The boys are being naughty.....

Okay, bit of a story here...

Rocksteady is almost a year old, and since the introductions to the little balls of fluff a few months ago has really perked up.
But there have been some small issues.
Himself and Cringer don't really see eye to eye; for some reason they just have animosity between each other.
Rocky has always picked on Cringer, and they have had more than a few scuffles; nothing too serious though, over in about a second.
Thy just usually have a mexican standoff, maybe a bit of air boxing, and that's it; they are usually quite cosy and snuggly.
No spiky coats, not marks, no tension, just one of them being seemingly surprised.

Last night they had quite a scuffle though; which is my main concern.
It seems Cringer was trapped in a corner, and Rocky didn't take no as an answer to whatever he was asking.
It lasted about 5 seconds before we separated them.
They seemed a little confused, very tense; Rocky was (unironically) rock solid, and did NOT want to be held.
Cringer was obviously a little frightened, and a bit squirmier than usual, he also smelled rather strongly.
Neither of them had spikey or puffy appearances, they just seemed spooked.

We gave Cringer a quick rinse in tap water (in case the scent might start something again), gave him a rough towel try, and put him back in the cage 5 min later.
Rocky had calmed down substantially, and everyone chipped in to groom Cringer back to normal.
Cringer even groomed Indy and Rocky a little.

I'm worried about what might happen when we aren't around.
Is this usual behaviour?
Do you think that they may have gotten it out of their system for now?
What can we do to help prevent this?
We've sanitised the cage, and put in a cardboard box with torn fleece. Hoping this will give them more individual space to enjoy and something to destroy if they get tense again.


Any advice greatly appriciated.

I would say it sounds pretty normal stuff - and the younger guys will be getting to the age now where they are pushing their luck with Rocky. Chances are they'll either fight him and become alpha, or more likely they will annoy him and push him and he'll flatten them and things will settle back to normal with him as alpha

xx

I'm not too used to such little things vying for dominance.
I suspected it was just as much.
Show me a six border collies trying to kill each other because a bitch is in heat and I'm fine.
But when little guys in arms reach start screeching and scuffling I definitely get a little over protective

Awww <3 I'm sure they'll settle down fine when they sort their heirarchy out!

xx