Disappointed....... dog fought with his best friend tonight.

[scorcher]

And he's still in the doghouse (so to speak) because I just cant forgive him yet!

My dog Barney ( 10 this week),73 kgs of Mastiff X Rottie. Has been very placid and submissive all his life,(Loves dogs,cats and kids etc) but tonight had his best friend Roman (a Golden Retriever)hold by his neck, shaking him after he tried to get a tennis ball off him. These two dogs have been having their morning and evening walks together for 5 + years now, and usually play and tussle together, knocking each other over and play fighting all the time like a pair of sparring partners. Tonight was different though. Barney had two balls between his feet, laid down, and Roman had two balls he was playing with/retrieving. Roman decided he wanted Barney's ball so swept in to pinch one. Normally Barney would just grab it or Roman would pinch it and run away all gleefully. Roman managed to grab one and Barney leapt up and grabbed him hold by the neck , so Roman attacked back trying to protect himself. Shouted at him twice , then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him off. Shouted at him and he stayed at least 10 ft away and laid down as commanded. Roman not hurt and just interested in the balls. Quick marched him home (he hasn't been on a lead for about 9 years now)and he was walking about 3 ft ahead of me with his head and ears down.( normally behind doing 1 mph!)Told him to lie down out of sight once home and I've been ignoring him since about 5pm.
Tomorrow he'll be on his lead with restrictive play and pleasure. Do I forgive him tonight? His ears go down every time I walk by.
And there won't be any balls included in future meetings as I'm sure this is the only thing it was over. No Balls, No conflict.

[Jasandjules]

This is always a tricky one for me. I read so often that dogs instantly forget etc and so he is "guilty" simply because he senses you are angry with him.

Was the other dog injured? And I mean puncture wounds needing stitching up?

[scorcher]

No injuries. Looked worse than what it was. They'll be seeing each other again at 0645 in the morning.

[Perec]

Jasandjules said:

This is always a tricky one for me. I read so often that dogs instantly forget etc and so he is "guilty" simply because he senses you are angry with him.

No, dog's know when they've done wrong and I suspect they retain that knowledge for quite some time. Our dog for example: If he's been in the bin or managed to gain access to the kitchen and steal food he won't come and greet us when we get home, he'll remain in his bed peering out from its location under the stairs. Sometimes he'll then make a move for the lounge in what we call stealth dog mode, i.e. keeping himself low to the floor, this is before we've found out what he's been up to or had the opportunity to be angry. So he knows he has done wrong and remembers as much.

[Lunablack]

We have 4 small dogs, 3 male and one female..... They get on great 99% of the time, but 2 of the males will get into it now and then....It's mostly bluff and bluster, a lot of noise, and fronting up, but it has on occasion led to a full on fight...2 minutes after they're sleeping in the same bed...

The one thing we've realised is that there are always 2 elements that trigger this behaviour..

1. Excitement.... It can happen during play, or if someone knocks on the door, and one dog gets over excited..
2. Possessiveness, over toys or food...

Fights or fronting up, has never happened even once without one of the above in the frame...

[Jasandjules]

scorcher said:

No injuries. Looked worse than what it was. They'll be seeing each other again at 0645 in the morning.

Then it wasn't meant as all out aggression IMHO.

Dog attacks like that tend to be a lot of noise etc.

[pikeyboy]

My bedlington has started saving its food to try and entice my youngest pointer into trying to eat it. Bedlington then trys to bite the face of my pointer with much noise and gusto.

[Sexual Chocolate]

Dogs fighting is completely different to what I suspect this is which was a show of dominance. Its a merely handbags at tennis ball o'clock.

Tennis balls. The cause of and solution to a lot of dog issues!

We took all the toys off our 2 mainly to help with the gun dog training of the spaniel and maybe down to either one of them showing no interest in a toy till the other one had it.

[DannyScene]

At the stables we have an adult female GSD 2 of her pups who are now 3 and 3 patterdales (I think, don't bother with the small dogs)

They usually get on fine until one of the scrawny things started chasing the adult GSD's tail and trying to wind her up(we're not sure why she was doing it but the GSD was pregnant at the time) this resulted in the GSD grabbing the scrawny one by the head, actually sinking her teeth shallowly into her skull and threw her a good 5-10 metres down the yard, needless to say the scrawny thing is a lot more relaxed nowadays and they all get along fine again

I have to say seeing the little dog fly through the air was hilarious until we discovered the extent of the injuries