Dogs fighting

Tranceypoo

My two dogs have been together for just over 3 years, an older male and a younger female both neutered/spayed, in all that time they've only ever had 1 'spat', soon after we got the female she bothered the male when he was asleep I think, a fight ensued and luckily we were there and my husband broke it up, everything has been fine ever since, they play fight the whole time and the male nearly always instigates it, both inside and outside, when they're outside he'll chase her, rarely catches her but if he does they both do the standing up on their back legs and play biting each other, doesn't last long, one runs off etc etc until one of them gets tired of playing.

Just this afternoon however I was out in the garage and they were pricking around outside, I had just been playing with them with a football, bouncing it throwing it etc, then the male gets it and runs off, he always gets the ball, the female never tries to get it off him or really chase him for it he just runs at full pelt round the back garden and she stands and watches him and that's it, if he leaves it down and goes inside she'll take it, he doesn't really challenge her for it if she has it, so you see what I mean they never fight over stuff, anyways I was in the shed getting turf and I just heard growling and barking and I knew straight away this was a proper fight, I looked and they were both standing up on back legs like they do all the time but this was different, as I ran over a distance of about 20 ft) the female got the male on his back and was biting him, I pulled her off him and he got up, now I'm not sure if I did the right thing but I ignored the female and just cuddled the male as I was scared for him and I know he got a shock cos usually he's the one who would get the better of her, I then told the female to go inside (not shouting just normal voice) and she went and sat in the doorway watching me hugging the older dog who was leaning into me, she tried to come over a couple of times but I said 'no go inside please' and she went back to sitting in the doorway.

Now he's asleep on the sofa (they're both fine no blood or anything thankfully) and she's sat beside me, I'm in the middle. Sorry this has been a long post I think I just wanted to get it out there, not sure if there's anything I could/should do now, should I separate them or just carry on as normal, I keep thinking if it happened in the middle of the night by the time one of us got downstairs there could be some damage done and if it happened when there was no one here then it could be even worse.

Any thoughts/advice?

DBB

Have you any indication what might have sparked it tp? Was it over the ball? Or could there have been a bone, chew, or toy that potentially initiated the spark?

Whispered

Try not worry too much. Easier said than done, I know. You didn't see the fight start so don't know what triggered it so there is little you can do for the moment.

I'd act as if nothing happened for now and just keep a close eye on them. See if there is tension that wasn't there before and what might be causing it. Chances are it was just a little brother/sister tiff.

If you're really worried, maybe keep them apart when unsupervised for a few days.

Do also keep an eye on both for other possible issues like pain, stiffness, unusual behaviour, listlessness, lack of appetite etc in case it was something with a medical cause that made it kick off.

Whispered

Sorry DBB sounds like I'm contradicting your post with my first paragraph. Wasn't my intention. I was typing while you posted.

DBB

Whispered wrote: »

Sorry DBB sounds like I'm contradicting your post with my first paragraph. Wasn't my intention. I was typing while you posted.

I wouldn't see it as a contradiction, and sure even if it was, what about it?!
Tp didn't see the flashpoint, but I was just wondering if there might be some circumstantial evidence lying about!

Tranceypoo

DBB wrote: »

I wouldn't see it as a contradiction, and sure even if it was, what about it?!
Tp didn't see the flashpoint, but I was just wondering if there might be some circumstantial evidence lying about!

I honestly couldn't say if it was over the football but it's quite possible it was, again that would be a first as they've never fought over toys before, the football was a few feet away when I looked after I broke up the fight but it could have rolled over there. There are no other toys or foodstuffs out there.

I just opened the door to see if they wanted to mooch outside again, she went out first and he had gone over to the door to go out but when he saw she was standing right outside the door he turned round and didn't go out then. I'm going to separate them tonight at bedtime and I was just about to message my friend to see if she had a baby gate I could use for a while! I will try not to worry too much about it tho I know that won't do any good, I'll just keep a close eye, I can't bear the thought of my older dog being upset or scared of the younger one he's such a big baby.

