December 27, 2012

I added another dog to my pack about 3 weeks ago.  I knew she would but heads with my older dog, but things have been going extremely well. One fight over a toy the second day, that was not pretty. One week later there was a scuffle over food, but I caught it in time. Yesterday, however, there was a toy fight outside that got the better of me. I was by myself and couldn't figure out how to break it up and got bitten. Now I have a much better technique to try, but hopefully it won't happen again.

Side note: In retrospect, the two bad fights were my fault. Energy (mine & dogs) got out of control and by the time I saw the signs, it was too late. Lessons learned.

Lisa

May 27, 2012

Hello Cindy,

Today there was a dog fight at our dog park and it involved MY dog. I came back to the internet tonight to brush up and see what else I could learn about this issue. I originally came across your website a year ago and wanted to shoot you a thank you email.  When this large dog attacked my dog, I first kicked the attacking dog in the side because someone was blocking his back feet, and then moved to the back feet once I successfully pushed someone out of my way. I would have never known to do this without your website. Thank you so much. No blood was drawn and I am so thankful. I appreciate your website and all of the great information more than you will ever know.

Many thanks for sharing your article on how to break up a dog fight without getting hurt. I have trained for 12+ years and have read many of the articles you have written.

Today, I found myself, at home alone, my help had already gone home, and a huge dog fight broke out. Three normally docile well behaved dogs ganged up on another dog. I keep plenty of leashes in the kennel. I used your wheel barrow method on each of the three dogs and secured them to the fence, then removed the other dog. Thankfully there were no major injuries. Had I not read your article I think I would have felt outnumbered and been ineffective.

Thanks for your generosity in sharing your wealth of information.

Melanie

Ed's Comments :

Betty,

Thank you for taking the time to write this and include the photos.

I would recommend that you become a student of pack structure. Get me DVD on this and use that information Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog.

The pack structure is the first step – but a solid foundation in obedience based on motivation and corrections is also very important. Read the ebook on my web site about MY PHILOSOPHY OF DOG TRANING. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.

While I always tell people to get my Basic Dog Obedience DVD. It is very important that people like you learn how to train with a remote collar. Remote collars provide off leash control and allows small people the ability to control strong powerful dogs. I did an excellent DVD on this REMOTE COLLAR TRAINING FOR THE PET OWNER.

So I give you credit for what you have been through and for your desire to learn how to prevent this from happening again. Now all you need to do is to get the right information and training.

Good Luck,
Ed Frawley

Dear Ed - a year or so ago I found your web site about how to break up a dog fight. I have shared this information with many people, all of whom, like me, were ignorant of this information. A dear friend wrote this to me yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you. "Woody" is a gentle golden retriever.

Annamarie,

Thank you for telling me to pick up a dog's back legs if they are in a fight. A pit bull/rottweiler mix attacked Woody in the park today and I finally got the nerve to pick up the attacker's back legs. He stopped ripping Woody's ear off.

Woody is in Friendship Heights Animal Hospital for a day so they can put in a drain. He has a deep deep puncture wound above his ear . . . but you know all about these things.

Thanks again for sharing what you know.

Carol

And, Ed, thanks for sharing what YOU know!

Annamarie

An email from a man who tried to break up a dog fight without knowing how to do it the right way:

How are you doing Ed? Been awhile since I got up with you. I have some dumb pictures of me stopping 2 dogs fighting. Pit and Shepard pit mix both females.

Wish I would have read your stuff about the best way to break up a fight. But I reacted and did not think. Almost got killed. Left upper inner part of the arm was bit to the muscle any further it would have hit the artery. Took 12 stitches. Normally they would not have stitched them as you had said but the bites where deep and torn so they opted to loose stitch to allow for drainage.

Have to say special thanks to Womack Army Hospital. After I was used as a chew toy, I had to walk about 1/2 mile to the vehicle. By the way, these where not my dog or dogs. My grandchildren where a few feet away when this happened. My dog Scooter was retrieving at Mott lake Bragg. Long story.

If you want use these pictures to enforce Of Not What To Do! Do so. Might save some grief for another person. Guess I fell on my head to many times as an old paratrooper. Guess you know us Airborne troopers ain't wrapped to tight!

Just kidding. Give my best to Jeff I hear he is still a paratrooper at at Ft Bragg. Just met a few troopers from his old unit.

