How to break up a dog fight without being seriously injured?
I am being train to be a kennel worker to care for dogs & cats for people that work or go on vacations, and today two dogs fight aggressively and both were bleeding. Both dogs were male pit bulls. I try to beack it up but too much dogs were in the area. One of the workers say that pulling the collar is not enough. They say I have to hit them and kick them. I want to know what is right and wrong and the do’s and don’ts on the situation.
July 27th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Two words: Pepper spray
July 27th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Definitely go for the more submissive one.
July 27th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
What about squirting them w/ a hose, maybe w/ the jetstream attachment?
July 27th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
One person is in trouble breaking up a dog fight. I have smaller dogs, Aussies and when they get into a fight I grab the back legs of the dominant one and attempt to pull them apart.But sadly sometimes the one on bottom thinks I’m trying to help her and grabs the one I have a hold on so it’s a mess. Two people can do it better
July 27th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
since they bien physical, show them who is physical as well with force…even though they may wail… thts th best way to get their attention
or if ure near a place with sand…lift it to their eyes to temporarily get their attention away..works for me
July 27th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
im being completly serious.. i herd it one the news when that little girl got killed by the dog attacking—you have to stick 1 or 2 fingers up its a*s! h%le, it shocks them to much
July 27th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
bucket of water or an hosepipe does the trick mate,,,,,,,,,,
July 27th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Two more words to add to the excellent two above
Hose pipe.
What I am amazed at here though is how these dogs were allowed to get to each other for a fight to break out. Is this a boarding kennel, and therefore they are people’s dogs.
I would be absolutely furious if that was my dog. You also say there were too many other dogs in the area, so were there more that were in contact with each other.
As for kicking and hitting other people’s dogs then this is outrageous.
Glad I don’t leave my dogs at those kennels.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Pick them up by their back legs and they will release.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
prevention is the best way but when dogs fight like that especially if their big you need to distract them picking both dogs up by the back legs is one way soon as attention is distracted you need to seperate as much as possible
keep your hands well away from jaws and try not to stand inbetween them i’ve been bitten a few times.
Seriously keep dogs that are aggressive seperate i’ve not had alot of experience with pitbulls but i’ve been bitten by a german shepard and its not pretty!
good luck
July 27th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
My dog always wants to fight. I try everything and he never lets go and the other dogs always bite me. Ive tried punching in the face, choking, hoses, sticks in the mouth. he never lets go, and this is a soft mouth chocolate lab not a mean old pit bull. a few weeks ago a guy came up to help and grabbed the two soft spots under his jaw and he let go right away. after i disinfected my wounds i asked how and when he told me he said if you hold it long enough they go to sleep. Ill try that next time, it seemed very effective.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
A hose with a sprayer on it works well. Kicking the animals or hitting them only set you and the kennel up for a lawsuit. Same goes for the pepper spray, because it can cause eye damage or respiratory damage.
You may also want to talk with the owner/manager of the kennel and find out what their policy is for aggressive animals.
(former veterinary tech)
July 27th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
spray thier faces with a waterhose. they’ll choke and gag on the water and pull away from each other.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
if you don’t want to hit them you can pick them up by thier collar and put them on thier side and hold them down but it’s not your dog and I’d need good money to wrestle with strange pit bulls on a regular basis. And when i say put on thier side I’m thinking yoked up and put down pretty forcefully not quite slammed. then you have the other dog to worry about. And are you walking a bunch of dogs on leashes or in a room with a bunch of dogs roaming freely? They’re being boarded keep them in thier cage as much as possible.
Also try to nip it in the bud, if walking many dogs keep an eye on thier interactions and if they start to quibble, scold them before it breaks out into a fight. keep them on task, focused and entertained.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
It’s not something an amateur should try, because there is a huge potential for what’s called “re-directed aggression”, meaning the dog turns and bites you.
A bucket of water will startle one of them into letting go, but you still have the re-directed aggression issue.
If you absolutely have to do this yourself, you grab the hind legs of one of the dogs, near where they meet the body and pull STRAIGHT UP. If you pull back, the dog can whip his head around and bite you. Straight up shocks the dog a bit and he can’t turn and bite you.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
That sounds like a really serious fight. Pitbulls are hard because they can be aggressive and they latch on when biting each other.
Don’t grab for their collars because you are putting your hand too close to their mouths. They’ll bite you without even noticing.
I agree that two people are better than one.
I’ve read that you should throw a coat over their heads and pull them back with that rather than grab for their collars. Also, I’ve heard about pulling them back by their hind legs.
I’ve noticed in our dog park that when trouble is brewing — not a full-fledged fight — people will use those ball-flinger things to poke a dog in the chest when it’s getting aggressive. Not to hurt it, just to get its attention away from the other dog. Then they separate them. Of course, when trouble like that is brewing, you should get them away from each other and also from a crowd of dogs. When dogs get crowded together like that, the tension level for all of them goes up. Prevention is a lot better than cure.