Ah, food aggression. We deal with that too. First off, don't let them just work it out. Above all, you and your husband are the alphas of the pack, and they need to know that. Definitely take the younger dog for training, it's really important. Ok,
1. Will they continue to fight now that they have done it once?
Yes. Unless you break the bulldog of the food aggression issues, they will fight every meal time.
2. Will they eventually draw blood?
Depends. Dogs are good on knowing each other's limits. It depends on what kind of relationship they have. Or it could happen by accident. Our dogs have hurt each other playing. For whatever reason our German Shephard mix rarely lets us know he's in pain or been hurt, so we didn't even know the other dog had rubbed raw his collar area for awhile.
3. Should I have let them work it out on their own if there was no bloodshed? (Someone told me that is what you are supposed to do)
Nope. You need to intervene and show them who's boss. There's a couple of ways you could go about this. The most important thing is to break the dogs of food aggression in general. What if your dog decided it wanted your child's food, or got angry with your child for being too close to it's food. This sort of thing can't be tolerated for everyone's safety. Pack order they can sort out on their own, but this kind of aggression needs nipping in the bud.
4. Is there any thing I can do to prevent these fights?
Here's a good article on food aggression between dogs and people. And here's an article on aggression towards other dogs (it's about Dauschand's, but the advice applies to all dogs).
5. How do you effectively and safely break up a dog fight?
This is a hard one. It's a bad idea to put your body in between them. They are likely to accidentally bite you. You can try spraying them with water, or using an unpleasant sound to deter them (pennies in a metal coffee can, a sonic device from a pet store). A really good way is to mix vinegar and water in a spray bottle and squirt them in the mouth when they're doing this kind of thing. The nasty taste will distract them.
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