	If you think breaking up a dog fight is not dangerous look at this - a photo of his armpit.
This bite just missed an artery - it could have killed him

This is a bite a received on my arm when I was trying to help break up a fight between my schnauzer-yorkie mix and our German shepherd. I fell in front of my schnauzer-yorkie while she was being mauled by the German shepherd and she did this to me.

Mary Anne

Hi Ed,

First off, I am extremely glad I found you and your training methods.  It was by accident really. My 2 Portuguese Water Dog males had been fighting -- one 8 years old, the other 1.5 years. Of course I wanted to solve the fighting problem but what I wanted right now was to be able to break up the dog fight without getting bit. 

I Googled 'dogfights' and you popped up.  BTW, the dog bite pictures on your site are scarier than anything I'd seen before -- I hadn't really thought about the reality of getting bit.  Downloaded the "How to break up a dogfight" audio and my wife broke up another fight the very next morning while I was in the shower. She used your methods and didn't get bit and stopped the fight. 

So naturally I ordered a few DVDs: Basic obedience and aggressive dogs.  They are extremely thorough, clear and extremely practical.  In addition to everything else, now I have a new and more educated appreciation for prongs and E collars. 

Many thanks,
Matt

Dog Fight Email:

Ed,

Thank you so much reading my email. And thank you for all the great info on the Training cd’s I have 4 of them with a lot of your toys and have learned so, so, so, so much from you. I have had dogs for 12 years and I have 5 of my own dogs now and I am the PACK LEADER only because of how you retrained me. I find that continually watching your video’s is the only way to learn. I watch different cd’s once a week for the last year. With you and Cesar M, I have been able to train my high level Jack Russell, Beagle, and low level cocker and 2 mini dachshunds, so everyone can all live, eat and play together.

The REAL question I have is … My 20 year old daughter is marrying an Active Duty Air Force K9 Sgt. Ben adopted his old drug dog, Melvyn, who is 10 years old German Sheppard who quite working one day and Ben took him in to his home or the AF was going to put him down. Melvyn is a very high level dog and needs lots of exercise. He does listen to verbal orders and hand signals I have used. Melvyn is never aggressive with humans, but his aggressiveness to other dogs is extreme and I think could be from not enough exercise or a mission. My Daughter has asked me to help her work with the dog to get it to calm down and mind because she likes the dog around for security while Ben is at work. She feels bad if he has to be put down but they are expected there first baby in June 07. Ben does work with him a little, but doesn’t have time because of his commitment to working with current work dog.

I know you have never met this dog, but with your years of background of training Sch… can a military working dog that has been so active and aggressively trained, can this dog be a house dog/family dog? If I used your training course exercises, could this dog be retrained? Could I get the dog calmed down with your weight vest, pronged collar, etc. so that it could be around other calm dogs? Or will the aggression for dogs never be fixed because of the years of training? The AF kind of still owns the dog and he’s kind of on loan and Ben can keep him for however long he wants to but once Ben doesn’t want him any more they will have to put it down.

I really appreciate your time and suggestions in this situation. Would it be worth my time? Is it possible?

Also thank you for your great web site

Sylvia, USAF Ret MSGT

Ed's Answer:

First I would like to thank you for your kind words.

I would rather provide you with some information and then let you determine if your son’s wife and yourself can save this dog.

I wrote an article titled PREVENTING DOG BITES IN CHILDREN. It’s excellent and has some unique common sense ideas in it.

If this were my dog I would be working with a remote collar with this dog. I don’t know if you have this DVD (I am not at the office to check records) but get REMOTE COLLAR TRAINING FOR THE PET OWNER I use a 1900NCP collar on my personal dog. If you are interested write me back and I will tell you what model.

My gut feeling is that once you have learned to train with a remote collar you will never go any other way.

I assume your son has a dog crate for this dog. If not he needs to get one. I hope you can work this out – I have owned dog aggressive dogs all my life. I have had less than a handful of fights because I control their environment and train the dogs. You will never take the fight out of them but you can control it.

