So my little pup got welcomed to the cruel world today at around 3.5 months. Asked my buddy if it was ok to bring the pup along to a cookout, otherwise it would have been almost 9 hours in the crate. He said sure... Well his brothers dog is apparently not good with other dogs. Before my pup or I even saw her, she was on his throat. It felt like close to a minute and in those endless seconds I contemplated grabbing my knife. Pup didn't stand a chance against a 9 yr old pit. He managed to only lose a chunk from his neck and a small gash on his shoulder. We washed it out and will take him to the vet on Monday. He seems ok. I got a handful of bites of my hand, sore now, but that is all. I really think the other dog could have done much worse to both of us, although it took 3 grown men to get her off my dog. So... Educate me, how do you break up a dog fight? I see all these articles about warning signs and blah, blah, blah... I'm talking pressure points, get the aggressor on the ground type stuff. Phew, that was rough for my kid to see.
I think a knife in the back of the neck would have been justified. If you dont have a weapon I would get behind it and go for the eyes and throat or the nose.
There's no good way to break up a dog fight. I know many people that have been severely bitten while breaking up two dogs that are going at it. If the two dogs are similar in size, sometimes it's better to let them sort it out, rather than risk severe injuries to yourself. In your case, you had to do something. You showed better restraint that I would have. I have little tolerance for unprovoked aggression of any sort in dogs. I'm pretty sure my knife would have been out. To answer your question, I've heard that throwing a blanket over the dogs helps. I've also heard that spraying them directly in the face with a hose helps. Never had the chance to try either. I'm usually looking for the nearest 2x4.
That's all the info, break it up from the outside, plan your moves with another..... Pup had no hope but for help, blindsided aggression. Literally searched 30 minutes and still coming up empty.
You did much better than I would have. My pup is almost 5 months (although he is over 50 lbs and could prob hold his own now) and I would have likely flipped on the owner of the other dog, or the dog itself. I've raised every dog to respect other animals. We have 3 cats and another dog (17 yr old mutt) besides Timber. They all get along. I always welcome other peoples dogs. They need to be introduced first.. Keep them on a leash for several minutes. They smell themselves, then play all day..
When one dog goes after another, esp. a pup, it put down time. The owner of that dog should never allow that dog near anyone or other dog ever again. small wonder why pitts have such a bad rep. I have seen a lot of pitts, none ever bothered me. But once a dog become aggressive and without being provoked, it is doubtful that it can be ever trusted. My daughter brought home a shelter dog who bit my grandson the first night. He had to go for stiches. No stranger could go near him. We couldn't trust him ever. He bit my daughter twice in the face. after 6 months, she retuned the animal. She brought home another who has turned out to be a sweetheart.
Thats very true and all to often ignored. I screwed up myself a couple months ago and took my dog over to play at my father in laws. He has two great danes that my dogs used to go over and play with all the time but life got in the way we havent taken our dogs over for a while well a couple months ago I went over there to look in on his dogs while they were out of town and decided to take our lab with me I let them sniff each other through the fence and his dogs went nuts on her so I decided it was best to leave her outside the fence but she slipped past me and ran into the two beasts who promptly set about to destroy her. They both went after her and had her cornered the only thing I could think to do was start swinging and they both got punched in the face and neck I got them to back off got my dog out of the fence and then went back to take care of the danes. I was really surprised by their actions as they used to play with her and be friends I didnt realize how un socialized they had become.
Man, thats terrible... sorry to hear that. Next time, grab the dogs balls and squeeze. The blanked or hose idea sounds good. Hope the owner has liability insurance. I had to with my rottweiler, years and years ago, when I rented. He may have chewed concrete, but never hurt a fly.
Simplist thing to do is choke out the aggressor. If you cut his air off completely, he goes limp. End of aggression.
The aggressor was female. It seemed futile to punch such a strong dog. From the angle I had, I finally gave in and ripped the dogs jaws off mine's neck. All my instincts told me not to do that, but it ended up working. Yeah I have some bite marks, but they are minor. Crazy, I raise my dogs to get along with everything. Actually asked some friends to bring their dogs over to socialize this one young. Some people are just bad owners. No formal introductions would have mattered. I just hope my pup doesn't let this affect him. So far he is still great with people and wanted to play with 2 other dogs he just met yesterday.
Taking preventative measures to avoid the confrontation can go a long way. Keeping your pup on a lead when gong into an unknown environment until you deem it safe may make the difference. Think ahead and prepare for the worst. Unfortunately there are many ignorant people out there with aggressive dogs that are either too lazy or too ignorant to take measures that keep their dogs in check. Its a shame, you shouldn't have to worry about taking your pup to a cookout but with ignorant dog owners out there you may have to. It doesn't sound like it would have helped in this case but learning those body language and posture signs of fear and aggression in a dog may help stop an incident before it starts in the future. Perfect solution would be to train the ignorant irresponsible dog owners.
Was thinking as I read this that Maine's ins folks say most homeowner's ins will not cover you if you have a large dog. There have been so many large dog problems, the ins companies won't take the risk. Good grief. Once in a while we have a loose big dog roam onto our property. Not good. Wild animals are enough to have to be on alert for. I agree with Larry, any dog that attacks unprovoked can't be trusted afterward. I always make sure Giz and my son's 2 huskies get re-aquainted with a sniff fest before they start thrashin. Sorry your little one had to see the puppy in this kind of a deal cnice. Glad the pup was OK. Things like this happen so fast a hose wouldn't be quick enough, but I'd bet it would work.
Pits are great dogs and well behaved. It is a falsehood that they are mean by nature... Most dogs turn mean or are mean based on the owners or previous owners. We had lots of dogs as did out neighbors growing up and I will say the only breed who is mean by nature is chows. They can be very vicious but that is usually do to over protection of something or someone. The reality is it's very very hard to stop a dog fight once it gets going and it's usually best to stand back or grab a 2*4.. The best thing to do is slowly introduce dogs by letting them sniff each other you will know right away if they will get a long well or not by their reaction however small it is.
I agree with what you said for the most part. However, some of them ARE naturally aggressive. We can't forget that they're a member of the terrier family. Terriers were created and bred with one thing in mind...to fight and kill things, usually smaller than them. All members of the terrier family can be aggressive. Unfortunately, pits get the worst reputation because of their size and their history of dog fighting. Most pits that I come across are great dogs. There are just a few that have such a killer instinct for things that are smaller than them.
My daughters have had instances like that at the local dog park. Now one of them brings their two dogs over here to run around with my two. They get along very well. The play chase until it is time to go home. It gets the restlessness out of my daughters dogs, and my dogs just sleep after. My cats like that and come out more when the dog are too tired to move. We are at the end of a dead end road so no traffic here.
To be clear, this was never intended to be a pit bashing thread. I mentioned the other breed to paint a picture of the hopelessness a 3.5 month old mutt lab blindsided by a mature strong dog. No puppy stood a chance, not many older larger dogs would have either in that situation. There was no squaring off, it was on his face/neck before I turned around to realize what was going on. This is about the owner and not the breed. More to the point, this was about what could be done not in prevention but in first response. Hoses and 2by's withstanding, I always have my limbs, bare hands and feet with me to respond. Thanks as always FHC. At a minimum, I see my instincts are in line with many here.
Why in the world do people still own "pets" like that?? They are only a liability. My Dad always said not to train your dog to be mean. It should bark to alert you and then you take care of the problem (if there is one...seeing a puppy is NOT a problem). As far as how do you stop an attack like that, I can only say that there is a guy in town that was beating a pit with a chunk of 2 by 4 in order for it to stop an attack...it wouldn't stop. There were two Pits involved.