Thanks guys

DBB

I'm just wondering if the situation arose where unusually, they both went for the ball at the same time.
Say, for example, he had the ball, but dropped it and it rolled towards her. Would he follow it almost blindly, suddenly finding him right next to her at just the moment she reached down to sniff at the ball?
Under normal circumstances, it sounds like they are rarely in close proximity to a loose ball and to each other at the same time?
Almost this exact scenario resulted in one of my dogs getting jumped on by another dog recently.... Under normal circumstances it would never have happened... My dog just reached down to sniff t'other dog's rolling ball at the wrong moment.
If it was something like this, chances are you haven't too much to worry about. Bear in mind that although she could have, she didn't do him any great harm, so although I'm sure it was very dramatic (and upsetting!), it was more of a handbags-at-dawn incident than a marker of something more sinister.
That said, and you know this anyway, stay vigilant!

Pretzill

I've had a few (too many) fights started by the female. I've narrowed down the flashpoints and tried to avoid them. Mainly with her if food is dropped, it's hers and there wil be a scrap over it - thankfully both males have learned this and keep a wide berth - we've learned it too and try not to have anything lying around - no bones or kongs for our lot unfortunately. Play biting has it's own built in timeouts, you will always see them take a break from the wrestling but if one doesn't back down sometimes again our female will get in a temper - so we have to make sure the play is watched too - our female is an adrenline fiend and sees red sometimes - but I have learned a few things if a fight ensues thankfully they are rare now.

I know it's bloody frightening and the first instinct is to grab the dog and pull it off now this can make the dog bite harder - i use distraction now - I
'll shout leave or say a word that they know like ball, or here - the other thing I have learned is don't be too quick to blame the dog that looks like the perpetrator - just try and diffuse thr situation - her instinct if shes like mine is to go back to the other dog and check him over - sniff etc - but if you haven't seen what happened you don't know who started it and in fairness neither should receive praise! I know it's scary but hopefully it's just a rarity.

Tranceypoo

DBB wrote: »

I'm just wondering if the situation arose where unusually, they both went for the ball at the same time.
Say, for example, he had the ball, but dropped it and it rolled towards her. Would he follow it almost blindly, suddenly finding him right next to her at just the moment she reached down to sniff at the ball?
Under normal circumstances, it sounds like they are rarely in close proximity to a loose ball and to each other at the same time?
Almost this exact scenario resulted in one of my dogs getting jumped on by another dog recently.... Under normal circumstances it would never have happened... My dog just reached down to sniff t'other dog's rolling ball at the wrong moment.
If it was something like this, chances are you haven't too much to worry about. Bear in mind that although she could have, she didn't do him any great harm, so although I'm sure it was very dramatic (and upsetting!), it was more of a handbags-at-dawn incident than a marker of something more sinister.
That said, and you know this anyway, stay vigilant!

I do love the 'handbags at dawn' expression, it keeps it in perspective! Yes this certainly could have happened, he would be very focussed on the ball for sure.

Pretzill wrote: »

I've had a few (too many) fights started by the female. I've narrowed down the flashpoints and tried to avoid them. Mainly with her if food is dropped, it's hers and there wil be a scrap over it - thankfully both males have learned this and keep a wide berth - we've learned it too and try not to have anything lying around - no bones or kongs for our lot unfortunately. Play biting has it's own built in timeouts, you will always see them take a break from the wrestling but if one doesn't back down sometimes again our female will get in a temper - so we have to make sure the play is watched too - our female is an adrenline fiend and sees red sometimes - but I have learned a few things if a fight ensues thankfully they are rare now.

I know it's bloody frightening and the first instinct is to grab the dog and pull it off now this can make the dog bite harder - i use distraction now - I
'll shout leave or say a word that they know like ball, or here - the other thing I have learned is don't be too quick to blame the dog that looks like the perpetrator - just try and diffuse thr situation - her instinct if shes like mine is to go back to the other dog and check him over - sniff etc - but if you haven't seen what happened you don't know who started it and in fairness neither should receive praise! I know it's scary but hopefully it's just a rarity.

Thanks that makes a lot of sense, I have never and would never leave them alone with kongs or any sort of food treat, nothing has ever happened but I wouldn't take that chance, what you say about your females instinct being to come and check him over rings true I think that's what she was trying to do, he isn't interested though, my instinct was just to hug him close to me but on reflection it probably wasn't the right thing to do, hopefully there won't be a next time but if there is I'll know a bit better!