sisters started fighting

Question
We have two 1 year old Chihuahua dachshund mixes that we got from friends when they were 8 wks.  Cinnamon and Daisy.  They have always been very affectionate towards one another.  Cinnamon went into her 1st heat a few months ago and the two of them had a couple of episodes where Cinny showed her dominance to Daisy.  Usually they would growl at each other and start to lung but we always got them to make up w/in a day or less.  Daisy went into her 1st heat about 1month ago.  She too became dominant and aggressive towards Cinny but again they made up quickly.  I assumed that these episodes were centered around each of the girls' "raging hormones" but I brought my newborn son home a couple of weeks ago, introduced the girls to him and Daisy the more submissive girl was and is in love with him.  She wants to lay with him and gets very excited when I bring him into the room.  Cinnamon at first was very cautious and therefore I was cautious of her being too close to him (Cole).  After a few min. and my encouragement she got close enough to check him out and that was about it.  She will lay on the couch near him and not be phased by his presence but she does not seem as eager as Daisy to love on Cole.  Finally, my problem is, about 4 days ago my 9 year old and 11 year old were with the dogs on the couch and my 9 year old got too aggressive while trying to get Daisy from my 11 year old (also right next to Cinnamon) well, an attack began not sure by which dog or why but most importantly we can't get them over this one.  It is so bad that we have put up a baby gate and kept them separate for the last 4 days.  When one of them walks by the gate they lung at each other and we are convinced by the amount of aggression that w/out the gate there would be definite bloodshed.  My husband and I have tried putting them on the leashes and trying to get them to make up outside (this usually works) and the 1st time I tried this Daisy was very shaky while Cinnamon stood on her back to get Daisy to submit.  Daisy did lick her a couple of times but Cinny didn't seem to be happy with that.  She kept trying to get Daisy to submit by standing on her over and over again.  After a good 15 min. of this behavior I brought them in.  Daisy was very shaken but Cinny seemed very playful;  wagging her tail and trying to run after Daisy.  I know that this is a ton of information but it all seems important to finding a solution.  My husband and I are sick over this because the girls are very much a part of our family.  We can't imagine not having both of them for the rest of their lives and especially we miss the love and affection they have always had for each other.  Any help or referral would be greatly appreciated.  I want my girls back!  Thank you, Angela

Answer
Hello, Angela. I have a feeling you've been inadvertently fueling the fire, so to speak, because our tendency is to comfort the dog who is being attacked. What have you normally been doing when Cinny has gone after Daisy? Do you scold Cinny? Do you try and console Daisy? If this is the case, then that's probably what's been making things get progressively worse; that, and the fact that they are entering sexual maturity. I would recommend that you make an appointment to have them spayed ASAP, before they come into heat again. It's not going to be an instant fix - spaying them, that is - but it will help by curbing those hormones.

Have either of them gone through any obedience classes, or have you trained them to follow commands at all? One thing I recommend ALL dog owners do is "Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)" Basically, NILIF means that the dog must 'work' for affection, food, playtime, going outside, etc. The simplest way to do this is to require them to obey a command, or a few commands, before giving them what they want. This enforces your alpha position, while demanding respect from them in a non-physical, non-confrontational way. You should be able to find more than enough information on NILIF just by doing a Yahoo or Google search. If you still have questions about NILIF, after you do a search, please don't hesitate to ask!

Start taking the dogs for walks together each day, if at all possible. Vary who holds which dog's leash, so they don't start becoming 'attached' to one or the other of you. Do not allow them to pull on the lead, or zip back and forth and all around you, or attack each other. When Cinny shows aggression towards Daisy, that behavior absolutely should be corrected, but you should completely ignore Daisy when you correct Cinny. That way, you are not causing more of a rift between them; you're simply letting Cinny know that you will not tolerate aggression from her.