Dog owners- do you break up fights or let them happen?

Buddy (the alpha male) didn't want to let Larry up on the bed last night. Larry is buddy's pup and is about 2 years old. He attacked him a little bit and this morning he has blood all over his face from puncture wounds on his nose.
I usually let things happen in order to not disrupt the pecking order. Should I start breaking them up and risk making them worse in the future?
Larry seems to have learned a lesson and is cowering in buddy's presence.



This is Larry.


This is Buddy.

If they're not really hurting each other then I just let 'em go at it. But if things get too rough I break it up.

So they know who is the REAL Alpha.

You just don't screw around with Daddy!

:thumbsup: Squabbles are one thing...skin breaking fights, another. Buddy needs to know he isn't alpha male in that pack.

He knows I am over him in the grand scheme of things. The reason I asked is a book I have on dogs says you ought to let them establish the pecking order and not disturb it because the younger dogs will be more apt to test the leader.
The touching thing is this morning buddy was licking Larry's wounds.

hmm???

So it's a role that I assume. It keeps them from doing bad stuff most of the time.

unless you want to get bit.

My bonehead dog from time to time forgets he's not the alpha. He remembers pretty quickly. I got bit once in the crossfire though, so unless they are really going to kill each other, I stay clear.

With some exceptions; sled-dogging I've been in a few line tangles, and dogs have gone nuts out of confusion. I've stepped in every time.

A lot of fights are a matter of dominance; however, they also don't pull any punches when its serious. It's less of a big deal for a dog's brain to wrap around something like "I permanently maimed him to teach him a lesson" than you might think.

I like to preserve the natural pecking order, which means letting a lot of fights come to conclusion. But only to the extent that I want to deal with the consequences; having dogs living with you is a departure from the natural pack state, in and of itself, so while I like the pecking order to be there, (a) I want to be at the top of it, and (b) I don't want anyone hurt to preserve/establish it.

Well-set pack order, e.g. dogs that have been around each other forever, is something interesting to watch. The alpha female in a group of dogs I visit from time to time could never hold her own, at her age, in a real fight. But every other dog responds to amazingly small gestures from her -- as little as a briefly curled lip, blink and you might miss it, sends the biggest off into a corner. :)

I have six in my pack. Buddy and Angel are the a-male/female. Both seem to be able to control the younger dogs with a barely audible growl or even look. Down on the ground they go.
Last night Larry was pushing it, he kept trying to get up on the bed after numerous growls.