Apparently your little dog is a bit too big for her Corgi breeches! Unfortunately, sometimes big dogs get born into little bodies. When the right combination of tenacity, drive, "gameness," dominance and a history of success in early "battles" make their combined appearance in a small adult dog, both dog and owner can be in for big trouble. Sooner or later the dog picks a fight with a bigger dog that has the same personality type but more ability to "back it up." Sometimes these problems cannot be resolved with training; there are dogs that literally will die fighting rather than back down. In many cases, they can't help it-they are genetically so "alpha" in personality type and have such aggressive reflexes and responsive adrenal systems that the more they are resisted, overpowered or hurt, the harder they come back. They literally can't turn it off and lack what is known as a "subordinating reflex." They have no off switch once they are "cranked up" or agitated. Another possible contributing factor offers more hope of remedy. There is a probability you are becoming involved in these interdog altercations, and your reactions and responses may be adding to the problems. When owners pick sides or try to create equality among their dogs, they compound trouble. If a smaller dog is given assistance from the sidelines when it otherwise may be willing to accept a subordinate role to a more dominant dog, it might compel the bolstered dog to keep fighting rather than throw in the towel. When the meddling human isn't around to tip the scales unfairly, however, the truly more dominant dog would do double-time, aggressively working to put the upstart back in its genetically intended spot as follower. Rarely do dogs need to go to the point of bloodshed to work out their differences. Dogs get into knockdown, drag-out battles only when there are issues of genetically altered temperament (such as extreme aggressiveness being selectively bred into small dog breeds), frustration-based cumulative aggression (having repeatedly been agitated without opportunities to work issues out early on) or sparring dogs having been separated before conclusions were formed and agreed upon regarding rank. When serious fights do transpire, they most often are between same-gender dogs of similar strength and tenacity. Although on the surface one dog may seem more "dominant" than the other, the seemingly more passive or subordinate dog may have very aggressive reflexes. Once confronted or backed against a wall, some dogs have a fight-reflex response, rather than freeze (submit) or flight reactions. The seemingly meek dog can be a fierce contender, giving the usually more dominant dog a serious and sometimes dangerous challenge. Your situation requires supervision and separation of the dogs until you can enlist the aid of a qualified behaviorist. I hope you will be able to get a working social structure established in which none of the dogs is at risk, but if it seems to be impossible, you may need to consider rehoming your Corgi as an only dog for her own protection.

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• Aggression

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