Dog Fights - what would you do? Discussions

Had a bit of a time of it since the weekend, my parents were over with their dog, so up to a six dog household. In the confusion, their dog, rescue staffy didn't eat a treat she was given, piece of raw pork skin, which my dad insisted she be given a bit, Zasa nicked it, and Guilty tried to steal it. Chaos ensued during which I got bitten quite badly on the hand. Obviously the moral of the story is, always keep unreliable dogs crated while feeding, and I won't be letting my guard down again. Just interested to hear if anyone has had a similar incident, and what happened, what did you do, and did it work?

I got 6 of my own dogs plus 4 foster dogs at moment, I only have to keep one of my own dogs away from my foster dogs & that's Dottie she's in a 5 foot by 5 foot open top pen over night as no one's around to keep her away from the foster dogs.

Mouse is only reactive to DA/HA dogs.

He will actually allow me or wife, and the couple who own Lulu and Waldo to reach in his mouth to get stuff he should not have.

DA/HA dogs both cases he has power slammed them to the ground. 1 GSD I thought he broken that charged him, he grabbed it by the collar and took the dog at full speed into the air and slammed it to the ground ,with all his weight around 130 to 140lbs at the time, landing on top of it.

A boxer x bully breed that charged toward him and the wife he basically charged back and went straight into the other dog, knocking it back making it do a back flip.

Friend who I work on weight pulling with has a AB that's 110lbs and when one of the females is in heat, we keep him and Mouse apart because he will try to mount Mouse who will barrel roll him, and they will go into a forever stare down.

Small dogs thankfully he just ignores. Even aggressive ones.

Buddies AMStaff water work wonders, it breaks his concentration long enough for recall to kick in.

With Romeo (Also a EM) I've actually put in a choke hold.

With Mastiff you pretty much keep them at arms reach when there visiting strange dogs, or dogs who may have issues.

Always a frightening situation. Sophie attacked a foster dog and then a puppy when we realized she wasn't safe around any other creatures. Worst thing with the puppy she managed to get out of her collar besides, so I was trying to pull her back by the scruff, then the puppy's owner clocked her in the snout. Even then she was still trying to get to the puppy. Still shudder thinking about it.
With her and Callie she always gets the treat first and his is always identical. They have their own food and water at opposite ends of the kitchen.
With Callie and strange dogs I'm very careful. He's very laid back but you don't know another dog's motives. I don't want him to ever be in a position where he feels he has to defend himself. Any real fight and he would win, NEVER want that to happen.

Prevention is key and what I strive for. Though have had to deal with fights. Ideally two people are present and we each get a breaking stick so it ends quick enough. But life isn't always ideal.

Two pups maybe 3 months old that decided to go at it. Wasn't too much to do. Being young I did try to dump water on them but that only succeeded in making them slippery to hold. So just had to try and keep hold of them so could separate when they switched holds on each other. One let go first and face held away so couldn't bute again them wait for the other to let go.

Another was two females. I saw what was going to happen but didn't get to stop it in time. I couldn't get them separated they were going from one end of the house to the other. I drug them in the bathroom and put them in the tub running water in their faces/up noses and what not so that got them to release as they were locked by the face. Luckily both were small enough to do this (25lbs & 30lbs)and was able to get one out and away before they could get back in holds.

Another time I was walking my dog and there was an aggro GSD both DA and HA had chased people, bit one person. That dog always jumped the fence any chance. Which is exactly what happened that day. But when he attacked my dog though she smaller she grabbed him and shook him right off his feet making him go from aggressive snarling to screaming. His owner came running out so I grabbed her by collar and she listened to me to let go.

Once was with someone else's dog (though also a Pit Bull) which wasn't aggressive, might even be close to cold pretty well non reactive dog his whole life and didn't fight back to mine. Problem is though he had a mounting / humping issue at times. When he did this to my male (he had about 20lbs on my male too) this upset him and he turned to bite him. Like I said the other dog wasn't really aggressive so not exactly a fight but mine had hold biting. I just kind of grabbed my dog since the other dog didn't bite him, he literally was still trying to stay mounted but I held my dog briefly then pulled him back because he didn't have much of ahold when he loosened up for a better one it was no problem.

A couple I wasn't present but can tell you very small female Pit and large male LGD. She was well dug in his chest area but he couldn't get to her to really hurt her. So it was a matter of removing her from him and preventing him to bite her. Another time I wasn't present was the male that was mounted and his half brother decided on all out fight so held each up by collar cutting off some of their air so they eventually let go of each other. I don't want to harm them (no permanent harm done anyway and far less than what they could do to each other) but I couldn't do this if I wanted/needed in no way am I strong enough to lift dogs fully in the air with 1 arm especially while fighting, but it worked well enough & quick enough.

I've dealt with a few, the worst being a staffie and a terrier, thankfully Diesel the staffie has brilliant bite inhibition so will only do what is necessary to restrain the other. All the effective ideas failed to work, we got there in the end with training. So for me prevention is always better, failing that chuck em in the pond.

