Quarrelsome Dog Fights

Dogs can occasionally fight. It is convenient to analyze the reason that leads to this fight in order to prevent it from happening. Here we will refer to dogs that fight as soon as they see another animal, with no apparent reason. The situation that is generated results difficult, since the owner of this kind of animal tends to avoid other dogs and this isolation is precise to reinforce the aggressive behavior when the dog finds itself in contact with another dog or cat. The notions of territory and hierarchy are fundamental in this type of alteration. The most frequent case is the territorial conflict. At the beginning it is maybe not recognized be cause the dog takes over a territory that is not his. We go out with the on a leash so it can take care of its business. If it's a male it will urinate little by little in different place to establish its territory. If another dog comes and does the same, this can create a conflict, since this attitude is a challenge for our dog. The fact that the dog is on a leash and that the owner is present increases the risk of attack. Dogs also fight when something separates them. If we install a fence in the patio to separate the two dogs, they will go at it with the fence between them. If we take away the fence they will calm down. A lot of times it is preferable not to place any obstacle between two dogs when there is a risk that they will fight, that way we will allow them to establish their own hierarchy. The lack of hierarchical structuring is also the cause of an aggressive conduct. The dog wants to defend its owner or to prove that it is the stronger one. Therefore the dog fights in the presence of the owner, for the owner.

What to do about Quarrelsome Dog? Once the fight has started we must not yell. As we have said before, we should not prevent the compromising situations, but on the contrary it is preferable to provoke them so that we have the option to control them. If we are the owners of a conflictive dog, we will try to find another owner who is comprehensive and can give us a hand. We take our dog out for a walk and when we find our friend with his dog we will show that we are very happy to see him and will not pay any attention to the dogs. If our dog is hyper protective, it will be happy to see us cheer up. If it tries to call for our attention by jumping on the other owner, we will pull the leash, obligating it to be behind us. If it growls at the other dog and threatens to attack, we will cut the conversation short and keep our happy tone. The dog must not notice that we are leaving because of it. The next day, we will repeat the exercise. The ideal thing is to be able to count on different owners. The next step will be to go for walks together so that the dog understands that the streets are for everyone. If we have two dogs at home that often fight, we must not separate them. There are people who spend their whole lives opening and closing doors to prevent the contact between the two dogs, until the day that a fight is produced because the owner forget to close a door. The separation increases the risk of conflict. When the dogs find each other we have to find a way to distract them, by playing with them or calling them. The owners are the ones who take the worst part with the idea that the dogs will find each other.