Sibling dog fight

Question
Hello Lee, Last night my parents 2 German Shepherds got in a very aggressive fight.
They are 1 year old brother and sister, both fixed. They have been together since birth, from
a breeder. They have had small little tiffs over
a toy or treat before, but nothing like this.
The male is usually very timid and the female is
the tougher one. The male seemed to provoke the
fight. It took four people to seperate them and we were all bloody after, from there injuries.
The only thing going on prior was the male dog
was visting thru the fence with a deer that comes
by a couple times a day to visit.
Thanks Danna

Answer
Like everyone else and other animals fights do happen. If the wounds are severe you should take them in to see your vet to get some antibiotics so no infection in the bite wounds will occur and thus you can avoid the bites turning into abcesses. Hopefully this was a one time occurance and will not happen again. Since they are about a year old they, like all animals, have to establish a dominance order. One of them must be dominant (usually will be the female) over the other for them to live together. This happens naturally in the wild and occurs in domestic animals. Let them work it out, but don't let them hurt each other. You should be very careful in stopping a dog fight you could be injured yourself. Since they are passing from childhood into adulthood they will have to work out their differences and determine who will be the boss. This has to happen, usually one dog will act aggressive and the other will back down, yet if they are the same size and one will not submit to the other, the only way to determine who is dominant is to fight it out. You didn't ask a specific question so I hope that the information I supplied is helpful to you. If you have specific questions or want more information about dominance issues let me know. If it becomes a common problem your vet can prescribe medications to help lower aggression so the dogs can live together without fighing all the time. Good luck and be patient with them.