I am also home all day with them. We try to keep their intensity down when they are playing to keep fights from happening. We will remove an object from her is she is showing signs of possessiveness, then give it back to her a few minutes later when she has relaxed again.

The only thing we can think of is giving her time outs when she reacts. We put her in a room with a baby gate as a barrier, and let her out after a few minutes. We always do this without making a big fuss about it. She will sit by the gate, never whines, and comes out calm after. But, it does not seem to be improving.

What can we do about this aggressive sibling behaviour?

Thanks

Answer
This is a hard situation, and it will only get worse until you become the alfa of your "pack".
Become a drill sergeant with them.  They are not allowed to eat until they sit and down first and become calm.  They Never go out of a door or doorway until you say it is ok.  You eat before they do.  When the more aggressive one attacks, grab her and put her on her back and make her stay there until she completely submits and completely calms down. Completely submitting means making her stay in a down, on her side or back, without you having to hold her there.
You are doing very well not making big issues, to remain calm is a perfect training technique.  You can remain calm and still be the drill sergeant.   The aggressive dog is trying to 'own" everything including you, and you are letting her by not taking over that leadership position.  

This will be an ongoing thing if you should decide to keep both dogs.  If they don't fight when you are not there, then you know you are part of the problem, so to speak.  Your leadership and whoever else is in the house, will greatly reduce the stress.   Until you have them under control, limit petting until the other dog isn't around.   When you take them out, now, do it individually because you will want to get each dog under control separately.  

I have also taught some dogs to give me a "Loving" when they are affectionate.  When you ask for a "loving"  and the dog does it right away, you can express that command toward other animals.  That cannot be done until you have complete control.

An important thing is to catch things when the dog "thinks" of the aggression.  Watch her to see what "tells" she gives before she attacks.  It might be her tail going up, or her ears or a certain sparkle in the eye.  I mostly go by the expression in the eye.  At that SECOND do a command or correction making the aggressor go into the submissive position.  Stay on top of things.

I am here if you need me.  Let me know if you have any more questions.

Nancy