Question for those with more than one dog, fighting?

[dab_20]

Molli and Sammy have a couple fights every week. I don't think they've figured out who is the dominent one yet. I usually have to end up pulling them apart because Sam is so big compared to Molli. I was told to grab the back legs of one dog and pull them away. I don't know how easy that would be for you, because you've got bigger dogs. I think you handled it very good. Freaking out won't do any good, but keeping your self calm will help you break it up easier.

[Jadapit]

Two or three dogs going at it isn't nearly as bad as 12 or 15 of them in the same fight! Dang near lost Pacer when he ended up on the bottom of pack fight in May 2004.


Omg, I cant imagine dealing with that many dogs fighting. I'm so glad Pacer wasn't killed. Thank you so much for all the advise. That was all very, very helpful. When a pit bull fights, if the other dog goes into the submissive mode the pit will ignore that and keep right on fighting. I NEVER leave my three alone together. Ebony is crated when we go somewhere. It's up to me to keep them all safe, that is my job as a pet owner.

I forgot to say, both the girls are fine. They were over it in about 5 minutes. They are friends again.

[pitc9]

My two pups have never even as much as raised a hair to one another but my friend has two male Malamute litter mates that are 2 or 3 years old and they will tear into each other like there's no tomorrow, but will cry and not eat if you seperate them. They each are over 110lbs, pulling the back legs is the only thing that works for them.
I hope your girls snap put of it and calm down!
No more fights girls!!!!

[beeniesmom]

Beenie and Frankie go at it when they want the same toy, bone whatever....
To make them stop I usually just yell NO and Clap my hands really loud or get 2 wooden spoons and pop a counter top or whatever hard surface is near. That usually startles them and they quit.

[animal_rescue]

Roxie is the one that usually starts fights here(and it's usually with Alex) and she's so small we usually pull her off the other dog and crate her. Probably not the smartest thing to do but it works.

Good Job at staying calm! When I see a big dog fight I can't help but freak out.

[Flatcoatluver]

I know in the past we have had fights, I know Zoey is very protective of I and the food bowl, and we have to feed them sep. but that is mainly the only fights we have at our house, I guess where lucky.

[4 Dog Mother]

Since my dogs hate water, we throw water on them. Even in the house! Depending on the dogs involved I can usually pull them apart. Taggert almost always seems to be one of the ones involved. Usually it is over food or rawhide. If I see Taggert starting to get possessive (hair raises on his back and he starts a growl), I can usually tell him to knock it off. We know feed them in their crates but that is more because Snoopy will eat everyones if he gets a chance.

[ParNone]

With my 3 males, I haven't had any real fights. If Gull and Murph are irritated at each other, they'll bark back and forth at each other, which doesn't last long, since I get annoyed and tell'em to knock it off.

Gull can be kind of prissy with Oz though, over food, toys and attention. He'll shove him and nip at him. Oz is submissive, so no actual fight starts. But I'll usually grab Gull by the collar (probably something I wouldn't do if I had a different type breed), pull him away from Oz and tell him to "Be Nice to Oz". Then I make both sit and be calm, then they'll get rewarded. This type of occurance is rarer now, I guess since he knows it's the sitting and being calm that's rewarded and the snippiness is getting him the collar grab.

When I had Maddie though, she would get so cranky with Murph. He could just be laying asleep at the foot of the bed, no instigation on his part at all, and out of nowhere she'd go after him. It sounded really ferocious, but the most she ever did was yank some hair out.

I got to where I could tell when she was gonna strike. We'd all be laying on the bed, with me watching TV or surfing the web. I'd catch her body language change out of the corner of my eye and without even looking over, I'd swing my leg over in between her and Murph. She'd then charge and put her front feet on leg. There she'd be hanging off my leg, spewing doggie curse words at Murph, but she wouldn't go past my leg. Murph got to where he didn't even look up anymore, when she charged. He trusted I'd get my leg up in time. I uh wouldn't recommend this technique for most dogs or situations though or the collar grabbing technique. With my dogs it works, with others you might end up getting bitten.

Par...