# How to stop 2 bitches from fighting....



## mamalisa (Feb 1, 2004)

Ok, now, before y'all shoot me, sometimes separation just isn't practical. Can fighting be conditioned with an electric collar like anything else? 

Otherwise, one of the girls has to go. My kid was the one to stop the last fight. She only weighs 110 lbs, and 2 50+ lb fighting dogs are a bit much for her, especially when everyone else gets bored and piles on.


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## Ella (Feb 4, 2006)

The use of an electric collar during a fight will only escalate the fight. If used at the right time, which is right when the dog goes on alert, you can prevent the fight. In general, I do not think electric collars are a practical solution when the dogs live together on a continuous basis. It is dangerous to break up a dog fight and I would not recommend a kid doing it. Fire extinguishers and hoses are helpful. 

My advice, if you cannot separate the dogs, find one of them a better home. Good luck.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

To break up a dog fight you need two people. One person to each dog. Grab their hind legs and pull. But I don't recommend breaking up a fight. Dog fights usually invovle a great deal of posturing without blood. Why are they fighting? Is one older and one younger, with the younger one coming to adulthood? Rank is the number one reason dogs fight, though it may look to us like jealousy. Are you trying to treat them as equals? They are not. What seems to trigger the outbreaks?


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## vtfarma (May 6, 2003)

2 bitches living in the same home is just asking for trouble imho. We had an acd ***** and she went after every female whether fixed or not when she came into heat. She was a sweet dog when she wasn't. The only thought I had on this was to separate them when they are in heat, a kennel or separate room for a few days but that is a pain. The other thing is a bucket of water works wonders. I broke up a dog fight only once and I ended up with alot of stitches from it. It is hard to sit back to watch the fight. We cold stop ours usually with a sharp, loud command to stop and a hose or bucket of water. Then we separated her away from everyone else.


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## comehomesoon (Feb 28, 2006)

Even with two people its risky to break up a fight, I would suggest water, If you are outside grab the hose or a bucket if inside make sure you have a squirt bottle, its hard once they are use to fighting, not saying that it cant be trained out of them but the tendencies will be there and for safety of children I would suggest find a way to seperate of find a good home for one of them.


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## NCGirl (Jan 5, 2006)

If the females are seriously fighting and you can't seperate, it is in the dogs best interest to find one of them a new home. 

I have only had to break up one *****-fight in my lifetime and it was something I hope never to do again. They would have fought to the death of one of them I am pretty sure... I tried hosing them, pulling one of them away, hitting them with anything I could grab. I finally threw one of them over a fence and was able to get the other one in the house. We were all covered in blood by the end of it and the vet was hundreds of dollars richer after all the stiching up. These two females still live with us but we always have at least 2 fences between them. The funny thing is both females get on well with other's but they hate each other like you would not believe... :shrug:


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## mamalisa (Feb 1, 2004)

I know someone uses a cattle prod to break up fights. I was hoping I could get the same conditioning with a shock collar set on levitate. 

The person who uses the prod says that the dogs or bitches will avoid looking at each other simply to avoid fighting. I know I've taught dogs to stop chasing chickens, etc....even after they've attacked and maybe killed some. So I was hoping.......I had thought I'd keep a fence between them for starters and zap any aggression at all. If that worked, I would try letting them in the same room and do the same thing.

I've broken up fights before. Two bitches will fight forever. No posturing involved, no warning, no nothing. The boys make lots of noise and then quit.


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

First- a kid should never be allowed to break up a dog fight. It is a 2 adult job- grasping both by the hocks, lifting them onto thier front paws and both parties walking backwards away from each other. Second- it is a power struggle- the bitches are trying to work out thier place and it will not be done until either you place them both in order and treat them acccordingly (feed the top one first, let the top one get pet first, out the door first , etc) and refuse to let them get that far or they work it out on thier own with no interferance. When you have a multi dog household you cannot treat them both equally and must be the pack leader. While trying to restore order place the low dog in a crate and only let her out when you can watch. They do not just fly at easch other- you are missing the subtle signs. A stare, on alert posture, etc one is doing something that signifies a challenge or acting out of rank. As soon as you see that challenge, you as pack leader need to step in a stop it. If they are not obedince trained, teach them now. When they start- put them both in a down stay or send the low dog to another room or crate. If both bitches are unspayed, spaying will alleiviate it as well. My worst enemies I had were both males- they could not stand the sight of each other even in crates across the room they would bark and snarl if in sight. I put both through strict obedience and gave them NILIF- they got thier CGC's side by side- even sitting touching each other. Was never a problem again except when there was a girl coming into season that I had not caught yet in scent distance- but that would be temporary as I keep in season girls out of scent of my males to prevent fighting and marking and to prevent oops breedings. The only time they are around a male at that time is when that is the intended mate- and then only when they are actually being bred. 
Electric shock collars will just escalate the fight. Throwing water on them never worked for me either. It is not a good idea to reach your hand into the middle of a fight. I have grabbed a ruff or collar and pulled a dog back and out a door/gate when the fight has just gotten started, but would never do it once they were past that. Yelling also escalates a fight once it has started but if I catch them before they lock or anyone is down- I can yell a command and they will follow it- avoiding a fight. 
Am I to understand you have more than thse 2 girls? If so it is even more important for you to reestablish your leadership. IMO dogs should not be kept in packs if you want to avoid fights. I keep mine in pairs. Everyone has a buddy. Since I have done that, we rarely have a spat. I can switch dogs around so they have different buddies and still no problems. Only pups are kept in more than groups of 2 and by 8 mo old they are separated into pairs or if only one- males are put with the top *****, females with the top dog. they learn thier place with them and we have no problems after that. 