Best Regards,
Ed

Fire Extinguisher Stops Dog Fights

Hi Mr. Frawley,

Just wanted you to know that the suggestion to use a fire extinguisher to break up fights works GREAT. We had two aggressive dogs begin a fight, and my husband grabbed one dog and I the other, and we could NOT pull them apart. So I sprayed them with the fire extinguisher (10 lb. size). They turned loose of each other like magic and were not in the mood to continue. A 5 lb. or 2 1/2 lb.size would also have worked, because it did not take much. BE SURE TO USE the ABC kind of extinguisher -- the guy assured me that it could be sprayed into a person's face (if their hair were on fire) with no ill effects and it had no ill effects on my dogs..

THANKS FOR THE INFO !!!! We now have three 10 lb. extinguishers on the three levels of our house and one in each car. Who cares about fires, anyway!!

The guy at the place where I bought them also told me that they are legal to take into Canada & work great for personal protection (as you may know, they do not allow pepper spray or mace in Canada).

J. H.

Ed's Comments on Fire Extinguishers and Dog Fights

I am glad this worked for you. I must be honest, two dog crates and training would be my advice. These dogs should not be together. You run the risk of neutralizing the dogs to the fire extinguisher if you use it too much

Ed

Dog Fight Email:

Hi my name is Melissa and I have a pit bull mix (female) 3 years, 2 yr old male full pit bull, and a 1 yr old female full pit bull and now we have a Rottweiler male who is about 2 years. My question is that the rott is interested and excited to meet the other dogs however the 1 year old female pit bull doesn't want anything to do with him and try's to bite him and the Male pit bull doesn't like him. Is there anyway that these dogs are going to get along or what should I do?

Thanks for your help,
Melissa

Answer:

You have a dog pack - this is not going to work. Find homes for one or two of these dogs. If you don't you had better be reading my article on how to break up a dog fight. Odds are you are going to get dog bit. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

Dog Fight Email:

OK I have read the thing about breaking up dogfights and what do you do if you are in a situation when you and lets say your Rott is out for a walk and a stray dog comes and a fight begins and there is no one there to help you break up this fight what do you do? When things are getting pretty nasty such as blood shed and etc ...Please explain as this topic is not in the article for “breaking up dog fights.”

Thank you,
Tameshia

Answer:

You carry a can of pepper spray. When the strange dog comes in for the fight, you spray in the eyes and nose.

Dog Fight Email:

I just finished reading your article on breaking up dogfights. I have a female friend that has two male dogs ­ a Golden Retriever and a Samoyed ­ that recently got into a serious fight. She mistakenly tried to break up the fight herself and went to the emergency room for very serious hand and wrist gashes. These dogs love her very much, too. I agree with your advice on breaking up fights and would never try to break one up myself. I'm no wimp, but I know when I could get hurt! My husband and I recently purchased a male German Shepherd puppy from a local breeder and he is now nearly 4 months old. I have spent all day every day with him since he came home and use your suggestions and techniques with great results! He is a wonderful companion at such a young age and is responding to me extremely well. One more thing... I was happy to see you recommend carrying pepper spray when walking a dog in case of strays approaching and/or attacking. I have been carrying pepper spray for just such an occasion and have received some negative comments for it. The way I see it? If you can't beat 'em, spray 'em. Thanks for some great advice, and I love reading your articles.

Lisa
Lansing, MI

Dog Fight Email:

God bless you, Ed for a great article, and the only practical one I’ve ever read, on breaking up a GSD (or any strong dog) fight, especially about not getting in the middle. My right arm looks like the picture, with permanent nerve damage and tendon shortening from getting in the middle of a fight with 2 of my own dogs. The dog that grabbed me had his head in a hold and when I broke that hold by prying open the other dog's jaw, the caught dog whipped around and grabbed me, torque savagely, realized immediately it was me and let me go, but the damage was done. There is no pain like a dog bite, I've been frost-bit, birth pains, broken bones, nothing compares. The second thing I was impressed with was your honesty that once the dogs are involved, damage will happen. But you cannot panic, scream or add to the fight frenzy, or it will intensify. Yes, pepper spray works, but in a dominant struggle between strong dogs, you absolutely have to get right in their face. I just recently used it for the first time, as my 18 mo male decided to take on my least dominant adult male. Friends had said all they had to do was give a little spray and their dogs immediately separated and laid down. This dog took 3 full hits in the face before he finally lessened his hold on the other dog, and I could get him to out. He immediately wanted to get back into the fray, but I had him at that point. So, yes, pepper spray helps if you are by yourself, but don't count on it totally.

