Pauline . . I would really really advise you go and see a good behaviourist . . .you have so many issues going on and an unspayed female . . if she is near coming in season could cause a lot more problems now.
Pauline, I really understand how you feel. Two of mine have had spats and a serious fight.
I've just looked over the thread I started about their bad fight (which was a while ago) and I got some really helpful advice............ I now feed them separately and have a strict procedure
Without hijacking the thread here is the link if anyone wants to check it out
Millie and Lucy have foughtMust admit it frightened me and I went through every possible scenario about whether I could keep them both at the time.
I agree with Kelly also. I think you need help from a good behaviourist.
Keeping dogs together who have fought to this extent isn't something to be taken on lightly.
Sorting out who is top dog is likely to be an overly simplistic view of what is going on between your boys and I wouldn't depend on getting rid of chews to fix the problem.
I remembered today when I was out with the boys why I am always concerned when dogs fight over chews and the solution is to remove chews.
If you take your dogs out and walk them, it is impossible to guarantee that they won't come across very high value items. They may find dead wildlife or bones that somebody has chucked out or something else that is valuable and takes a long time to eat.
I feel that it is important with dogs who are possessive over food to teach them how to be more relaxed around food and other dogs. Especially if they are going to fight badly.
Cal's flying across the room to attack K over food was something I worked on because I didn't like him doing it. It wasn't remotely dangerous - he had no intention of hurting Katie and never has hurt her.
As an example, a few months ago, I was walking Cal and Cuillin (Cuillin was 8 months at the time) through the woods. Cuillin found a dead rabbit. He was merrily alternating between chewing on it and carrying it around so he didn't fall too far behind. Cal was very obviously interested in Cuillin's rabbit but would come when I called him, stay with me (even when Cuillin ran right past him with the rabbit in his mouth) and stay still while I worked on calling Cuillin away from the rabbit a few times. I only had banana and nut flapjacks to reward Cal with but he still stayed with me.
Eventually, I put Cal in a down stay, went over to Cuillin and called him to me. I had Cuillin stay with me then and let Cal go off and have a chew on the dead rabbit. Cuillin also was very good - he would play with me and chase bits of flapjack. He once went over to Cal and tried to chew the rabbit. Cal did nothing horrible to him - just gave him a bit of a stare - and Cuillin decided he'd rather be with me. Sensible puppy - Cal doesn't share food.
Dead things he has found on his own are the ultimate thing for Cal. Nothing else comes close in value.
If I hadn't worked on Cal's food guarding and made sure that I keep on working to keep him relaxed, he would not have been able to stop himself attacking Cuillin to get the rabbit.