Dog fights are a very horrible thing to experience with dogs you live with, a neighbor's dog or a dog at the park.

At first, just before a fight begins one dog will raise their hackles up, standing still stiff and stare at the other dog. If the other dog returns a stare, and also stands still stiff and/or raises their hackles up, a fight will most likely start. Fighting has a lot of growling and yelps from real bites. When one dog displays fighting but doesn't obey to the other dog which displays 'non-fighting' body language, this is what I call a one way or one dog fighting. If the other dog runs, doesn't return a stare or goes into a submissive down and the dog that wants to fight still attacks the dog this is taking advantage of the dog regardless of it's 'don't fight me' actions. This is very improper dog behavior and he or she needs to learn through training that this isn't the proper why to treat an another dog. However, a dog that displays fear aggression behavior toward the other dog which wants to fight then this is different.

Growling is normal during play. My female German Shepherd mix tends to growl more than my male Labrador Retriever because she is just more vocal in general. Sometimes it's hard to tell with just hearing whether it's a fun growl or serious growl. If I look to see their body language then I can tell. It's usually play because they aren't trying to get away from each other but rather be closer and all over each other in a non-threatening manner. Also if they weren't playing, my Lab would growl much more. He's the dominating one of the two and would take control of the situation, if I didn't first.

My dogs do clamp onto each other too when playing, but it's not hard enough to draw blood. If they do clamp on hard enough to draw blood it's probably fighting, unless one dog doesn't know their strength well enough and clamps too hard during play. If this does happen the dog needs to learn with scolding this is too hard and needs to learn to be softer by learning the command "Take it easy!" or "Be gentle!". If you feel this is happening it involves more training to help the dog develop a softer mouth, so let me know and I'll explain what needs to be done.

My dogs will also mount each other too during play. Looks strange when you see the female doing it on the male. Mounting can be play and/or could be dominating behavior toward the other dog. The male may really hate this from the female and react back to re-establish his dominance over her.

To find out more about aggression go read my Aggression webpage.
 
 

The reasons for dog fights are emotional or physical happenings in the home, sibling rivalry, to become the top dog, or the cause could be a from a physical or mental problem of the dog. The latter is uncommon in most dog fight situations. The most common reason for dogs to fight is to become the top dog. Figuring out what happens can be very complex, just as it is with most every type of aggression behavior.

With dog fighting the cause can be from any change in the home or a home change. First we need to figure out what causes the fight. And what the other dogs do. Any new stress in the home can cause dogs to fight. A smaller home than they are used to can cause fighting to occur. A new dog in the house can also cause fighting. You need to think about what happened before the fighting happened and I don't mean just before but anything that was different before they started fighting.

The signs that may indicate problems which may cause a fight to start between two dogs or more are: 1) if one dog tends to bother another a lot by trying to play and the other one isn't in the mood to play and growls at this dog to keep them away. Age may play a factor with this situation. While the younger one wants to play, the older dog wants to be alone and may growl and if the younger one is persistent and when the younger one just won't leave the older one alone, the older one might attack the younger out of frustration. It could also go the other way, the younger dog attacks the older for not wanting to play. 2) Another is the dog trying to avoid another dog by just leaving or going somewhere to hide to get away from this dog. There may not even be any aggression at all but all the signs of "GET AWAY FROM ME" or "GO AWAY" or "LEAVE ME ALONE" is displayed in their body language. When this happens it might be a good idea to let them have some time by themselves or separate the bothering one from the others for awhile. Just like some humans want to be alone, so do some dogs. 3) In multiple dog households the dogs could gang up on a dog and attack this dog for not going along with what they want to do or something like that. Again the older may be the one which gets attacked for not playing or something. The older may fight back but he or she gets gained up on by the younger dogs and attacked.

If the dogs are allowed to get away with most anything then they are likely to think that they can can get away with attacking their best friend which they see as just being a really big pain in the ass.
 
 

When your dog displays fighting behavior toward a dog, this behavior must be stopped. The Halti head halter will help in training your dog to not fight with other dogs. Allowing your dog to continue to fight with dogs will produce many other behavior problems and some will be directed toward you.

Another way to correct this behavior is to have one person hold one dog on leash and the other dog is held by another person on leash. When the dog shows any aggression it must be stopped with a "No!" and jerk. They both need to learn not to fight.

The method I explain below requires or rather is best if your dog knows heel and sit-stay. If your dog doesn't know any basic obedience go to my basic obedience webpage.  Teach commands first away from other dogs.

With dogs that want to fight with other dogs I feel it's best to leave them on the leash and verbally scold with corrective jerk (or with the Halti head halter maybe it's best to pull) the minute they display any growl toward another dog and praise when they do not display any toward these dogs. If you can walk by a dog which is confined in the yard or something and then your dog aggresses this is a good place to train him or her. When your dog begins to lunge to attack the other dog, command in a firm voice, "NO!" and then quickly turn and go the opposite direction, pulling him or her with the halti or jerk your dog with the regular, choke or pinch collar. Then at a distance have him or her sit beside you in heel position but facing the toward the other dog. Your dog needs to be able to see the other dog. If your dog tries to go for the other dog then or growls toward the dog then again, "NO" and again, quickly turn the opposite direction. Keep doing this at a distance until he or she doesn't show anymore aggression. When your dog is fine at a distance and has stopped his or her aggression toward the dog, work with him or her closer and closer until he or she is not aggressing anymore. Praise your dog each time when he or she doesn't aggress. If there is a loose dog approaching your dog, have your dog sit and stay and if he or she moves, command "NO!" very firmly. And tell your dog to sit again or push his or her rump down with leash pulled up. Do the same as above for people. They too can be inside a fenced area or backyard if you'd prefer. If you have trouble handling him or her then I would suggest doing this so that you can be sure that nobody will be hurt.