Thanks for the advice on the muzzles. Another point to people, please watch where the end of your leash is.

Thanks again for the great article.

Rachel

Dog Fight Email:

Dear Ed,

Once I had the bad idea of going to a conformation show with 2 dogs that have never been in fight, they live together without problem, one more dominant than the other, and this last one is very "wolfie" so she accept the alpha roll of the first bitch and everybody is happier...

Until the day I took them to the show using a "SIAMESE CHAIN", that chain is manager with one leash, at the end it has two small "daughters chains" that allow you to manage 2 dogs with one leash... what a mistake!

Suddenly when they saw other dogs they got hyper, nervous and start to fight between them.. the worst part is that since they were joined by a so small chain was impossible to separate them, the chain was so tense that no human force would be able to separate them..

I was trying and trying to separate them.. no way, until one of them won over the other, a small fraction of time in relax and I was able to release the collars and chains...

Dogfights are something terrible. Never I will use one of those chains, 2 dogs on one leash... big error!

Thank you for your article, very helpful.
Javier
Lima, Peru

Dog Fight Email:

I want to tell you that my dogs are very passive and have never shown aggressive behavior - until this year. Keep in mind that these animals are my family, not just pets. They are truly loved and treated better than most of the kids in my neighborhood. They have a heated porch accessible when they are outside, and air conditioning in the summer. They are "in bed" by 10:00 pm and are extremely healthy, according to my vet. That being said, their erratic, aggressive behavior started just recently.

My dog fights started on October 7, 2001 when "out of the blue" my youngest male mutt (Jaxson) and my male Brittany Spaniel (Cocoa) got into an all-out brawl. Being that this was the first time that any of my dogs got into a fight, I thought I could easily break it up. I tried yelling, the water hose, pulling on tails, everything that first came to my mind and all attempts failed. Finally, I thought that if I grabbed the dog I was most familiar with - Cocoa, I could hold him high and run him into the house away from the other dog. I was able to separate dogs, but I didn't expect Jaxson to return and jump so high to get to Cocoa. The result was that he clamped onto my right arm, ripping the inside of my elbow to the bone. (see attached pictures).

I was relieved that Jaxson's canine teeth actually went between a tendon and an artery thus preventing any serious damage to my arm. (see CLOSEUP.JPG) The only residual effect was a scar to remind me of the incident.

Two nights ago, Cocoa went a little too close to Archie (my oldest dog - black lab, cocker spaniel mix) and Archie responded with aggressiveness. They were clamped on each other so tight that I didn't know what to do. I ran and got the dog dish full of water and threw it on the two heads. That didn't help. I grabbed Archie by the tail - he didn't even notice. I then grabbed a blanket and threw it over the dogs' heads - they still did not loosen their grips. When I pulled the blanket off, one of the dogs turned and bit me on the leg - through my robe and left a scratch (albeit painful). At this point, I ran upstairs and collapsed on my bed because I was so tired and out of breath - to the point that I thought I was having heart failure. After about a minute of laying down, I went into the hallway to see Cocoa trying to get away - panting, and Archie going after him again. I threw Cocoa into the bedroom, shut the door, and again laid down on the bed completely exhausted.

After about 10 minutes, I was recovered enough to go and see the damage each dog did to each other. Remarkably, the damage was very minor. Cocoa was limping because of two minor wounds to his leg, and Archie only had a minor hematoma to his ear and a toe nail that was bleeding small amounts of blood. For the next two days, they licked their wounds, but showed no aggression towards each other.

Right now, they are sleeping next to each other on my bed as if nothing ever happened. I truly believe that Cocoa isn't the aggressor, rather the poor soul that is picked on by the other males. I needed a solution to my problem and believe that your suggestion of the "leash tied around the leg" of one of the dogs MAY work if I can find a stationary object to attach it to - yes, it is only me here when the dogs fight.

