I came home today, just half an hour ago and my mom told me that my two dogs, Brix and Reeva got into a fight. And I remembered few of their previous fights, all more than 3 months apart (so, not a very often thing) and I knew how awful it looked and how mom was scared. But my dogs looked totally OK. Upon further examination, though, I found a scratch on Reeva's head and two small rips on Brix's ear… a big deal.
So, discussion with my mom started, again. I'm not sure if I was right, but I thought about it before and now I kind of just want to write down the way I see the situation. So, the facts:
The fights are rare, now. When Reeva came they were fighting a lot, over everything, often there was food or a toy involved. With time, they were fighting less and less and now it's really rare.
Every time, it looked awful, lots of growling, really minor injuries (few scratches, some fur missing). So, nothing serious.
I don't think I ever let the fight to go to the end, probably because of my fear that something will happen.
Reeva and Brix have a quite balanced relationship. I can't say one is higher ranking than another, but Reeva gives an appearance of a chief. They can both guard stuff from one another and it doesn't go further than growling, mostly it's just freezing. So, they have respect for each other and stuff.
I really don't like going into pack dynamics when explaining my dogs' behavior just because I myself don't know how to think about all those pack theories so I just put it aside. Some would maybe say that what happened is that Brix did something Reeva didn't like and she had to put him in his place… I remember me and my brother fighting when we were younger and see similarities… We fought over things my parent's didn't understand (and we are a same species, have same body language and so) and there were lots of screaming and stuff. Is it OK to draw that connection?
I got some details about the fight itself from my mom.. It didn't tell me much though. They finished eating their dinner; she took their bowls away, cleaned them and started refilling their water bowl when she heard that terrible noise of two dogs fighting. It was going on for some time (she said two minutes, but time passes differently in a situation like this, 10 seconds can seem like ages), she tried yelling, touching them (not that smart, but she didn't go between them afraid that she'll get bitten). Finally, she hit one of them with the bowl (ouch) and they stopped. She took Reeva out to the yard (she said she started it, people always thing that with Reeva cause she sometimes bullies Brix when they are playing, but nothing getting out of control, and she always wins the fights) and after a minute or something let her back in. the fight started again, went on for 15 seconds, my mom screamed out. Reeva went out of the room and when my mom called her back in, Brix went and hid into the bathroom. My mom sent Reeva to her bed and then called Brix and told him to lay down on his bed (which is like 3 feet from Reeva's bed). And there were mean looks. Brix Was really scared, but 2 hours later, when I came back, everything seemed perfectly normal.
So, there was an argument. I told my mom not to be afraid that one will hurt another if it happens again cause it's lots of noise for nothing. Taking into consideration the history of their arguments, I think it's OK to draw a conclusion that the fights are harmless, isn't it? Should I let them work through it on their own? I realized now that I've never seen an end of a dogfight. People just get scared and want to split dog's apart. Is that a good idea? I mean, if dogs had a problem among themselves wouldn't it be OK to let them solve it. My neighbors told me once that my dogs had been fighting in the yard few days before. I didn't know. Everything seemed OK. So they went through the fight on their own and it was OK.
But how can I distinguish between serious fights and those that are not serious? Most of the fights my dogs have been in, with other dogs have resulted in few scratches in the area of the muzzle. Ok some needed few stitches, but I still see those as accidents that happened in the heat of the fight. There was usually a significant amount of saliva on the dogs. Only three fights (better to say attacks, made by Reeva) included something I considered more serious: punctured holes on other dogs' scruff and the case in which she's bitten the other dog's head. In those three (as with one in which nothing big happened) the other dog was yelping.
So, is it serious when another dog is yelping? What about those fights in which you see injuries after the fight? Should I ever let dogs to solve their problems on their own? Can someone please give his or her comments on this?
Losing my best friends!!
We have just moved to a new place and our two biggest dogs are fighting with eachother. Not only living situations has changed but also the "master" is at work all day as before he was home with them 24/7. We have lab mix and a Pit bull. The lab mix is the oldest and was already around 3 years before we got the Pit bull. The Pit bull was a baby when we brought him home, he is now about 2.5 years old. They got along great at the old house, played together, swam together, slept together and even ate together. Since we have moved they fight once they even see each other. They are hurting one another very bad. I DO NOT want to have to get rid of one of our family members and I am also fearful of our third dog which is small dog and would not stand a chance to one of the big dog attacks.
dog age and stuff
Sanja Miklin
3/205
LPC UWC, Hong Kong
Brix is 3 years old mix bread, was the first dog in the household. Reeva came a year later. she's 2.5 years old now.
she is sometimes annoying and want's to play much more than Brix does,a nd when I see her being too mean, i tell her to stop it.
The thing is that fights do not escalate and actually become less frequent. They can eat whatever very close to each other and are very respectful of the other dog. When she came, Reeva sometimes stole food from Brix, but she's cool now. i can work with both of them together, or one is laying dow while the other is working. When we are playing fetch, i say the name of one dog and that dog goes after the ball while the other one stays. There are so many situations that were risky before and now, everything is working out perfectly. When I'm eating, they are just perfect, waiting outside the kitchen, calm... They have their own mats (beds) but sometimes they share. When they are in the yard, Brix too has his safe place - his dog house, and when reeva crosses the line, he goes inside and she leaves him alone.
so, i have this occasional, really rare, out of the blue fights... once, they were just laying on their mats, a mean look and boom. OK, I never know what really happened but it's not like before when I gave a treat to Brix and Reeva attackled him. It was really straightforward. And now... it seemes to me that only thing I cand do is to find a way to split them really easily and give them a bit longer cooling period...