Stopping Your Dog from Fighting with other Dogs
by admin
Filed under Dog Behavior, Dog Training
This is a tough problem, and how you handle it and whether or not its resolvable depends on a number of factors. If you have a new puppy and have taken pains to socialize it properly, then fighting will be much less of a problem. Also, if you have neutered your male dog at a young age, that will also reduce the likelihood of there being a fighting problem. Alpha males who have been allowed to mature will be more likely to fight to maintain alpha status, but a well adjusted alpha male may be less likely to fight then a dog prone to emotional instability. Rescue dogs may or may not be prone to fighting depending on the nature of abuse, and then, of course, breed of dog also make a difference. Anyway, there are a number of factors that determine a dog’s predispostion to fighting.
Dog fighting, where humans are uninvolved, generally concerns survival. This may have to do be taken as the right to eat and live peaceably or simply that the dog wants to live up to a certain standard whereby he has no enemies or neighbors that irritate him. We do not know which motive fits each individual case. What we do know is that dogs pretend to fight in play, mauling each other in a rough and tumble which nobody minds. Puppies have mock fights all the time to strengthen their limbs and develop their jaws and to wear off their superabundance of energy, but the subject we are looking at here is serious dog fighting, which is dangerous for dogs and humans and has been known to end in death for the smaller and weaker dog.
If you have an adult dog who fights, or have rescued a dog with a tendency to fight, then you may have no other choice but to closely monitor the dog’s environment so that the opportunities to fight are not present. You also want to make sure as much as possible that stimulators are also generally not present in the dog’s environment.
When raising a dog, it is important to take steps to socialize your pet by introducing it to many different environmental circumstances, people, and other dogs. The point is to allow the dog to become accustomed to as many different social situations and surrounding as possible, which in turn will allow the dog to remain confident and calm in the face of many different kinds of distractions. A calm dog will be less likely to fight than an anxious dog or a dog that may be feeling threatened because it is unsure of its surroundings.
In the event that your dog does get into a fight, it is important to realized that it takes only a few minutes for less for the dogs to “come to grips.” That is, at first you see the furious snarling, flaring of teeth, and rapid movements. The next state comes when the dogs get a hold of one another. Therefore, when you go to separate a dogfight, there is no need to rush in and be bitten. It is far safer to watch at close range until you can safely get a hold of a collar or of the loose skin between the eyes of the dog.
Once a dog has got a hold on another dog, it is unlikely that he will turn around and bite you for to do so he would have to release the other dog. You are reasonably safe when it has got a hold in slipping a lead on or grabbing the choke chain or scruff.
You do not want to beat the dogs. For one thing, they will probably be unaware of the pain because they will be focussed only on each other. Once a dog has got a hold on another dog, it is unlikely that he will turn around and bite you for to do so he would have to release the other dog. You are reasonably safe when it has got a hold in slipping a lead on or grabbing the choke chain or scruff. Also, if you have firmly established yourself as the dominant leader of the “pack,” your dog is less likely to bite you in the heat of the fight and will be more likely to release from the fight as soon as you intervene and take hold of him. However, a lot depends on the dog, its background, breed, and present environment.
[tags]dog fighting,how to stop dog fighting,why dogs fight,puppy fighting,play dog fighting[/tags]
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