Question for those with more than one dog, fighting?

[Jadapit]

Last night I was out in the yard, cleaning up dog poop. The fur kids were outside with me. There was a stick that Ebony and Jada both wanted at the same time. I saw them both tense up, I pretty much knew what was coming but I couldn't stop them in time. The fight was on.

I was surprised at how calm I remained, I hate dog fights they freak me out. I said "knock it off" in a very firm voice, that fell on deaf ears. I finally took the shovel handle and put it bewteen them that caught their attention enough to stop the fight. I guess I should count my blessings, thats the only bad fight they have ever gotten into. I think thats pretty good for having all females and a pit pit/mix.

If your dogs have ever gotten into it how do you deal with it? How do you stop them from fighting?

[caseysmom]

Casey goes off on bubba occasionaly, once I even had to get a pillow and knock her over the head. I just tell my daughter not to get in the middle which she does sometimes.

[finn's mom]

I haven't really had what I'd call a fight, yet. Although Dudley is constantly trying to mount Finn, so, I know it may be just a matter of time before there's a real altercation. As of right now, it's just Dudley being retarded and barking, Freckles barking, and, Finn running laps around the living room, bumping the two small ones around with his big butt. He isn't usually affected by it, but, I did have to nip it in the bud the other night. Dudley got too fresh or something, and, Finn's entire body changed and he wasn't playing anymore. I just raised my voice, but, lowered the tone, and, that was that. I don't know what I'd do if they actually started fighting. Whatever I could, I guess. :/ I'm glad you were able to stop it before it went too far. Toys cause aggression at my house, too. I don't leave any out at all, but, they have griped at eachother over sticks, too, and, that's kindof unavoidable.

[Rachel]

I've had to literally pull mine apart several times, but considering they've lived together for 7 years now, I guess that isn't all that bad. Tucker is really laid back and takes a lot of guff off of Hannah, but when he has had more than he can tolerate he reverts to being a *street dog* and there are no holes barred.

Since both of them are under 30 pounds I am strong enough to pull one or both of them by whatever part I can grab. This is no time for being particular on how I do it. I get very loud and move in quickly. Fortunately once they are separated, they do not try to go at it again and within minutes its like nothing ever happened.

When I see Hannah trying to lord it over Tucker, I get stern with her and let her know that is not acceptable. I can't speak for others, but with my two, it is better to keep my Alpha in line.

[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!!!!

[Glacier]

We've had lots of fights. They are less frequent than they once were, but it still happens. Pack fights are the worst. 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.

I think you handled it pretty well. Staying calm is very important. If you start freaking out, yelling ect, you've become part of the fight as far as the dogs are concerned. The odds of you getting injured go way up at that point. I don't intervene at all if it's just posturing. Muskwa and Founder currently have a little debate going about who is the alpha. Muskwa is, but he's aging. Founder will be the boss dog someday, but Muskwa isn't ready to give up yet. They don't actually fight, but there's lots of trash talking going on. I ignore that stuff. They'll settle that on their own.

I know it's not an option for you, but I keep my females seperated, except for the mellow old girls. Greatly reduced the number of conflicts. Girls tend to fight differently and intentionally do much more damage than males. Kayleigh would quite happily kill another female dog. (She'll take a round out of a male too, but she has issues!) One of the worst fights we've ever had to break up was Kayleigh and her littermate. Seperating two, 110 pound ticked off female wolf-hybrids was not fun! Kayleigh had massive injuries after that fight. Summit had gone for her throat, if she had ripped much more, Kayleigh would have died. Males generally fight til one of them submits and that's the end of it. Males tend not to hold grudges. Females have long memories! As Stuart says, there's a reason the word bitch has taken on such negative connotations!

If I can see it coming, I try to get them apart. If they haven't gone into full fight mode yet, a loud noise will sometimes distract them. I keep a marine air horn by the door. A blast from that will sometimes get their attention long enough for me to intervene. I've also banged shovels on doghouses, hit metal dishes on trees. Anything that might distract them. If you have enough water pressure, a blast of water from a garden hose sometimes works too.

If we are both home and it's a relatively small fight, (2-3 dogs), we each grab a dog under their back legs and lift straight up. Do not grab the tail, unless it's a life & death situation. You can injure the dog by grabbing their tails. Usually once you lift up, the dog will look back to see what the heck is happening and you can pull them apart. Works best with two people.

Fighting is unacceptable in my pack. When it happens, every dog involved gets punished. I don't give a hoot who started it. Every participant gets in trouble. Punishment around my house is getting seperated from the pack. Combantants go on chains for a couple hours or get put into small pens alone. Nothing a husky hates more than being alone. They get allowed back into their pack slowly, a couple dogs at a time. The instigator gets reintegrated last. Nothing positive comes to them from a fight. A successful fight(ie the dog got what it wanted), means another fight is going to happen.

I hope neither of your girls was injured and they are buddies again soon!