Sisters sibling rivalry

[sharon Levesque]

Hi everyone-- my girls Thelma and Louise will be turning one soon and I have noticed the rough housing is getting a little more serious-- no blood drawn but  worried it may escalate. Any tips?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Perhaps it seems rougher because they are bigger with bigger voices?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have noticed Vern (1-1/2) is playing a lot rougher with Fudge. However, I butt in and then Fudge goes back for more. I try and monitor their play and when I think it is too rough, I stop it for a bit and make them sit. By the way, I love their names.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have at times made them stop as it seems too rough, but they don't seem to mind, never get hurt and will just go back and tease eachother till they start up again. Fur flying, teeth baring, neck biting, growling, body slamming fun! I would stop them because Bella was a puppy, but honestly she was mostly the instigator and I was hoping Murphy would put her in her place. But she is just a girl that likes it rough so that didn't happen.

Now that they are exactly the same size, I let them duke it out. When I see blood I'll worry.

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

My two go at it all the time but only a couple of times where I have had to stop them.  What started out to be fun escalated into a real fight but was quickly ended by distracting them with a loud noise. Just like children they always want the same toy even down to the same yellow tennis ball so there is a lot of chasing around, stealing, grumbling and barking but little real aggression.  It's just the way dogs play.