I want to tell you after much research on the Web, I decided that I would like the stun guns available, just in case I can't succeed IF there is a next time. Many sites said that without permanently injuring the animal, a stun gun can temporarily cause the dogs to collapse allowing the owner to separate the dogs. In your web site, you typed:

I had a friend tell me that using a stun gun works. Not to actually shock the dog, but just to hold it in your hand and allow it to snap. The sound of the electrical snap is supposed to cause the dogs to stop fighting. I will muzzle 2 of my dogs and let them go at it to see if this works. I will be surprised if it works on 2 really strong dogs going after each other.<<<<<

My question: did you ever try using the stun gun near your dogs? Was it effective? From research on the Web, I learned that the stun gun will NOT kill the dogs (one site stunned two pigs and normal blood pressure and heart rate returned quickly). I ordered two 65,000 volt stun guns - the weakest guns available and will use them as an absolute last resort. I would be very interested in your follow-up to using the stun guns.

Feel free to use my story and pictures if you wish, to prevent others from trying to separate fights when they don't know what they are doing.

Sincerely,
Tony

Dog Fight Email:

I am glad I found your site. I have three American Bull dogs and today the female went right up to a 1 yr. old male and grabbed on to its neck and started shaking. I have only seen and stopped two prior dog fights by myself. This one was the worst. I didn't know any of your techniques yet and so I tried to choke out one dog (which has worked before) but to no avail. I then tried to get them into a doorway where I pushed the door shut in between them. It was the only thing I could think of. After reading your web site I know exactly what to do. I really appreciate your advice. I guess I always figured it was my job to break them up and I had to get in there or they would fight to the death. I am so thankful I only got a small cut on my finger, especially after seeing some of the pictures on the web site!

Myndi

Hi,

My son has a staffy cross, not sure what the cross is, but she is mainly staffy to look at. He had two dogs, the dog that was attached by the staffy was a border collie named Jess, she was 17 years old. Molly, the staffy, is 5 years old. They were alone in the house together, when Molly attacked and so severely injured Jess that she had to be put down. Molly must have thrown and shook her around. The injuries that Jess received were horrific, to her throat, her lung was punctured and the rib that would have covered her lung was missing. The vet also suspected her pelvis was fractured, and it was at this point that it was requested of the vet that he put Jess to sleep. She did not deserve to die this way nor for that matter, any dog/child etc.

Jess had always been a quiet, gentle dog, never showed any aggression to anyone.

My son asked me to try and find some information on the internet relating to the above attack, and if you can to please give an opinion at to whether, his son, who will be turning two in June is in any danger from Molly. I know that perhaps you can`t give me a direct answer at to whether Molly should be put down or not, but perhaps with letters that you have received there may have been similar experiences. Could Molly attack again now that she has been "blooded" so to speak? It's just very hard to know what to do, putting Molly to sleep won`t bring Jess back to life, but by the same token if Molly should attack again, how does one forgive one`s self for giving her a second chance?

And that is why I`m emailing you, as my son , and myself included, just don`t know what is the best way to deal with this situation. I hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Shirley

Answer:

I feel badly for you and this poor dog. Can you imagine what the last minutes of life were like for this very old dog? To end 17 years of life in this way is a terrible thought.

I will guarantee you that it is not a matter of “IF” this dog will fight– it’s only a matter of time and "WHEN" it will happen again.

Dogs like this need to be totally isolated from other dogs. They can never come into contact with animals. This needs to be accomplished by keeping them in secure dog kennels, secure dog crates and through the use of very solid dog training that results in the dog being 100% under control even in the face of the most sever distraction (i.e. another dog that is challenging it).

Read the article I have written titled DEALING WITH THE DOMINANT DOG. You can find this article in the list of training articles on my web site. I believe you will find the answers you need in that article or in the Q&A section of my web site. There are simple solutions to these problems. The question is if you are willing to do the work necessary to make the changes that will fix the problems.

A dog like this needs to be trained with an electric collar. I use a DOGTRA 1900NCP.

If you would like to learn more about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had a clear understanding of the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes. I think if you read the testimonials on that tape you will see that my customers feel the same way.

Dog Fight Email:

I do realize most of this was probably my fault. But here are my stories.

I work at a Board and Train kennel that usually houses 12-20 dogs at a time.
I was working at the main branch, walking a Dalmatian that was good with some of the other dogs, but tended to have an aggressive streak in him too.

We were walking down the long driveway <a german shepherd lives across the street who I've always seen on a cable> as we were coming down, I heard a snap and looked up. I saw a large german shepherd come barreling towards us. My first thought was, "SHield the dog." So I pulled Jack around to my back and the german shepherd didn't make a sound as he lunged towards Jack.

