Q: I am not even sure where to begin. I live in my aunt's house. When she moved she could not take three of her dogs, so they stayed with me. They have lived together for 10+ years at this time.  (Rocco-chow, Traci-shepherd mix, and Ester-coyote)

I also had dogs of my own and now that I am married, my husband brought dogs into the home as well. For over a year now we have had 9 to 10 dogs, all mixed breeds. We live on 2 acres of land, the house is large and my husband runs the dogs 4 to 5 times a week for 1 to 2 hours. (We live in the boonies.) Most of these dogs are rescue dogs.

Traci was abandoned by some people who moved out of town and was discovered a week later, Ester was found in the mountain still in her little newborn sac while my aunt was running,

All of these dogs blend with each other very well and have had dogs come and go all of their lives. They do the "normal" pack fighting.  (more like pushing each other around).

Now, we get to the problem, a few months ago two of the dogs, Traci and Ester (who have lived here for 10+ years) got in a BIG fight in the house. I could not break them up. It was difficult to see who the attacker was.  All the other dogs went outside immediately and stayed there until the fight was over. I have kept these dogs semi separated since then. I called my aunt and she said every once in a while these two would go at it, then things would be OK for a long time, even years. So I stopped worrying so much about it.

The other night I was at work and my husband heard the fight, by the time he got outside three dogs(Rocco, Ester and Bakil) had Traci penned with her back against the fence. We took her to the vet and they had ripped her skin from about mid back to neck. She is pretty weak now, but should heal from her wounds.

Now the question, I am not sure if this is a pecking order thing. Traci was always the dog that could push everyone out of their food.  She was usually outside, hunts skunks and mice and stuff. I thought maybe she is just getting older and the order is changing.  Do you think she will accept her new "place"?  Do dogs do that? Or will they kill her the next time I let my guard down?

I have considered giving her away, but she is not what you'd call a warm fuzzy dog. She is grungy and ugly and smells most of the time like skunk. I love her, but no one else does. I don't know anyone who would take her, so right now I have her as an inside dog and we take her outside and put Ester inside when Traci is outside. The other two Rocco and Bakil don't really seem to notice when she is outside, so we both believe the problem is with Ester and Traci.

This is a long e-mail, but I wanted you to have as much info as possible. There is not a lot of info out there for people with this many dogs. People might say get rid of some dogs, but that is not the solution I am looking for.

Thank you for any light you may shed on this situation, and please e-mail me with any questions.

A: It's not really common to be able to keep that many dogs together without fighting. Eventually the peace usually breaks down. You can't let them reach a "natural" solution, since it's not possible for them to drive an incompatible dog away, out of the pack and out of your home. And of course you can't just let them kill each other, either.

It likely is about pack order and resources (your attention and their food, among other things), but her being gone may not fix it. Once the fighting starts with that many dogs, other changes are more likely to trigger more competitions over pack order and resources. Changes that can trigger fights would include a dog leaving or joining the pack temporarily or permanently, people coming in and going out, passing animals that get the dogs excited, people on the other side of a fence, mealtime, special treats, special toys, one of the dogs getting hurt or ill, a change in your schedule or health, and other things as well. In other words, peace in a pack of dogs is a delicate balance that is easily upset into fighting.

Besides a fight between two same-sex dogs over pack order, another thing that happens in a larger group of dogs is a group ganging up on one dog and killing her. It seems to usually be females on a female. Males more easily "know when they are licked," but females will more often fight to the death. Once it turns into a pack thing, you have seen how easily it can kill. In terms of pack survival, if a bossy female gets old and is no longer capable of leading the group but won't back down, the other females ganging up and killing her would improve a wild pack's chances of survival. They could then pick a new, younger and stronger leader--and that selection process likely would mean more fighting.

To keep a dog in this situation is inhumane. Problem is, separating out one dog isn't likely to be enough. You're probably headed toward having to do what breeders routinely do, which is to separate your dogs into smaller groups rather than keeping them in one group.

It usually doesn't work to try to identify the dog who is the aggressor and the dog who is being picked on, or to determine which is dominant over the other. It's much more complicated than that, and it shifts in different situations. It sounds like you have been feeding these dogs together, and I'd advise separating them for all meals and highly desirable treats and toys. Food is intensely important to dogs, and putting them in a position where they can compete for the food is dangerous.

Besides the risk of a dog being killed and the risk of further veterinary expenses to patch torn-up dogs, you'll want to consider the stress the fighting puts on all your dogs. Stress predisposes all of us to reduced immune function and increases the risk of serious illness. That could be anything from viruses running through the group to increased risks of cancer or other grave diseases. Dog fights also put humans at risk of injury, and of course add to your stress as well. A dog fight is a serious warning that the management of the dogs needs to be changed. There could be an interval, even a long one, before the next fight, but once dogs have fought to the point of injury, keeping them together means they are living with stress and the high risk of further injury.

Dogs get better at fighting with experience. I would expect that if there is a next time for the other females to gang up on this one female, they will kill her. They will also be quicker to fight. Each of the dogs involved in this has now received "training" in fighting with other dogs. That changes how they need to be managed.

It sounds like you have the space to separate them into smaller packs. I hope things go well.