You have to determine the situation that creates the conflict and better control it. Food conflicts? Toy conflicts? Competition for your attention? Play that goes too far? You have to prevent the fights before they happen by paying attention to the situation, and how the dogs are responding by their body language.

We try and do that, it is a toy that usually causes the fights. I take them away when they start growling at each other, but sometimes I am not fast enough, so that is the reason for the question. They share 99% of the time with no problem. I never know when one is just having a bad day or what. We do our best to prevent them, but they still happpen once in a while. So, I am still looking for easy ways to break the fight up.

Your dogs need to know YOU are the boss of them. You CONTROL the toy. It is YOUR toy, not theirs. So I suggest after going on a nice long leash walk, you put them in a sit stay or a lay down and get on the floor and show them the toy and DONT LET ANYONE PLAY WITH IT. Leave it on the floor for a second then take it back. Keep doing this over and over, leaving the toy on the floor a bit longer each time. THE SECOND YOUR DOG TRIES TO TAKE THE TOY, tell your dog leave it, you take the toy. It is your toy. I think your pups will benefit with some basic training and more leash walking as well. Good luck

Mazer, with all due respect, what is the point of a toy if no one plays with it?

lin01, perhaps instead of the dogs competing for the same toy, play with them and as Mazer wisely suggested, leash walk them. You handle the toy and not make it a bone of contention between them. Take the toy out of the picture when you are not there.

And never let them work out a fight. Prevent them.

I come from a bit of a different line of thinking here..

What kind of 'fight' are they having?? How exactly are they behaving?? Are the actually physically biting each other and going at it, or are they just snarking with each other?

Dogs need a certain amount of leeway to establish who's in charge (under you, of course!) IF they aren't hurting eachother and really going at it - let it go on a bit longer - they will usually resolve it, if it isn't a true 'fight'.

IF they are really going after each other and you think they will hurt each other, of course don't let it continue, end it asap.

Give a command when you separate them - We use "Enough". Then take up ALL the toys, for a few minutes. Send the instigator into another room in a down stay for a bit, if you want, too.

Our big guy used to snark at our beagle all the time when we first got her (oddly enough, shes as submissive as they come) so we would yell "enough" and eliminate whatever caused him to get upset - and remove him from the room. We wouldn't lock them up - but separate them for a few minutes. He picked up pretty quickly that the only people in this house allowed to discipline is us - and we also became more aware of what caused the problems and prevented them.

He used to snap if she went near him when he was sleeping - now they sleep all snuggled up, side by side, face to face and he doesn't budge, til she snores, then he walks away!

Also - make sure they know you control the toys. If they're chewing or playing - occasionally tell them to leave it, or drop it, or go get it. Or pick them up and only give them out to the dogs when they're calm. If you have 'ownership' they might not fight over them.

elly - the point of having a toy is to allow the dogs to play with it when they are under control and not fighting. If your dog understands the toy is yours and you own it and are allowing the dog to play with it, but you take the toy away when the dogs begin to get aggressive or get into a state other than calm when playing with the toy, the toy needs to be taken away, this tells the dog that the RESOURCE he is GUARDING is NOT his to GUARD, it is YOURS, which takes away the need in the dogs brain to guard the toy. The toy is returned to the dog when the dog can demonstrate that they can play with it when they are in a calm state not a state of excitement.

Well, I respectfully do not agree. " Play calmly" is an oxymoron; although of course they should play and not be aggressive.

If a dog is alone with another dog, playing with a toy, and there is resource guarding, the point of your ownership is moot, because you are not there.

Again, I think directed exercise (as opposed to just letting them play) and taking the toy out of the picture will better deal with the situation.

Agree that the easiest way to manage the situation when you have multiple dogs involved is to remove any high value objects that may cause issues. That's not cheating folks, that's being smart. Eli's first answer was right on target for this situation. Since the dogs get along most of the time, maybe add some training exercise where they 'take turns' owning a toy. You can use drop it, leave it, and exchange to give them a better sense of sharing. But they're dogs, so we the owners DO have to be vigilent and not allow situations that may result in scraping between dogs.

Instead of "what is the point of a toy if no one plays with it?" you should be asking yourself "what is the point of a toy if the dogs are fighting over it?"

The easiest way to eliminate the situation is to remove the toy.

I have multiple dogs and breeds that are known to be extremely dominate. I, as Supreme Being of My Dogs' Universe, control all resources. Dogs are like toddlers - they really don't progress past the Mine Mine Mine stage so i don't expect them to share one toy. If I want them to play, I am supervising and a multitude of toys are present. Toys are removed when play time is over

I don't have fights becasue fights involving dogs that weight over 100 lbs who are know not to back down aren't pretty and are expensive. Besides, I'm a bit of a control freak ;-)