"bullying"--should I be worried?

[Peng1zrule]

Hello all...
In another two months, I am going to fence my yard, and I have been worrying almost non stop about two of my dogs. Calliope is my APBT, and India is a corgi mix. The cardigan corgi, if that means anything special. Calliope is FINE with my other dogs--she is Fang's boss, could care less about Buddy, cringes and shows her belly to Gypsy, and loves Sandy. But when it comes to India, she shows this behavior that makes me worry. She starts by just circling her, around and around, in a tight circle, trying to stop India from walking. It works. India will sit down and avert her eyes, and then Calliope becomes aggressive--pinching and nipping at her, and getting rougher and rougher, as if goading her. I can make her leave her alone, but only until India begins to move away, then she becomes more aggressive--not toward ME, but toward India--I have to make her leave the room just so India can get up and move. She won't let India move freely at all, but the other day India seemed fed up and attacked her. It was more of a showy fight, with lots of noise but no one really landing a bite. I should add now I don't consider Calliope "game" because she once started a fight with a much bigger dog, and I had to pull the bigger dog off, and Calliope left without a peep--she went and hid. Anyway, she left her alone (after the fight) for so long I relaxed and sat on the couch, with one leg under me and the other stretched out, with only my heel resting on the floor. The both laid down, one on either side of my foot, and they could see each other behind my ankle--they got into a fight for no reason other than they wanted the other to walk away from me. Again, it was a loud but not serious fight. I have kept them completley away from each other, but I had hoped to leave them in the yard together--is this dangerous? Should I just let them "work it out" since the fights do not seem to be serious? (I hate that idea)

[Carolk9s]

"I had hoped to leave them in the yard together--is this dangerous? Should I just let them "work it out" since the fights do not seem to be serious? (I hate that idea)"

I do believe there is danger here, I personally would NOT leave them in the yard together without close supervision. Their issues may escalate as both seem willing to go at each other, there seems to be a dominance dispute brewing. Far to easy for one or both to get seriously hurt or even killed.
How have you made it clear to Calliope that you will not tolerate her behaviour? It is critical that ALL dogs recognize YOUR authority and know that you will not put up with harassment towards another.

[Peng1zrule]

Thanks Carol. I do beleive it is a dominance thing and I had wondered if it was a possession issue with Calliope, but she recognizes my dominance (or seems to) when I discipline her--usually vocally, occassionaly with a squirt bottle, and often with a good scruffing, she cringes, acts very submissive, and seems more determined than ever to stop her from getting away. She hates to see the cat sit in my lap, but knows not to touch her--any ideas on her stop trying to keep me to herself?

[Peng1zrule]

it's actually been like this from the very first. I tried to introduce them nuetrally, but Calliope didn't seem to like India at all. They fought. I seperated them, gave them time to cool off, and tried to let them play together. For about a month, they even shared one dog lot, and they got along GREAT. But I started walking them together one day, and they started squabbling. I ended up having to walk them home by thier collars. It happened every day, so I started putting Calliope with Fang, who always fought with Buddy and Sandy, (I kept him seperate from the others because breaking up and preventing fights became absolutely exhausting) And India went with the other three. Eventually, I just kept Fang and Calliope as one unit since they liked each other so well, and the other four as another unit since they were so peacable. I recently began re-acquanting them together because the fence plan became a reality once again, and this bullying started just now. ..............