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How to break up a dog fight.


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I saw this on Terrierman. Grab the top dog by the tail way up by the body and lift the back legs offthe ground.

 

Don't try to grab hold of the collar. Go in from behind. Keep the back legs off the ground until youcan get the dog away.

 

Don't try to pick your dog up. Your face is too near the fight if you do that.

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The amount of people I know who put their hands between dogs fighting, or one dog snapping at another, and then got very upset or threw tantrums because 'the dog bit me!'

 

Yes. The dog bit you. Cuffing the dog upside the head 3 or 4 times will not stop the dog biting you the next time it snaps at another dog's face and you put your hand in its path. YOU put your hand in the way. Heck, the dog even looked shocked when it realised what happened.

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Terrierman's method is the best, without a doubt. Once you've lifted the dog's back legs off the ground, sway the dog gently from side to side. It forces the dog to think about keeping its footing, which distracts it from its rage at the other dog. If you're the only person present, go for the dog who's the chief aggressor. Tommy Coyote's point is a good one too -- the more agitation you show, the more it fuels the dogs' agitation.

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Thumbs up for Terrierman's method, I watch close to see who the aggressor is, take that one by the tail and am also prepared to give a boot to the one that was on the receiving end just in case they are a opportunist and fight back now that the aggressor is off balance.

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I have two females - one fear based..and they do not like each other. Have only had to use this once...pick up the hind legs, back up like backing up with a full wheelbarrow but sweeping arch. This causes the dog to pay attention to their front feet position and does not allow them to turn around and get you. I also have a mantra of saying "easy"..... Calmly. But that is probably more for me. Having a plan at least makes me feel better.

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I have a odd story to tell about this I had a Cane Corso and he was awesome dog (Cane). he loved me and respected me to a fault. One day I was out with him when my nieces German Shepherd got loose. both un neutered males. Wow I stood between the two of them. Scared out of my mind. Venger the shepherd made his move took me down and Cane stood over me. I grabbed Cane and rolled on top of him told him it was ok. then Venger the shepherd bit canes tail stub a couple times. Then realized that the only fight was to protect me and Venger had no interest in me and he realized Cane's only motive was to protect me. Venger walked away oddly. and Cane licked my face and this horrible moment ended quickly.. Cane could of killed that shepherd in a blink but he layed next to me making sure I didn't get bit. The motive some times even dogs realize that a fight cant be won only ended.

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"Grab the rear legs and wheelbarrow the dog out, calmly, without saying anything" was always the standard advice I'd read. Putting them off-kilter in that fashion makes them pause to wonder about what's happening to their nether regions. I'm glad I've never had to put it into practice. It does seem to me that shouting at the dogs involved would be like throwing gasoline on a fire - they'd interpret it as me joining in.

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Yeah....this may work for normal dogs.

But I assure you, two, ready to fight out of pure hate and of equal grit....it won't work. I have had it twice. Neighbor dog went after mine on my property and two Mal bitches that decided at exactly that very moment that they were done liking each other.

On the other hand, I got to break up a tiff between a big Mal and a Pit. I was not about to get between them so I thought the old water trick may work (never had before in 20 years of owning dogs)...they broke it off the second they saw the hose, put themselves in their corners and stayed there. Almost like the fight got started and neither really meant to but was to stubborn to quit on their own. Oddly enough, that one had the most injuries despite being half hearted.

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I had a large Shiba come after Tio a few weeks ago. The owner had it on one of those goofy retractable leads and it got away from him. I got my knee in between the two dogs but that owner panicked and put his hand in the fray and his Shiba really bit him hard... and it was lightning fast, too. He was bleeding pretty good. He apologized, as he and everyone else in the neighborhood knows his Shiba is a troubled dog. Once his animal settled down we talked a bit and I told him to just grab his dogs back legs to pull him off if it happens again.....and kindly suggested to use a fixed length lead.

 

Tio was fine. He thought it was all fun and games but that Shiba had something else in mind. Generally, pretty miserable dogs in my experience.

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When my hound mix and my terrier fight the hound grabs the terrier by the throat and hangs on like grim death - with good reason. The moment he lets go the terrier goes right back in. He bites and chews, he doesn't bite and grip so getting him to release isn't the issue. The hound would like to be able to let go but daren't.

 

Both are acting defensively in their own way.

 

The object is to get the hound to release (he never bites the human doing that and I can prise his jaws open) and then to grab the terrier by whatever means possible and put him in another room. Holding by the collar and scruff of the neck works best but red mist bites are a distinct possibility if misjudged. He's too big and heavy to manhandle in the way a smaller and lighter terrier might be managed.

 

Getting one dog to let go is just the start.

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Some of them do, some of them don't. One of the few injuries my small dog got in a fight was when someone lifted her off the other dog... and the other dog held on to her front paw, and literally dangled from it like a dog does when you're playing fetch.



I have never really seen a bucket of cold water actually work- maybe once.


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Dear Doggers,

I have stopped fights at the onset with the D.I.'s bellow. Breaks their focus.

 

What is the D.I.'s bellow? I have an impressive, all purpose bellow myself. It works well with my dogs if they get into squabbles. They break apart almost immediately. Not sure how it would work with a truly vicious fight, however. Hopefully, I will never need to find out!

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I prefer to use a sturdy stick (not for whacking).

 

I had a dog that picked fights with my other dogs, so identifying the offender was not difficult. Shoving the stick under guilty party (or both when they move too fast), and lift him off the ground. Always been enough to get attention and restore order.

 

I don´t like sticking my hand(s) in a dog fight either, not even the rear end of it.

 

But now there has been a long period of peace in the pack, apart from a bit youngster annoyance from Max.

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I saw my daughter do something once that shocked me. This was back in Upper Mich. where you don't have to lock doors, we were at a camp in the woods. This idiot wanted to see his big young pit fight with our at the time 8 yr old lab, she said no dude not gonna happen, We went in the camp then we heard screaming like a woman and dogs! We knew what happened, ran out saw our dog Rip had that muscular pit pined by the throat to the ground, blood everywhere, the guy screaming hes killing my dog do something. Kim tried the tail, tried the feet in air, tried the collar, nope. So she strattles Rip leans forward says Rip its me sticks her fingers in his mouth behind his jaws and pushes! rip releases she pulls him back tells the guy grab your dog as she holds on to rips collar. I am standing there disbelieving what I just saw! She looks at me as I am looking over my dog saying I know that was dumb mom but I had to think fast or Ripper coulda really hurt that dog!

 

Not a mark on Rip, the Pit had superficial cuts from Rip holding him down, the idiot learned a valuable lesson that day.

 

I would never ever ever recommend what my daughter did that day, but I have always wondered what else she could have done, as she pointed out, she did try everything, she had to think and act fast to save the other dog from our dog causing it great harm. It was a very serious situation.

 

Note we had left Rip in her truck

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So she strattles Rip leans forward says Rip its me sticks her fingers in his mouth behind his jaws and pushes!

 

Back in ’04 when we adopted JJ DH and I worked different shifts….He worked night and I worked days. One day when I was at work DH thought it would be a good idea to visit with the next door neighbor and took JJ with him. At the time we didn’t know one of the neighbor’s dogs was dog aggressive. Sada (GSD) ended up grabbing JJ by the throat and dragging him to her bed. DH told me the only way he was able to get Sada to let go of JJ was to stick his finger down her throat.

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