Immediately following a dog fight

[wolfstraum]

Both my females were fine with males. Kyra had lived with other females (Alice, Kelsey and Basha) for years. It was the pack order, young very strong female wanting to be THE boss, and heat. It was not dog aggression - it was hormones - but with very very strong females...

Basha and Furious (also mother/daughter) could lie down together and snooze in full blown heat - just different characters and neither was concerned with being THE pack leader. Kyra and Basha never squabbled when one was in heat - but Kyra and Csabre hated each other.

Lee

[jetscarbie]

I had a couple of dog books that I was reading. Not sure I agree...but in both it said that you should always get on to the submissive dog in the fight. You should make that dog lay or whatever.....and coddle and give affection to the dominate dog. It said in the books that 2 or more dogs in the house fighting...are usually always over the pecking order. It said that most fights break out b/c owners usually break the pecking order with dogs....it said that owners should always give top dog the top dog respect by giving them first of everything (feeding them first, petting them first, letting them out the door after you first,) it said if you don't, both dogs see an opening. Dominate dog feels threatened of his spot which then makes him lash out at the other dog in question....and submissive dog feels like you want it to be leader b/c you are giving it top dog's spot.

Like I've said, not sure if this is true or not but I have read this theory in a few books in the last couple of months. They all seem to echo this. Maybe they are outdated theories?

It just seems like you would be reinforcing their behaviour with this method.

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by jetscarbie

It said that most fights break out b/c owners usually break the pecking order with dogs....it said that owners should always give top dog the top dog respect by giving them first of everything (feeding them first, petting them first, letting them out the door after you first,) it said if you don't, both dogs see an opening. Dominate dog feels threatened of his spot which then makes him lash out at the other dog in question....and submissive dog feels like you want it to be leader b/c you are giving it top dog's spot.

That is very true. Well meaning dog owners tend to want things to be "fair" in human terms--not in DOG tems, which is a mistake. They think the submissive dog is getting "picked on", so they correct the dominant dog and coddle the submissive one. That will build resentment and stress, which in turn causes fighting.

When I've broken up spats, BOTH dogs get corrections and are made to lie down. Fortunately, I haven't had to break up anything serious.

[NewbieShepherdGirl]

Sasha has never gotten into a fight, but she almost did once. I was watching this black lab X border collie, and it turns out she is a HUGE resource guarder, as in anything and everything is a resource: toys, humans, you name it. She was happy to play with Sasha as long as I wasn't watching or there were no toys on the ground, otherwise she'd snap and snarl at her. Sasha does not seem to understand this kind of behavior, and if it's a dog that I've invited into the house she'll just take it and do something else. However, I had walked over to do something in the kitchen, Sasha came over by me and I patted her head. Well this other dog snapped across me, and apparently Sasha had had enough so she leaped forward and started barking and growling. So what I did was give them a time out. I threw Sasha in my brother's room and put this other dog in Sasha's crate and let them chill for a while. When I let them out again they were fine, and any indication on the other dog's part that she was gonna get nasty was shut down.

[Zisso]

I break them up and then watch/supervise but allow them to interact right away. If I remember (been a few months) I scold them both. If I feel the fight is really bad I will crate them until we all calm down. Most important in the dynamics is me maintaining a cool head. Tough to do when they are fighting but I am getting better at it. I don't let them stay outside alone, but there are spots in the yard that I can't see them so I may not know really who started it.

[LDB158]

My newest addition, male labrador, and my male shepherd have gotten in a couple of fights. The first fight was outside and I should have realized it was about to upgrade to a fight. My shepherd was walking around about to relieve himself, and my lab kept jumping on him, trying to dominate him I believe. I ended up spraying them both with the hose which separated them and I made them both lay down and stay near each other for a minute. The other fight was inside and I hear Bear growl, which at that point, I should have stepped in, but next thing I know, my shepherd jumped on him. I took my female shepherd to the kitchen so she couldn't join in the fight, and the other two separated after about 5 seconds at which time i grabbed one of them and made him lay down and I made the other one lay down.

Both times, after I let them get up, they were fine with each other, licking each other like they were sorry. And luckily, both times, there were no injuries. The way they were going at it, you would have thought one of them would have been seriously injured. I have been watching them extra carefully lately. Today, I heard one of them growl, I am not even sure which one, and i jumped up which made them both stare at me and they both laid down on the floor.

Now when I take them outside, we play fetch which they both seem to enjoy, and they quit their dominating and mounting each other act. They just run and grab the toys that I throw. I was worried there may be a fight over the toys, but they have been doing great so far. They love it!

My female and male shepherd absolutely love each other. I can't even tell you the last time they were in a fight. And my female shepherd and male lab have luckily yet to be in a fight. I think he submits to her, whereas, to my male shepherd, he is playing the domination game with him.