How to Deal with Dog Fights

When I began showing Standard Schnauzers in 1967, another exhibitor warned me that if ever a dog fight broke out in a nearby ring or ours, I should run in the opposite direction. Not long after that warning, I saw what he meant when two St. Bernards began to fight in the next ring. To this day, the sound of a dog fight strikes terror to my heart. Cat fights, dog-cat fights, any animal fights—all ugly sounds.

Over the years, it has been my displeasure to break up an assortment of dog fights. Most were little tiffs about treats or a favorite toy. Some, however, were fairly serious, usually about territory, food, or a love interest. The higher the value a dog places on the object of the fight, the more intense the dog fight will be.

Dog Fights Injure Dogs and People

Dog fights can seriously injure both dogs and people. Most dog breeders I know have assorted small scars on hands and arms from breaking up dog squabbles—not because the dog meant to bite a person, but because in the heat of the moment, the dog isn’t thinking clearly. Years ago, one of my dogs was ranking high in national competition when he got into a fight with his son over food. The resulting injuries made him unshowable for the remaining four months of that year.

One such dog fight happened around midnight after I returned home from breeding Daisy (Ch. Wüstefuchs Ellen-of-the-Dale CDX, a lower-on-the-pecking-order female). I dropped her into our fenced yard with her mother, senior lady dog Frosty (Ch. Tru-Lov’s Frosty Lace CD). Frosty took great exception to the idea that anyone other than herself was permitted sexual frolicking. She attacked Daisy vigorously. My scolding and yelling at them didn’t stop the fight. I was bitten when I foolishly stuck in my hands to separate them. Although I got them apart with help, I ended up at the local emergency room to tend multiple bites on my hands.

I was alone for my worst dog fight ever. My hostile father-son duo, Charley (Ch. Wüstefuchs Karl) and Hoodlum (Ch. Wüstefuchs Robin Hood UD), who had lived separately in animosity for years after a previous skirmish, somehow got into the same sub-yard at the same time. Canine Armageddon erupted! I don’t know where my superhuman strength came from, but I managed to grab two 60-pound, snarling, fighting male Standard Schnauzers by their neck scruffs, one in each hand, and hoist them on opposite sides of a 6-foot fence. They hung there for seeming eternity, teeth into skin. Finally they tired at about the same time. Both sets of teeth unclamped, and the dogs dropped to the ground. The worst part of the event was herding into a separate pen all the other dogs, who were biting at the feet of the combatant hanging on their side of the fence.

Dog Fights in Training Classes

A recent online discussion about breaking up dog fights, specifically in the dog training environment, reminded me of this. In the class environment , assuring the safety of both dogs and people is paramount.

• If your dog is one of the fighters, running away isn’t an option. Get yourself and your dog far away from the dog fight, and keep your dog under control.

• If you are teaching the class, begin each class by instructing the owners not to rush in to “help” if a fight breaks out. Instead, tell your students to get their dogs and themselves to safety.

• As an instructor or assistant, get the non-combatants and their owners to safety, preferably outside the classroom or building. Only when uninvolved dogs and people are safe should you try to break up the dog fight.

I have no advice, however, about how to deal with quarreling people in the class.

Methods for Breaking up Dog Fights

• Late Standard Schnauzer owner/breeder, Mel Doerr, DVM, a veterinary epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control, claimed that dog fights between females usually could be halted by a loud scolding voice, but serious fights between males often are to death. I have never found scolding to be effective with females, much less with aggressive males.

• Some claim that dog fights can be stopped by dumping or hosing water on the fighters, but I’ve found this method results only in wet fighting dogs. This is a poor option.

• In my experience,  the best way to break up fighting dogs with minimal injury to all is to get a stout barrier between them (NOT your hands!), such as a sheet of plywood or even a dog bed. Eventually, either the dogs can be separated or they will cool down of their own accord. However, cooling down spontaneously isn’t likely if dog tempers are running high, so separation is your best option.

Unfortunately, dogs have long memories, especially for doggy insults, so you may have to maintain the separation for a long time. The antagonism between my father-son duo lasted for years with them separated by at least two closed doors at all times—not a pleasant way to live.