# Has your dog ever gotten in a fight with another dog?



## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Has your dog ever gotten in a fight with another dog? What did you do? Did you follow the standard wheel-barrow-hind-legs drag the dogs out of the fight? Did anyone get hurt? How were vet bills delineated? Do you have any tips to prevent or distract a dog fight?

I remember Smoke's reactivity. He once nearly bit my hand in attempt to get into it with a GSD and he once tried to chew his nylon leash to get at another dog. I've had to pull Smokey and Zeeva out of a few altercations and my initial reaction almost always has been to grab the collar and pull apart. Wrong, huh? 

Anyway, I just wanna hear your experiences...


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

I have split up more dog fights than I can count, none really with my own dog, though. The one thing I always tell people is that when dogs fight, they lose awareness of others around them and can harm you without even realizing it.


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## trcy (Mar 1, 2013)

I've only broken up pit bull fights. I used a hose. They seem to hate water. 

Other than that my dogs get into "arguments". They go at each other barring teeth, stripes up and lots of noise, but they don't actually bite each other. We pull them apart. My smallest 20 pound dog starts these. The last one she started with the 70 pound gsd. I got in between them and pushed Riley (GSD) back telling him to leave it. I should have concentrated on the little dog, because she just followed. little dogs *shakes head* SHe is sweet...except for when she goes cujo.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

-Misty my oldest fought with the male lab that I had one time. She has fought with Robyn one time. All other dogs are corrected, most of them heed the correction.

-Tannor my golden was attacked by a Rott when he was 3-4 months. The only thing I could do was hold onto the jaws of the Rott so he could not bite down on the golden's head. Vet bills were over a thousand dollars and the Rott's owner paid all of them.

-Robyn my female GSD got into it with Misty my oldest. It was really not a big fight and its never happened again. Now they are buddies. Robyn got into a small tiff with the new GSD Midnite.

-Midnite my male GSD got into it with Robyn. It could have been worse then it was...he did try getting me out of the way when I broke it up, but he did not bite. He's been corrected by every dog in the house. When outside he is reactive right now, but I really think he would run like a baby if he pushed another dog to far. He has run into a couple reactive dogs and he completely ignores them.

None of the fights besides the Golden/Rott had any injuries, not even a scratch.


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## mandiah89 (Jan 18, 2013)

Ive had to break up a few fights throughout the years. Unfortunately when you are trying to break up the fight by yourself you cant grab the back legs of both dogs the only way I could break it up was the grabbing the collars which in all actuality was putting myself in harms way as well and I have been bitten in the process many times. Luckily the two fights involving Diesel, Diesel did not start, a dog attacked her while we at the beach and she fought back to defend herself, and again when I was fostering a GSD husky mix that was horribly food aggressive and again Diesel was attacked and fought back .

A dog fight can be scary but its even more scary when you dont know what you are doing and also if you dont keep calm if your freaking out and screaming its not going to help the situation. Keep calm get them apart, assess for injuries and move on.


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

It wasn't a real fight, but the closest we have ever come to one. I was walking Niko in town, a white bully breed dog came out of a yard and ran right at us. Niko has dog aggression, so he went for the dog as it approached us. I got knocked down, lost the leash. The altercation was 99% noise and posturing and showing teeth. There was a pause in the "fight" when both dogs stood stiffly staring at each other and I took that opportunity to grab the leash and give the white dog a face full of pepper spray.

The white dog decided he had better places to be. Niko recovered his composure quickly. It took me a lot longer to calm down.


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## Chaps (Feb 3, 2013)

An idea to distract: At the local dog park I saw someone being a soda can filled with coins and she would shake that to distract the dogs when they started posturing to fight. Seemed worth the 20 penny investment.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Minor tiffs, a yelled "HEY" gets it broken up quickly

One fight, a husky attacked Delgado for sniffing another dog. The husky jumped on his back and grabbed his scruff pinning him to the ground, Delgado was only 7-8 months I believe so he just submitted and didn't fight back. Another owner grabbed the husky and I grabbed Delgado and moved him away. Thankfully he wasn't hurt so we parted ways and I just avoided the husky when I saw him around.


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## TommyB681 (Oct 19, 2012)

Abbi was attacked by a dog at the park that had a muzzle on. I guess she knew the other dog had the muzzle and didn't really fight back just kept trying to get away. I grabbed the dog and picked him up and handed him back to the owner. Neither dog nor person was hurt


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## Diesel and Lace (Apr 15, 2013)

Unfortunately yes. My dog with muzzle on attacked by some little over confident dog. Blood was flying he was hanging on my dogs face. The owner just was standing there not even doing anything. When he reached down to pull him off he got bit (by his own dog because mine was muzzled!) The dog came right back at poor Diesel and I could not get him off so the only option was to kick him, I would never do that normally but the owner was not doing anything and my dog was bleeding. That was a few days after we brought home a dog aggressive dog... SMH


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## Shaolin (Jun 16, 2012)

Finn got nailed as a pup by two other dogs. I reached in, grabbed Finn by the scruff and held him up above my head as I yelled at the two dogs. Vet bills weren't an issue; Finn wasn't hurt and neither were the other dogs.

Other than that, I've split up a few while at work. The high pressure water can off the Fire Engine works as well as an indirect blast from a regular fire extinguisher, but pulling the back legs is the standard.


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## Kaiser2012 (Mar 12, 2012)

Unfortunately yea.

Dakota was on the beach...maybe 2 years old? Its been so long now. But anyway, a lady came up with her lab and I asked if her dog was friensly and ok with other dogs. Dakota is the one dog in a million who is truly great with every dog, never reactive or dominant or submissive and has been used numerous times to help dog aggressive or reactive dogs in their training. So the lady says yea sure her dog is great and the minute her dog gets a whiff of dakota she grabs kota at the throat and body slams her into the ground. Dakota reacted out of complete fight or flight and bit back. I screamed at the lady to get her dog while I pulled it off of dakota. The lady was then furious at ME because I didn't tell her that dakota was a female because oh by the way her lab was female aggressive. Like I was supposed to read her mind? Thankfully dakota has no issues from that.

Kaiser has been attacked several times, at various types of dog parks. He is now reactive to dominant dogs and will start something if the other dog even looks at him funny. I manage him now and we are working on the aggressiveness in the meantime. I literally pull him off the other dog by his neck/shoulders. I know I can do this with him but i don't recommend it if you don't trust your dog. 

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## Bubbles (Aug 31, 2012)

Bubbles doesn't hang out with other dogs at the dog park. In her mind she is strictly there to catch a ball. Ever since she was 4 months at the dog park if there's a dog fight she comes to me BC I tell her to. I don't want her near it. She's a good girl.


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## Verivus (Nov 7, 2010)

Yes, some bully breed would not stop pestering and posturing towards my GSD (who tried to leave the dog alone) and they got into it. The stupid owner did not even attempt to help get them apart. There was no way I, a 5'2" girl, was going to be able to keep 2 large dogs apart unless I grabbed them both by the collar. Thankfully it didn't escalate to the point where they were trying to kill each other and I was able to barely hold them apart until the owner finally decided to step in after I chewed him out and dragged his dog off.


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## Cheyanna (Aug 18, 2012)

Nope.


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## LookingforLuke (Feb 20, 2013)

Thankfully no but we've only had Luke for a couple months. This thread makes me think about dog parks and interactions with other dogs a little differently. Unfortunately not all dog owners are responsible or even able to handle their pets. That's a huge pet peeve of mine and it's really unfortunate situations like this happen.


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## JackandMattie (Feb 4, 2013)

Zeeva said:


> Has your dog ever gotten in a fight with another dog? What did you do? Did you follow the standard wheel-barrow-hind-legs drag the dogs out of the fight? Did anyone get hurt? How were vet bills delineated? Do you have any tips to prevent or distract a dog fight?
> 
> I remember Smoke's reactivity. He once nearly bit my hand in attempt to get into it with a GSD and he once tried to chew his nylon leash to get at another dog. I've had to pull Smokey and Zeeva out of a few altercations and my initial reaction almost always has been to grab the collar and pull apart. Wrong, huh?
> 
> Anyway, I just wanna hear your experiences...


Yes. And I pray I never see it again.

We mistakenly believed my roommate's Australian Shepherd was no longer antagonizing my Jack. We were wrong. Jack finally had enough, and took him down. Both of my girls joined Jack. I was alone with a four-dog fight. No water hose available. Managed to get them to the threshold, grabbed the Aussie's legs (they had him pinned, but were all on the other side of him), and pulled him inside and slammed the door in my pack's faces.

He was all kinds of torn up, but all superficial. All three of mine had punctures / slight tears. I had a couple of punctures and an inch long laceration.

Roommate wouldn't let me pay his vet bills, because we knew who the butthead was, and he chose to leave him free when he went out that night. I definitely also consider myself responsible, though. Huge learning curve on my part. I thought that because my dogs had several months of successful 5-day weeks at doggie day care without incident, that we would be fine with adding another dog. Didn't think that scenario all the way through. Doh.

I paid my own doctor bill. My dogs didn't get vetted. I saw no signs of infection and nothing big enough to stitch up on them.

TIPS: When introducing dogs into a new household together, make sure you do your homework and exercise caution. When one dog has been "stalking" and growling at another, don't trust that the problem is solved just because you have made corrections and a couple of weeks have passed without incident. Clearly, we were missing the cues.

After the fight, we went to a strict crate and rotate schedule. We wished we had _started_ with one, instead


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

I have broken up at least three fights w/ our current three and two between Dodger or rather Dodger attacking Lucky and Daisy joining in. Zeeva my first instinct is to grab collars as well but I have been teethed in the abdomen but just a small bruiseand no broken skin. I am now using water and it and my loud voice seems to stop. Lucky is a being a butt head but the triggers are the family room which is small and no way for them to have distance. Lucky sometimes isnt the culprit as Thunder does growly stink eye and so does Cheverily. I try to manage animal movement by girls first in the living room. The dogs in the past week while I had the flu and insiulin reactions all slept in our bedroom and were in the family room w/ me. aAl was good until Friday night when it must have been the end of the cease fire. We had an incidient but it was the three trying to go through the space between a chair and the recliner. The dogs are kept seperate when we are gone. Son keeps them seperate, I do seperate more then my husband. My nervousness I think sometimes sets it off. I'm trying to "be calm and carry on.
PS Jack and Mattie's Dad that sounds really scary. Glad everybodies OK including you.


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## jourdan (Jul 30, 2012)

At work is see a fight every so often. The last "fight" Avery was in was totally my fault. It's an open kennel where I work and had a complete brain fart and forgot to put this overly dominant untrained GSD in the sleeping room and they got into it when I walked Avery through the gate. Avery had a muzzle on and I was stuck in a corner, as I was trying to move Avery's bum around to get moving my hand got in the way. After that I just basically ran out and kicked the other GSD in the gut a few times to save my skin. The ones I see on the training yard are usually pulled apart by the back legs or via the long leashes, it's usually during social time that this happens. Once separated all dogs involved are immediately put in the dog position and have to relax before they can try and be social again. Avery is usually pretty good and ignoring the fights that happen too. I always call him to me and he will usually go into a down position on his own incase I have to help with the problem dogs. 


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

I think, early training is very important. I have noticed that males get some sort of satisfaction out of fights even if beaten, they like this adrenaline flow. The most difficult task for the trainer to engrave into his dog's memory one simple rule "command before the action" becomes a psychological torture. How to make your dog looking at you before he dashed and attacked?
Young males exercise their agressive behaviour sometimes. They pretend to be adults, but don't have any experience in fighting, they bark more than bite. You can divert attention of your puppy with the ball, go away to play, come back and, if the story repeats, repeat this exercise of going away as many times as required. Finally, I would be happy only if I wasn't obliged to move away and my dog came to sit near me at first recall. Your dog learns _to pause_ in his urge to run forward to other dog through diverting his attention onto something of a game with introduction of a new command. The second step is building a block of his anticipation of your command. The best situation for training that is when they play, run together or any other social involvement, absolutely engrossed in what they do. Try to break it, recall your dog when the game is at its hottest. Ask him to sit for a few minutes, talk to him, ask him to look at you. When you release him back into the play - it works as a treat of being a good boy.At the moment when dog fight has already started your recall must ring the bell. 


