Dog Community

Yet another fight :(

Posted : 6/19/2008 2:15:50 PM

I’d been feeling more at ease than I had in a long time with Buffy and Sassy. They hadn’t had a fight in a year. I never allow them to be together if I’m home alone, but just last weekend I was thinking maybe it would be okay to have them both out by the pool. I’m glad I didn’t. DH and a friend had been painting the exterior of the house yesterday and the day before. DH always allows the 2 dogs to be together and generally they do fine but he monitors them closely. Well, because he was busy with the painting, he’s not sure what happened but Sassy went after Buffy. Surprisingly, since Sassy is younger and larger, Buffy did more damage to Sassy and didn’t seem to have more than a tiny puncture on her cheek. Sassy had a puncture to the top of her head, the top part of her ear and her lower lip. For the first time ever, Sassy turned and bit DH in the leg when he broke them up. The only thing that might’ve been a trigger was the neighbors 2 JRTs were going nutso inside their house. Whenever they leave, it sounds like the 2 dogs are tearing each other apart and when Sassy hears it, she seems to get that look like she got prey on her mind. Perhaps she was hyped by the sound and went after Buffy because she was close. Anyone think that makes sense?

I’m really sad that they had another fight and that I’m now back in the mode of realizing that I will never be able to let my guard down.

CoBuHe

Posted : 6/19/2008 2:25:01 PM

You know...its sad but true that sometime 2 dogs can just never be trusted together. They will always need to be separated or supervised. Just like me and this one particular co-worker I had in the past. We couldn't be in the same room together without some kind of drama. Same with some dogs.

spiritdogs

Posted : 6/24/2008 6:19:51 AM

Unfortunately, dogs pick their friends, just like we do, and there really are some dogs that hate one another and cannot be trusted together. Any time a human intercedes in a dog fight, there is a risk of a redirected bite. Better to stick a chair between them, or blow an air horn, or something like that, than to use hands or get too close. Sometimes, it's better to rehome one of the dogs than to make them live in abject terror, or to wait for a huge vet bill to happen. This is precisely why we advise most people to get dogs of opposite gender. The fights between females can get very ugly indeed, and can result in one of them dying if it escalates. Males are more likely to fight ritualistically. IMO, better not to EVER let your guard down, and that might include strict separation, rather than just watching - so that a human doesn't get sucked into the fray again.

Liesje

Posted : 6/27/2008 6:49:09 PM

I don't have any advice, but I think maybe the crazy JRTs get her a little hyped. I'm not sure if that would be the sole cause of her going after the other dog, but I have seen something similar when our neighbors play with their pit bull, Coke gets excited and since he can't play with them (they won't allow it even though I wouldn't mind), he turns and tries very hard to get Kenya to play with him. It also happened last night when we had family over and someone brought their puppy. They didn't want the puppy to get roughed up so we obliged and kept our dogs away. Whenever the puppy was getting riled up playing, Coke would start dancing around and then he and Kenya would play. I know playing and fighting are quite different, but I don't see why dog wouldn't be affected by each other even if they don't have close contact.