Willow



mamalisa said:


> Ok, now, before y'all shoot me, sometimes separation just isn't practical. Can fighting be conditioned with an electric collar like anything else?
> 
> Otherwise, one of the girls has to go. My kid was the one to stop the last fight. She only weighs 110 lbs, and 2 50+ lb fighting dogs are a bit much for her, especially when everyone else gets bored and piles on.


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## Peepsqueak (Apr 6, 2005)

I have had to break up many a fight with my two males. They are neutered but still are prone to fighting and it is a bloody mess, I tell ya....

First I establish alpha role myself and they are supposed to listen to me first. I also look for triggers: 
1] has one been somewhere and the other has not and he is sniiffing....if this is the case, I separate them until they have equilabrated again

2] I pay no attention to them until I give a command and they come to me and I direct them to go somewhere....in opposite corners to lay down, etc.


3] they stay in separate kennels during the day when I am not there to supervise (outside six by ten kennel runs with their dog house).

4] Prevention is the best cure because once the fight starts, it is a big pain....I just try to prevent as much damage as possible

5] If you take them in for stitches, do it immediately....a couple hours later or more than thirty minutes, stitches may get infected so the vets will not sew them up past that time (many of the fights were on weekends when noone was open anyway....so isolate them and as long as an artery is not cut, you can allow them to heal slowly instead of stitching...unless for cosmetic purposes)

6] Always feed the alpha dog first, let the alpha out first, pet him/her first, or do things in the same order. Dogs are very sensitive to routines.


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## MARYDVM (Jun 7, 2004)

The breed involved makes a big difference in whether training/management will have any effect in controlling the aggression. Some bitches will simply not tolerate each other. They don't fight for rank, they fight to destroy their opponent.


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## crystalniche (Apr 4, 2005)

One night after we went to bed we were woken up by a terrible dog fight in the livingroom. DH went out there and stopped it by grabbing the hind legs of the subordinate male and pulling him away from the dominent male~commanding the dominant dog "Off!". As Dad is the big boss both listened. The fight was between 2 littermate male Akitas who normally got along just fine. We couldn't figure out for the life of us what had caused it. After watching the dogs we found it. Every night before bed Dad would eat his Tums or Rolaids and give each dog one~they loved them. Then DH would put them back into his pants pocket and toss his pants over a chair. Well, that night the roll of Tums fell out and onto the floor. One dog found it, must have been the subordinant one~and a fight broke out over it. You can bet DH was more careful with putting away the Tums roll at night!


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## Reptyle (Jul 28, 2005)

crystalniche said:


> Every night before bed Dad would eat his Tums or Rolaids and give each dog one~they loved them.


So, Rolaids really spells BRAWL?


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I've found this thread to be very interesting. We have four spayed females (and four neutered males). The guys never fight, but the girls are a different story altogether!


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## mamalisa (Feb 1, 2004)

well, if the kid hadn't broken up the fight, I daresay they'd still be fighting. I wasn't home, and these two have gotten along for 4 years now, so the fight was as much of a surprise to her as me.

I'm not a dog newbie. We've been through these issues before, and I placed one of the dogs----as an only dog with a 10-year old boy, she is much loved!---but one of these is my son's dog and the other a 12 year old that will be difficult if not impossible to place. We do NILIF to some extent. At this point, I'm not comfortable believing that the two are safe in the same room to try to establish pack order.

So thanks for the input.


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## RandB (Aug 13, 2002)

Mamalisa -

Good luck, it is a tough problem! What is the breed/breeds involved? I used to have 2 male Belgians that fought a lot. It wasn't a happy situation, but we managed to live with it. I hear bitches are even worse.

It sounds like the younger one might sense the age of the other, is trying to move up her position in the pack? 
A friend of mine had a dog-aggressive ***** as a rescue. She ended up keeping her crated some of the time, and she even would muzzle her in the house, so no real harm could come if she started something. Eventually she found a home for her as an "only dog" and it worked out well.


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