I was lucky this time, my reflexes kicked in and I scruffed the German shepherd, had Jack by the collar and was literally using my strength to keep them apart as I screamed for help. The owners of the german shepherd came out and pulled the dog away. The next day, the dog was back on its tie out cable.

The next fight I witnessed was definitely my fault. Again, at the same kennel. I had a pit bull mix female in the office that is adjacent to the crate room. I was walking an old lab to his crate when I saw the pit bull open the door. She made a beeline to the cats, but when she realized they were up out of reach, she turned, saw the Lab and tore after him, She tried to go for the throat but I kneed her off. She went for the stomach and clamped on, shaking the lab until his skin split. I reached right into the pile, grabbed the pit bull by the skin and hung her up until she let go, threw her a few feet away, then I shoved the lab into the open crate nearest to us. I put the pit bull into another crate and then pulled the lab out to tend to his wounds. He had to have 3 drains put in and his stomach was swollen and dripping pus for a week.

My third fight was between a Great Pyrnees and a very male golden retriever.
The golden was outside in the dog yard and I was at the gate with the Pyrenees. I knew the golden was inside but I unlatched the gate and stepped inside with the Pyrenees. Indy<the golden> came over and I didn't see a change in behavior. Tank decided to sniff Indy and Indy just went after him. Again ...I was all alone and Indy was into it and Tank was just trying to get away. So I opened the latch, I urged Tank outside and when Indy, on Tank's back, tried to follow, I grabbed Indy by the skin on his back, picked up his back leg and when he went in for a re-bite, I tore him off and threw him across the yard. Of course, as soon as I went outside, Tank was tearing across the lawn into the street. Tank wasn't hurt, thankfully. I'm glad he just decided to run away rather than fight back.

I realize I've been lucky so far in having to break up fights, and I always bring pepper spray with me. But I hope there is never a time where I have to reach between two dogs when both teeth are flying.

I loved your article and maybe that will help in the future. But I know for new handlers, they tell me that they are so panicked, that they can't think.

H. S.
Search and Rescue Handler, CA

Portland Man Attacked By Own Dog:

05:56 PM PDT on Friday, September 16, 2005
By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

Animal control officers seize one of the two rottweilers.
A man was attacked by his own dog in southeast Portland on Friday afternoon and had to be hospitalized, police said.
The man was mauled by one of his two rottweilers when he tried to separate the fighting dogs in his backyard in the 11700 block of SE Washington St. shortly after noon, said Sgt. Brian Schamutz.

The man's girlfriend and a neighbor hit the attack dog with a sledgehammer and machete to stop the attack and then called 9-1-1.

Preliminary reports indicated the man lost a lot of blood. He was transported to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Medics said the victim suffered injuries to his arm, neck and shoulder.
His name was not immediately released by authorities.
Meantime, animal control officers seized the two

Dog Fight Email:

Thank you so much for the article on breaking up dog fights and on dog parks.

I live in New York and have owned dogs for 10 years. I know that you do not reach in between two dogs that are fighting. And I know the dog runs are dangerous places. But living in New York City with an active Miniature Poodle and sometimes means using it to run excess off excess energy. Today, however, was different. My 13 pound poodle got attacked by a full male Pit Bull. My dog, Bailey was in a tussle with another dog over a ball, and the PB was all the way on the other side of the run. We had all been there about 15 minutes with no problems.
But I guess the PB got triggered and ran over and attacked the hell out of my dog. I could only stand and watch, knowing there was nothing I could do.

The owner of the PB reached in to pull his dog off and I got mine out from under the PB. Then the man started yelling at me for "turning my back on my dog" and how "you should always reach in and pull on the dogs tail". I told him, no, you cannot. Then I thanked him for pulling his dog off of him, that my dog seemed okay. He kept yelling and then pulled his arm from behind his back. His dog had shredded it. Much worse than the pictures on your web site He was, I think, angrier (and in a lot of pain) at himself than at me.

I took my dog to the vet. My dog did not go unscathed. I did not know that PB have tiny teeth that do not tear, but leave small puncture wounds that are hard to find. PB injuries are usually internal. My dog, when they shaved him, had bites over his back, head and under his tail. He has intense bruising in those areas too. The vet says the next 48 hours are crucial in determining any internal damage- but I am deeply concerned about the long term psychological scarring.

I have been beating myself up saying "What more could I have done?"
But, honestly, I was prepared in that moment, that my dog was dead. I have seen PB fight before and I know there IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. You have given me back some hope that if I carry pepper spray I may have a chance. However, prevention is the best cure, so no more dog runs for me and Bailey.

Thanks for your information. And thanks for reading this.
Carolyn

Dog Fight Email:

Dear Sir,

One of our Great Dane bitches has become very aggressive toward our Irish Setter bitch who has no nasty bone in her body. The setter has been very submissive toward the dane. This over aggressive behavior of the dane is very new.

My husband's way to break up a fight is to stab at the offender with a steak knife, which when I found out I became very upset with him. I live in a wheel chair and when the most recent fight started, I tried my stopping the fight by getting my overly large wheel chair in the middle. It did slow down the attack somewhat, but then the dane managed to get around me and started attacking the setter with more anger. I finally noticed a spray bottle of Lysol, I sprayed the dane with it and she finally backed off. It didn't last long because the setter got into her head to retaliate. I had my cane in my hand and I was able to block them off of each other. My husband was just coming into the house and saw what was going on, I yelled to him to grab the setter and put her outside and then I would put the dane in the basement. When we brought the setter back in, she was bleeding, limping, whining, panting and then collapsing on the floor.

We are afraid that her leg was broken and her lungs my have been involved. We took her to the vet, ha let us know that nothing was broken but there were plenty of rips, tares and punctures. She put our setter on a heavy duty pain killer, an antibiotic and a light tranquilizer. She also suggested that we find the dane a new home or this behavior next time may kill our setter. My husband said "In a cold day in hell"

So here we are, fighting about the best thing to do with the dane, to muzzle her or not, and to keep them separate them. I thought the best thing to do is to find a new home for the dane where she would be the only dog.
Please send me your thoughts asap!

Sincerely,
Deby

Ed's Answer on the Dog Fight Email:

Stabbing the dogs in a dog fight is over the top as far as an acceptable methods to deal with the problem of dog fights. It's crazy.

Get two dog crate and use them. Only allow one dog out at one time. This is not rocket science.

Train these dogs:

Get my DVDs Basic Dog Obedience and DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS. You need this information.

When I talk to disabled people I ALWAYS RECOMMEND training with a REMOTE COLLAR (electric collar) Here is a DVD I recently finished that teaches people who to do this; E-COLLAR TRAINING FOR THE PET OWNER

Hello ED,

My name is Raechel and I came upon this site today after trying to break up yet another dog fight in the house. After reading all the information on properly breaking up a dog fight I realize I did everything wrong. Which would be why I have a nice size bite on my arm. My question is about the two dogs. I recently got a 5 month old male black lab who for the most part in very gentle besides the puppy energy. My roommate has a 2yr old female Border Collie who is not fully trained. She is a very shy dog and will lay on her back when you walk up to her. neither dog is aggressive by themselves and are fine together everyday. However this is the second fight in a week. The female Border Collie starts it. I was reading through the scenarios on why dogs fight and it said it wasn't common for a male and female to fight much less for the female to start it. The lab is still a puppy (a 35lb puppy) and, after seeing these two fights and pulling her off of him, is not very good at defending himself. I saw that muzzles were recommended for introducing a new dog into the home. Is this always a good idea? Are there any cons to using them? How often should they be used?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Raechel

A picture of Rachel's arm bite that she got trying to break up her dog fight

That's a quarter on her arm so you see how big this bite was

My two dogs were almost attacked by a stray dog this morning. What should I do?

I was walking my 2 terriers this morning when a brown lab mix began to follow me. My terriers became excited and as the dog moved closer (I kept walking) I realized the stray was circling us. After only a hundred feet or so, I turned around and decided to head back toward home. The stray followed. The intensity was rising and I knew I was in a potentially dangerous situation.

My doorway is an alcove and before I knew it I realized my small dogs and I were cornered. The stray began to growl and show his teeth - my dogs responded to that and I couldn't get in my house as the dog kept moving in front of the door. My hands were full with the 2 separate plastic retractable leads (that are in the trash can now). My neighbor heard the commotion - and by now there was a lot of it -and ran out to help. She called to the stray who ran to her immediately and I unlocked my door and ran inside with my dogs. Animal control was called.

