Fighting dogs

Question
Hi Kristin,
I am about eight months pregnant, and my two male dogs have been fighting recently.  Jackson, who is a Yorkiepoo mix and four years old, is normally a very calm dog.  We got him around six months old, and had to teach him everything.  He was a very timid and shy dog.  Afraid of stairs and people.  After social interaction at my boyfriends employment and telling him he was a good boy for going up the stairs without assistance, he has been a great dog.  He strives for reassurance that he is a good dog.  Miles, a two year old dachshund, was purchased when he was nine weeks old.  He is completely opposite of Jackson.  Very outgoing and social, but seems to have to be the "leader".  When we walk, he runs to be in the front of everyone.  Jackson tends to shy away and try to walk even behind my boyfriend and me.  Miles eats first, and Jackson only seems to want to eat when Miles goes to the bowl.  So to me, the fighting doesn't seem to be a dominance issue.   Jackson already has taken the role of subordinate, while Miles is the dominant one.  We have not had any issues with fighting over food or toys, but about a month ago they have started to fight over nothing.  Neither of the dogs have been fixed because my boyfriend thought this was cruel, and I knew that we would never leave them alone to roam the neighborhood or breed them.  They are both inside dogs.  It seemed at first that they were fighting if they bumped into each other, but the last two days they have fought every time they are in the same room.  Jackson is a jealous dog.  He will try to lure Miles away from me if Miles is in my lap by grabbing a toy and dropping it in front of Miles to put his attention on the toy and then Jackson will come jump in my lap.  But recently Miles has begun to fight Jackson in my lap, even when Jackson just gets on the couch to lay down.  With a baby on the way, I am terrified at what either one of them might do if I have a baby in my arms.  Not only that, but I cannot drop the baby to break them up because sometimes they are very difficult to get ahold of.  Should I be breaking them up or allow them to continue?  I had a dog that was attacked and killed by a loose pitbull while I tried desperately to break them up, so my anxiety goes off the roof when they fight.  Granted neither of my current dogs are pitbulls, they idea still scared me.  I could not simply allow them to "work it out" and potentially have one of them hurt.  When we break them up, we grab which ever dog we can get a hold of.  It is generally Miles because Jackson growls alot after wards.  Even holding them back, they still growl and try to lunge at each other.  The first time they fought in my lap I did push Miles to the ground holding him by the scruff of the neck and leaned over him telling him "no, bad", i guess trying to show him I was more dominant than him.  Not sure if that is the right thing to do or not.  Jackson gets a little vicious looking after the fights, and I'm afraid he would bite me.  So I generally leave him alone.  Also, he is normally the one that is severely shaken up after the fight and doesn't seem to be the starter.  Like i said he is the shy one.  He has a few marks on his nose now from where Miles has roughed up the skin, so to me it seems as if Miles is the one starting the fights.  We have been keeping them separate for the last day, but this morning before Jackson could even come down the stairs to be walked, Miles had jumped on him and was fighting him into a corner.  I have considered fixing both of them on Monday to see if this will help solve the problem, but I thought I would try to get some advice for the mean time.  
Any suggestions, or information would be helpful.
Thank you

Answer
Yes, getting them fixed should help.  It is less cruel than allowing the sexual frustration you are forcing on them while still intact.  

Fixing them alone likely won't cure the problem.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm