When two dogs fight.

[hunterisgreat]

So, I've been doing my research incase (when) I have to address this at the house. An interesting article claimed that the loud, snarly, scary *sounding* fights are best left alone as a panicing handler will often cause more harm than good. The claim being that two dogs banging teeth and making crazy noise without locking up are more posturing and testing each other than trying to actually hurt one another, and the likely result will be no injury or a minor cut or two about the face/neck... further claims that when the dogs are silent or nearly so or when one dog is screaming and the other not relenting the assault and walking away the victor, is when it is probably a fight to the death.

Discuss? It makes sense, and I've seen plenty of dogs put on an awful show where you were thinking afterwards "how did no one get bit in that tornado of gnashing teeth?". Likewise, anytime I've seen video or inperson of two pits or a pit and another dog fighting, its always eerily quiet and calm, but with copious amounts of blood and great difficulty separating the dogs.

[kiya]

I had an incident a few weeks ago, my 9yr old male & my 20 month old female starting to squabble because of a bone. I was right there and I got inbetween them and started stomping my feet hard like a crazy person and shouted "KNOCK IT OFF" as I picked up the bone and kept it, they both looked at me like ha, what the. If it were 2 dogs I didn't know I wouldn't have done that but I know they make a lot of noise so I doubt there would have been any bloodshed.

[Jax08]

That makes perfect sense. I learned a valuable lesson last time our girls got into a fight. I followed advice to grab their back legs instead of walking right into the middle of it and Sierra went for stitches. If I had walked right into the middle and blocked them then it would have ended.

[King&Skylar]

I remember when I was little, we had 2 female dogs- a hound/shepherd mix and our toller. They'd fight and it'd be like a big ball of dogs on the floor, wrestling- neither ever had a scratch on them. They would stop on their own very fast.

When my rotti and toller fought, it was very quiet until my toller started screaming, the rotti never let go.

So yeah, I agree with those claims from my experience (which is not a lot)

[Freestep]

Noisy, snarly squabbles don't scare me too much--it's when the fight is silent that it's very serious. Dogs don't make much noise when their mouth is full of other dog.

[Germanshepherdlova]

The few times that my dogs have squabbled it was just a bunch of noise, no blood and no injuries so I'd agree that all the noise is just a big show, and a real fight-which they have never been in would not be so noisy.

[Smithie86]

Depends on the dogs. There is no hard and fast rule.

[suzzyq01]

Fights are typically broken down in to categories....I've seen them all, separated them all and gotten bit doing it the wrong way.

Dominant fighting starts with the size up circle walk (completely silent) an eye lock "I'm better than you" (still silent) then fight for the right to be the pack leader/dominant dog (bursts of growling/snarling/biting). These types of fights are the most common at dog parks. These can be very bad if the dog(s) is a stubborn, headstrong dog. Why a pitty was already pointed out, amongst other unmentioned breeds.

Resource guard fighting is different, the dog will show teeth and maybe growl/bark to prevent the instigator from approaching. All bets are off if they do not heed the warnings given and the dog feels the need to defend it's place/items. These fights normally start out loud and end louder. Less deadly but can still cause serious damage as it is more of defense than domination.

Fear fighting can be right up there with dominant fighting. The dog fears for it's life. It is going to fight with everything it has to keep itself alive. Tall tell signs are body language, these often start and end just like resource guard fighting. Warning growls/barks and showing of teeth.

All dogs are different BUT they all still share DNA with wolves. They still have a pack mentality and live fight or flight. Someone has to be the alpha and someone has to be the omega. Just good to remember that although domesticated they still have basic instincts of their wild cousins.

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by Smithie86

Depends on the dogs. There is no hard and fast rule.

I agree. We have a Basset who will not back down. She's making all kinds of noise but if you do not separate her from whomever she is fighting with there will be bloodshed.
Also we have Dachshunds and they won't back down either. Luckily they rarely fight amongst themselves but a few yrs. ago one of ours got in a fight w/a foster, we got them apart 3x and they kept going back at it, finally got my foot (with a boot on it and jeans on top of that) in between, and got them far enough apart they couldn't re-attach. I think, had nobody been around to separate them, one would have wound up dead.
I just don't believe there's a hard and fast rule, noise, or no noise, and I think all fights should be broken up, although never sticking your hand in it. I'd grab a chair or something else and shove between them to separate them. I like my fingers and hands just like they are

[e.rigby]

This is a relatively good article, hope it's helpful: Interdog Aggression