Teaching Archie to use a dog flap

We have always had a cat flap, and because Reggie was so small he would go through it all the time, but the cat broke the flap when he was chased in by another cat, so we decided as Reg was using the flap anyway to get a bigger sturdier dog flap. Reggie and the cat go through it happily, and we tried putting Archie through it, he went out ok, then came back with help again, so we gave him a treat. However when we tried again, Archie then attacked Reggie quite fiercely, and they had to be pulled apart.
Is there anyway other than seperating them that we can teach Archie to go through the flap? Any ideas would be welcome pls?

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on February 25, 2009 at 10:22am

Safety is my number one concern, if giving a treat will trigger a fight, then it is necessary to put Reggie in another room. Spend a good afternoon teaching Archie to go through the door with some treats, you should see good result by the next day without the help of a treat. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on February 25, 2009 at 3:59pm

It was not the treat that triggered the fight, Archie was in the garden when he went for Reggie, and Reggie had not been anywhere near a treat... so we were well and truly stumped!

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on February 25, 2009 at 4:27pm

Very weird indeed... Was it a full on attack with lips pull back and all? My Vienna have a tendency to tackle Mocha whenever he walks back from the yard, not sure why, but 8 out of 10 times she does that, she would tackle, play nip him left and right, then hopity hop hop back through the sliding door.

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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on February 25, 2009 at 6:58pm

This was definitely not play, we have seen that Archie will stamp his authority on Reggie when he feels it necessary, but we seperated them once, and carried Reggie in, only for Archie to try and continue fighting. We seperated them again, and after about 30 seconds, Archie was calm again and wanted to play, but poor Reggie was understandably anxious, although they are best of friends again now.