> kicked the other GSD in the gut


Wrong doing. By causing pain you cause his fury boiling and bubbling. Grab back legs of the attacker and drug him away swiftly until the distance allows you to catch his collar. And, never rely on the owner of other dog. Probably, he was bitten too many times being caught between two beasts and doesn't want to do anything about it any longer.


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## Mikelia (Aug 29, 2012)

If it is my dogs I say a loud 'HEY' and that usually will stop it, if not then I grab collars. Anybody else's dogs, I grab back legs or their tail. I have broken up many, many serious fights (very few between my own dogs) and when you have no help and two dogs who want to kill each other, it is best to think rationally and keep yourself safe. Either get something between them (a doorway and shut the door, have used bunk bed pieces) or loop a leash around one dogs stomach, attach it to something solid to immobilize that dog then work on getting the other one off the tied up dog.
One of the scariest fights I have dealt with was two female American pit bull terriers got ahold of each others noses through a chain link fence. I did not worry about either dog trying to bite me - it just is not in the breed to bite a person breaking up a fight - but it was a waiting game until they both regripped at the same time so I could pull them apart. 
Funniest fight was 14 shelties got into it in their kennel room. Omg, there was fur flying, shelties flying, yipping and yapping. I was working with another person and we just grabbed shelties and were throwing them in kennels. No one was hurt and we had a good laugh about it after. 
My strategy is to try and immobilize the dog so they cannot do more damage, then wait for them to let go - easier said than done. If it is one dog attacking the other then grab back legs or tail. I have not ever found blasting them with water, loud noises or hitting them to ever make any difference in a serious fight. A dominance spat maybe, but not dogs that plan to kill each other. You must physically remove them from each other.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

jourdan said:


> At work is see a fight every so often. The last "fight" Avery was in was totally my fault. It's an open kennel where I work and had a complete brain fart and forgot to put this overly dominant untrained GSD in the sleeping room and they got into it when I walked Avery through the gate. Avery had a muzzle on and I was stuck in a corner, as I was trying to move Avery's bum around to get moving my hand got in the way. After that I just basically ran out and kicked the other GSD in the gut a few times to save my skin. The ones I see on the training yard are usually pulled apart by the back legs or via the long leashes, it's usually during social time that this happens. Once separated all dogs involved are immediately put in the dog position and have to relax before they can try and be social again. Avery is usually pretty good and ignoring the fights that happen too. I always call him to me and he will usually go into a down position on his own incase I have to help with the problem dogs.
> 
> So you are beating on other peoples dogs because of your own careless actions? You should be fired. What sort of ridiculous place is this?


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## R-a-m-b-o (Feb 17, 2012)

_*My gsd fought pitbulls,other gsds, and almost every other dominant dog in the dog park
that harrased him or any other dog that got too close to his toy...*_


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

R-a-m-b-o said:


> _*My gsd fought pitbulls,other gsds, and almost every other dominant dog in the dog park
> that harrased him or any other dog that got too close to his toy...*_


I hope you're not still taking this dog to the dog park.


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

Zeeva said:


> Do you have any tips to prevent or distract a dog fight?


The best tip I can give you is to really watch the body postures of the dogs, and intervene before they start fighting. I can keep the peace with a loud, "Hey" but it's best to do this while they're still considering a fight, not while they're actually fighting. 

I have had to break up fights before, but nothing serious. I've been very lucky, and the worst that came of it was a few stitches, with maybe some abx for infection. Usually it's just a tiny cut, and when you think of just how much damage a dog could do if it meant to, then a tiny cut seems to me that it's more for show than anything. Which is why it's easier to watch the body language and bring things to a halt before they escalate.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

rambo, they will press charges or call animal control on you, you gota protect your dog, figure out a way to stop him from fighting asap before he kills another dog and trust me he will kill another dog eventually. It only takes a gsd a couple of mins to kill a medium sized dog if the gsd is trying its hardest ive seen it. So before your dog gets put to sleep and you go to court do something! :shocked:


