Our dogs all get along well with one another. When you have multiple dogs, there’s always a risk that two or more will fight for real. Anyone who knows dogs can tell instantly if dogs are "play fighting" or fighting seriously.
Fighting is a big problem, which fortunately I haven’t had to deal with in many years. My current canine pack cohabitate peacefully. However, it seems like that, just as with human families, small tensions build up within the pack over the course of a day.
Every day on the hound walk, there’s an opportunity to unleash those tensions. We have a cleared area behind our house that we call the "orchard" (even though it has no fruit trees). It’s also a favorite hound play area. There are just enough obstacles (read: small trees) that the canines can chase each other around and let off some steam.
Cami, the wooly white dog, generally chases Leia, the black dog, around the orchard. Leia is part border collie, so she loves to twirl around, feign left, feign right, and generally throw Cami off track. Then Leto the Great Pyrenees mutt throws himself into the fray. He’s a klutz, which just sort of annoys Cami and Leia who are focused on the chase.
It’s during this time when Cami decides she’s had quite enough of Mister Leto. That’s when it’s time for her to focus her attention on him and include him in her playtime. You can just sort of tell by the gleam in her eye that she’s been waiting to stomp him all day.
When four hounds share living space, you have to figure that little annoyances transpire all the time. They are all good-natured beasts, so they let it slide until it’s time to head to the orchard and pound each other for a while.
And then they rest up. Because tomorrow, the pounding will commence again.