Now this dog was very passive to my neighbor - followed her commands and sat on her lawn waiting for Animal Control.

What did I do wrong? What can I do to protect myself in the future. I was very frightened by this - and I'm sure the dog picked up on this fear. Am I over the top in thinking I should have some form of mace or pepper spray in my pocket? I would appreciate your help and suggestions.

Barbara

Ed's Answer:

Well your dogs are not trained. You should have been able to put both dogs in a down stay while you stepped in front of them to protect them. You should have screamed at the dogs to GO HOME. You should carry pepper sprays and use it on any dog that comes near your dogs – even if the other dog is with an owner who cannot control his dog.

You are supposed to be the pack leader – pack leaders protect lower ranking pack members. Your dogs EXPECT this. If you don’t do it then one of them has to. When that happens you lose any respect they had for you. They can love you and not respect you.

So train your dogs – with a prong collar or dominant dog collar. Here is a dvd to help - Basic Dog Obedience.

You are very lucky – you could have had a dead dog.

Regards,
Ed

Dog Fight Email:

Mr. Frawley,

First of all, thank you for your helpful information that you offer up for us! A little history, we have owned a female/spayed English Bulldog for 6 years. We fell hard for this breed and last year decided to add a male English Bulldog puppy. We got him at 12 weeks and did get him neutered when the age was right for it. Tootsie, our female, seemed to enjoy his company and all has been well aside from slight jealousy at times on her part. Tyson, is now 1 year old and is her size. The past month has been hellish to say the least! He is definitely testing her for the leadership role, and she isn't budging to give it up. We are not encountering daily fights that have led to open wounds with lots of blood! These fights are generally triggered by toys. They are crate trained and have been side by side, and I have separated the crates across the room from each other. I have brought up every toy in the house, which seems unfair to our female as she is accustomed to playing with her toys/bones when she feels like it, but is necessary. In the past, if Tyson finds a toy, he will immediately take it into his crate and "guard" it for hours, with his ears back. He will even growl at us if we come near his crate if he has something in it. He has tried to bite at us if we remove something such as his empty food dish from his crate when he is finished eating. During the fights, he gets so pumped up, that after carefully breaking them apart by pulling on their collars, he is still for approximately 10 minutes trying to lunge back after her, ready to go after her again and again. She seems to get over it quickly. They do not sleep on our bed, or in our bedrooms. As far as training, we have failed drastically in this area. I feel we are completely to blame for his actions. At this point, my husband is ready to find him a home where he can be an only dog. I talked to a dog trainer that gave me a small chance of this problem being solved, and yet another that told me that if I can teach the dogs to recognize that my husband and I are the pack leaders, not either of them, then maybe we stand a chance. What is your opinion on this? I love my little guy, but I know he isn't happy and he looks at me with this helpless look like he doesn't know how to stop what he is doing!

Thanks so much in advance for your time and advice, it's appreciated greatly!

Lisa

Ed's Answer on Dog Fights:

This comes down to an owner education issue. You need to change the way you live with these dogs. I have owned more aggressive dogs than I can remember. We would NEVER allow them to be together like this. We would also address pack structure and obedience training. Check out these videos for more information:

Basic Dog Obedience

Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs

Good luck,
Ed

Dog Fight Email:

Dear Ed,

I wanted to thank you for publishing the advice for breaking up a dogfight when one is alone. Today my two male Rottweilers from serious working lines got into a fight when my husband was at work & I was alone. I am experienced in separating dogs by the hind legs but it never dawned on me to tie one of them. I basically tried every useless thing while these dogs fought to exhaustion and were finally tired enough to hear me say "Aus". I could have saved a lot of trauma had I read your article first.
Thank you so much for giving us this free information. If it ever happens again, I'll be ready.

Lesli
Brego Rottweilers

Mike

Ed's Reply

You know this is stupid. You are clueless on pack structure and rank.

What part of common sense do you miss? The first time this happens is an accident, the second time it happens "SHAME ON YOU" - the third time it happens - "your a fool and it's animal abuse."

Would it not make sense to either re-home some of these dogs or build kennels so they could all be separate and then only let one out at a time?

I feel sorry for your dogs.

More emails on dog fights