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

I find or found by watching yelling stuff like HEY works on submissive type breeds like goldens, greyhounds etc.. But on breeds like rotties or gsd when someone used that same method they got totally ignored. Something i just noticed when I use to go to the dog park. A man would yell at a dog that got aggressive and tried to hurt another dog and it worked really well the dog sulked went low to the ground. He did it on this unruly rottie that was picking a fight with a dobie and he got totally shunned. I only saw someone gsd bite someone in a dog fight. Ive been grabbed also in the past by a gsd in a fight that wasnt mine in a split second, i still can't believe how quick it had me, i didnt even reach for it, I was reaching for another dog at the time which was mine and the gsd was being held by its owner but being attacked by another dog went after me instead. Once it realized I was not a dog it let go but it still hurt me bad. I have also been grabbed by a rottie that was being harassed by a gsd. The rottie actually ran to ME i was not even its owner! and then the gsd kept taking jabs at it while the rottie was trying to get between my legs i pushed the rottie out and it nailed my hand. I remember how much that hurt and it hardly touched me. Big dog bites are so painful even when they dont even touch you, and its by mistake. I feel for prison inmates. lol


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

pets4life said:


> I find or found by watching yelling stuff like HEY works on submissive type breeds like goldens, greyhounds etc.. But on breeds like rotties or gsd when someone used that same method they got totally ignored. Something i just noticed when I use to go to the dog park. A man would yell at a dog that got aggressive and tried to hurt another dog and it worked really well the dog sulked went low to the ground. He did it on this unruly rottie that was picking a fight with a dobie and he got totally shunned. I only saw someone gsd bite someone in a dog fight. Ive been grabbed also in the past by a gsd in a fight that wasnt mine in a split second, i still can't believe how quick it had me, i didnt even reach for it, I was reaching for another dog at the time which was mine and the gsd was being held by its owner but being attacked by another dog went after me instead. Once it realized I was not a dog it let go but it still hurt me bad. I have also been grabbed by a rottie that was being harassed by a gsd. The rottie actually ran to ME i was not even its owner! and then the gsd kept taking jabs at it while the rottie was trying to get between my legs i pushed the rottie out and it nailed my hand. I remember how much that hurt and it hardly touched me. Big dog bites are so painful even when they dont even touch you, and its by mistake. I feel for prison inmates. lol


 
I would think it has more to do with the obedience level of the dog, rather than the temperament. 

An owner should be able to call their dog off anything. I could be wrong. I'm only basing on my personal experience with my dog.


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## Sukkoi19 (Oct 17, 2007)

My two oldest males are litter-mates and are both alphas. They will not back down from each other. I spend considerable time wearing them out with training and exercise to keep them distracted from fighting. That being said a true fight is very rare and even then they are not full force bites. Usually just bite and hold to try and get advantage over the other dog. I usually drag off Sebastian as he is usually the attacker. Generally it is a quick tail pull to get him out of bite range and then collar and hind legs or some combination there of to get him isolated.

It is weird how much protection their fur offers. Bites that draw no blood on them leave deep lacerations and bruising on me. Also as previous mentioned inflicting pain to distract them just increases their rage. It is much better to either hose them off if you can or just get them apart. Anytime they go to the vet they are muzzled and I use a military style K9 harness.


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## Fade2Black (Apr 30, 2012)

3 times when I had my Genesis he was attacked by smaller dogs that ran from their property (he was on leash while I walked him). He bit one the owner yelled at his dog and said to him you will never do that again.....Another time a small dog was always running loose attacked Genesis who bit him. That dog still ran loose but stayed away.....The last was scary. I was staying at my brothers 14-15 years ago while my house was being built. I would walk him to get into a path in the woods. A small dog would run after him every day barking. I managed to keep Genesis from getting him. But one day he came up so fast. I looked down and Genesis had this dog in his mouth swinging him around like a toy. I thought this isn't good. I got the other dog loose. He ran away yelping. I look up and see a women. I am saying to myself hear we go its the dogs owner. I am ready to let her have it before she starts on me. She then thanks me and says she wishes my GSD would have killed that dog because he goes after all the dogs on the block.....

They were the only fights. One time when my Kaos was about 6-8 months old I was walking him on the bike-path. A pit bull appeared from the bushes/trees and starting coming at us. I picked Kaos up to protect him. The owner got his pit bull before he did anything.....


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