For in the home aggression. My suggestion is leave the Halti Head Halter and 6 foot leash on your dog all the time so you can jump for the leash the minute he or she starts to aggress toward any dog. It would also be best if you can keep a close eye on your dog so that when you do see him or her start to aggress you can stop your dog the minute it starts. Your dog needs to learn that dog fighting is not tolerated at all. If you haven't tried this procedure before and you'd rather try this without the Halti first this is fine but if you have trouble I suggest you try the Halti. If the Halti doesn't seem to be working try the pinch or prong collar. Some dogs may react aggressively with the pinch but this again is just another form of not giving into it's dominant pinch action. Some may also aggress more with the jerk of the choke collar and the regular collar but this is just your dog fighting the dominant action you are enforcing on your dog. But, a yelp sound may mean it hurts and you need to jerk with less power. You shouldn't given into this behavior because if you do this will tell the dog he or she has won and you have lost. Then the control of your dog is not there at all.

If your dog tries to bit you, pull the leash up tight to tighten the Halti around his muzzle. Keep the leash and halti taught with your hand holding the leash above him or her and diagonal to his muzzle, until he stops and is just sitting there. Then once your dog stops, praise him or her and then release the tightness in the leash. If he or she immediately starts to aggress toward you again do the process again. Repeat each time your dog tries to bite you and he or she should get the message. Oh, also with the halti you may want to have a second leash hooked to your dog's regular collar, especially if you fear him or her getting out of the Halti when you're walking your dog places. For more on using the Halti go here.

To do this same procedure with the regular leash hooked to the regular collar and the halti isn't on. First, you hold the leash two feet for big dogs, three feet for medium dogs and four feet for small dogs from the collar and put your arm straight out in front of you with your hand high but level to your dog's head. Keep the leash tight to keep him or her away from you. Although some big dogs may try to jump up to your arm, so watch out for this. But, this will prevent a dangerous situation. And many professional dog trainers use this method.
 
 

My two dogs sometimes fight. When they do, I'm able to stop them with a "Stop it you two!" or something and if they don't, I give them a time out in their crate for a half hour. And mine are still willing to go into the crate (as some people fear using crates this way) after it is used for this purpose. For more info on using crates, press here.

For those of you who aren't able to vocally break up the two or more dogs you live with here are some more options to try:

If there seems to be one that starts the fight more then I would I suggest you leash the dog which seems to fight most all the time when this dog is going to be around the other so that you can quickly jerk your fighting dog away when the dog seems to be starting to fight. When your dog raises the hair on it's back, this is when you need to command, "NO!" and if he or she doesn't back off then you need to call him or her to you or take your dog by the collar or if leashed pull the dog to you. But, if they start to fight at this point, forget that idea. You can still command, "NO!" again to establish this is bad but don't repeat it. The best, safest and most effective way to break up an intense fight is to pick up their hind legs and pull them apart by backing them both up but you must have a good grip on their legs to be sure that no legs slip from your hands or you may end up having another fight happen. But, be careful not to hurt their back. Both dogs need to be pulled back together. So, it does require two people for two dogs fighting. When you have broken them up, either leash the attacking dog or put them both somewhere separately where they can calm down or you could just lock the fighter up in a room for 1/2 an hour. When you can't watch your dogs, I suggest you separate them and put them in a crate or different rooms. It's important to
stop a fight the minute it starts. If two people aren't there try using one of the items I list below. If there is one dog which stops, you could try taking one of the dogs collars and pull it up close to their ears and hold above and near the dogs skull and keep the dog up ahead of you to prevent the dog from biting you. If the other dog doesn't stop, I would let go because you will likely get hurt. This is very risky. I do this with my dogs but it's because I know that  my GSD mix will not attack me. So, I grab my Lab by the collar the way I described and put him in the crate. My female GSD mix will always stop her behavior and lets me take control of the situation. She's a very friendly dog and loves people. She just has no desire to attack or growl at people. There have been several times where she could have growled at me but she didn't. Although, she still displays behavior which may indicate she might growl or bite so I am cautious at those times. But, I still take control and she lets me without any fuss. Be very careful with your dogs because eventhough you think you know them, they could react aggressively unexpectedly. Learning the body language of aggressive dogs is very important. Knowing this has saved me several times from being bitten by dogs and even those I don't know. Go read my Aggression webpage to learn more about aggressive dog body language.

For dogs that don't clamp and hold onto the other dog, I would try using the Halti head halter to separate them apart. Have them on the dogs all the time and maybe leave the leash (only when supervised) on so you aren't likely to get bit trying to grab the Halti.

If you do have a dog or more that clamps and holds onto the other dog for awhile, then I suggest you get a Husher muzzle for each dog. This muzzle allows dogs to drink, eat, and pant. Click here to view one at R.C. Steele's online catalog. However, if you are very sure that the other dog(s) don't  display much aggression unless the aggressor is in contact with that dog, then just put the husher muzzle on the one that aggresses more. You can use the Halti for the other dogs if they aggress sometimes and/or if they don't clamp onto the dog. For those that only aggress when the aggressor is in contact with the dog, then you can try just putting the Husher muzzle on the aggressor and leave the other without anything.

It's very important to verbally scold the minute they aggress with either the Halti and the Husher muzzle on your dog(s).
 
 
 

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