Dog fight :(

[Lunawriter]

I was just outside playing with my one year old son when my red heeler, Luna, started crying like she was hurt. I ran over and saw that somehow a loose wire from the old fence surrounding our property had gotten caught under her lower eyelid and she couldn't get away. My smaller blue heeler, Winny, who is always looking for an opportunity to be dominant was putting her head over Luna's back, ruff up. I shoved her away and got Luna free, and that should have been the end of it, but Winny was still trying to show her dominance. Luna is bigger, but usually lets Winny at least pretend to lead the show, as she's just more laid back. Not today though. She got ticked and went for her. It was the worst fight I've ever seen. They were too far for the hose to reach, and screaming my throat raw didn't help. I grabbed a bucket of water I'd been using to water a tree and poured that on them, but it didn't work. Finally Luna regained her composure, held Winny down for a few minutes and then let her slowly up. Now, Luna's eye is bleeding. She has blood smeared everywhere and so does Winny. I don't even know the extent of their injuries, though nothing life threatening. Winny's not putting weight on her right front paw. Ugh. Doggone-it, this just plain stinks.

Hubby's on his way home to take them to the vet. I'm half tempted to leave them there.

Oh, and luckily my son was in his swing the whole time. He fell asleep soon after we made it back inside. I think the stress wore us both out...

 

[thebritt]

So sorry - it can be really stressful for all involved when dogs fight. Believe me, I know - I have a resued Mcnab/chow that wants to kill my GP, but when they have gotten into fights, the 150 lb GP always wins over 40 lb Buddy. I have to keep them physically separated 24/7, and that's really gonna suck when the weather gets hot and no one wants to be indoors (we live in a double-wide tin can).
Hope everyone's OK.

 

[geepy]

I must be the time of the year. My guys/gals have been on each others nerves, nothing serious, yet. Hope your pups are o.k.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I'm just glad you didn't get caught up in the middle of it! Sounds like everyone will be fine and hopefully this was just a one time thing so you won't have to worry about anymore fighting!

 

[vicki2x2]

I have done rescue, so I have broke up many dog fights. Here are some helpful ideas.

1. now that they have had a bad fight, it will happen again, so be prepared.
2. if they are not already spayed, get it done asap, it will definitely help.
3. yelling actually makes things worse, it adds to the frenzy, definitely use a firm voice, but no screaming.
4. Water doesn't help a serious dog fight, all it makes it wet dogs, making it harder for you to break them up. Use their tails or pick up their back legs to drag them apart, this keeps you away from the biting end and they can't maintain their hold if their back legs are up in the air. Ideally, if you have two people, each one grabs one of the dogs by their back legs and picks them legs up and pulls them apart. If there is just one of you, pull off the more dominant dog or the dog less likely to listen to you well telling the other no, and try to get something between them, a fence, door, something.

Last, of course, your child and yourself come first. Protect your child first, get him/her out of harms way.

 

[thebritt]

The way I see it, when Luna cried out in pain, Winny saw a weakness and a chance to test Luna. Luna knows she's bigger, but up to that point, had tolerated Winny's attitude. Now that Winny has attacked Luna, Luna is going to be sure that Winny doesn't try that again - hence the potential for more fights in the future. This is an ongoing problem with our pack. The advice I've been given by 2 professional trainers (our own Jaimee_Dog_Trainer is one) is to work diligently on getting the dogs to obey YOU when you tell them to stop what they're doing, whether it's bolting out the door, going for food that's not theirs, or fighting. The way that is accomplished is to really work on getting them to focus on YOU and see YOU as their leader. There's a lot more to that, and maybe Jaimee (sorry if I spelled that wrong) will put in her $.02 in. It does involve a lot of work, but at least your dogs co-existed for awhile before the big fight. They just have to learn that you are going to keep the peace. You'll have to support the dominant dog, which is now in question and beyond my ability to give more helpful advice, not knowing them and all your details (who sleeps where, how they're fed, etc,). Good Luck - hope everyone's OK!

 

[SillyChicken]

Something that would also help is to recognize the signs of domination attempts and stop it immediatly before it can escilate to a fight. It happens pretty fast though so hard to stop. But, I would have secured the other dog first before freeing the other dog from the fence.

 

[mekasmom]

I know this won't help your situation right now, but in the future, you may find it better to have dogs of opposite sexes. Pairs just seem to get along better.
I hope everyone is Ok. I'm glad nobody got bitten in the conflict.

 

[Mandalina]

I'm sorry to hear that! We have had the dominance battles over here with 4 female dogs. I hope Luna's eye heals up quickly!

 

[pdsavage]

Quote:
I agree thats why I have a male and female LGD.
But most everyone is giving you great advice....