Ive never had problems with any of my dogs fighting with each other but I had a similar incident once when a friend was staying with their dogs Kyra was not happy that it took one of her toys and went to get it back the other dog had a go at her, luckily it was stopped before it became a full blown fight but from then on when I have visitors staying with dogs I always remove all toys / bones, and no tit-bits allowed as I feel they are a sure thing to start a fight.

Thanks for the replies, I guess as far as my girls are concerned Guilty is not a *permanent* member yet, she's only been here for a couple of months so need to bear in mind she's still sorting out her place with my girls. It also hasn't helped that Zasa has come in season so hormones are high, and there was another dog here visiting, so it was a huge mix up! Any treats are small and easily eaten without chewing, anything else they are straight in their beds (crates) from now on.

Thankfully my hand is healing up quickly, should be pretty much back to normal by next week

My first experience of aggression amongst my own dogs was a Lowchen father and son who just about got along unless they made eye contact across a room, then it was Hell let loose - though they would travel to shows together without any problem. I got bitten several times whilst splitting them up, and I'm afraid that in the end the younger boy just had to go.
Last week Ed and Merry had 'a bone related incident'. (It is always about food with Hounds, isn't it?). No blood spilt, but Ed has lost a strip of hair on his face. It is a useful warning, no bones in the same area again - they can't be trusted not to want to swap!

@Bulldogs4Life What is an LGD? I can't think of a breed that has these initials - or maybe I'm just a bit slow this morning!

What a horrible experience Joanne.I hope your hand is fully recovered soon.

With the three I have at the moment, fights are unlikely - Bogie (ten year old cocker) is very dominant and has only to look at the others and they will back down and hand over the goodies! (He's fed in a separate room, otherwise the other two would starve!)

It was different when Witty the little terrier was alive - he was a little devil and seemed to enjoy winding Bogie up, and I had to separate them several times. Life is a lot more peaceful now he has gone!

My two don't really fight. They argue sometimes but it has never escalated into a real fight. Nigredo will stealies food from Jade if I let him, but she won't fight him over it. He's a big, very strong, and very bold fella... but he's not at all aggressive and he doesn't pick fights, he usually backs down to challenges, and he will only fight if forced to. But if he is forced to fight... many dogs will lose to him for I have seen what he is capable of, so I don't let other dogs test him excessively. Jade will attack dogs smaller than her, and is generally unfriendly, so she is kept away from other dogs.

My last dog Brownie hated male pit bulls and fought several of them. He fought to kill, and he picked dogs that did this also... or they picked him. ALL fights ended with severe injuries on both ends and lots of blood. Very hard to separate two furious male dogs who really can no longer hear anything or feel any pain. So glad my current male isn't like this.

Interesting perspective I was just thinking about. I guess given even a medium dog's size and sometimes impressive teeth that fighting can be such a concern. In a house of only cats there are scuffles sometimes, but for the most part it's hisshiss flufffluff and it's over.
Stumpy is a female who has challenged everyone from kitten hood. She has the notched ears to prove it. However with cat's you might not even know there had been a fight until someone comes up with an infected bite wound a few days or weeks later. Mostly they have their own enforced pecking order.

Sorry it is a type livestock guardian dog Kangal specifically.

I've only had one problem cat. She was serious though.

So this is *the thumb* five days on from splitting up the bitch fight, thank goodness I didn't need an operation! I did however, have to have three hospital appointments, including four injections which was more painful than the bite, but apparently dog bite wounds are one of the worst for healing up as they can carry so much bacteria in their mouths, thank goodness I raw feed and their teeth are pristine!





It went down to the bone on both sides and they were worried with the puncture wound that she might have nicked a tendon, hence the injections to numb my thumb, and then a huge rummage around which I didn't wash but judging by how my whole arm was being twisted around, couldn't have been pleasant, my mum was with me (I have a hospital phobia) and she said she could hardly watch what the doctor did.

Never mind, lesson learned, and I've ordered some CSJ stroppy bitch for when any of them are in season, just in case!

Oooh! That does look nasty. I've got a few scars, but have luckily have never had one that needed any treatment, bar an anti - tetanus update.

Lol my worst one was caused yanking the jaws of a Border Collie apart while it was ragging my friends Pug. She stood their screaming for me to do something and the owner of the Border Collie kept walking. I stuck my hands in arounds top and bottom jaw and pulled as hard as I could, nearly lost the top of my finger but it worked.

Bitches fights are more violent then male dog fights.

The worst bite I had was from my cat as I was putting her into her crate to take her to the vet. She bit me on both sides of the base of my thumb and although my son flushed the puncture wounds with betadine, that evening my hand had swollen like a balloon and I had red streaks running up my arm. He rushed me to the doctor for a tetanus jab and antibiotics, but for the next two weeks I couldn't use my hand and was having to change the dressing four or five times a day.

Yes, I have had infections from cat bites and scratches when I worked for a vet. (Many, many, many moons ago!).