Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hope everyone had a good xmas! I just want to give a shout out to everyone to be very careful when you have other dogs around. I was bit before christmas day in the face which was totally my fault. Our family lab was growling at my DS and before I could do anything they went at it(playing). I got in the middle of it and my nose is torn pretty bad and yeah I think there will be a scar there. It's actually healing rather nice so we'll see. Human skin is so fragile compared to a dogs.. Koda was out of it the entire day.. putting his head on my knee he knew I was hurt.

Good news it's not as bad as I thought.. I could of lost the tip of my nose.

Got lots of scars myself---makes for great stories down the road. Hope you're better soon.

ek, hope it heals well. Just think of it as a battle scar, eventually I would brag about it lol

Glad you weren't more seriously injured...and that came a little too close to the eye, too! I must've missed something, though: you mentioned the lab growling and then the two of them playing...you got in the middle because...?

As for the healing and scaring, it's worth it to check out "Herbal Lodge" online and for a small price of $7.00, compared to the innumerable benefits of it, purchase a small tin of Nojmuk. It's full of anti-microbial herbs and takes care of a variety of things. You will not regret it. Nathan Wright is the owner and a medicine man. Knows his stuff. Everyone I've let try this salve ends up not being able to purchase some fast enough. I met him on my last trip to Tennessee (though he's from Minnestota) and his products are as real and awesome as he is.

Raven wrote:Glad you weren't more seriously injured...and that came a little too close to the eye, too! I must've missed something, though: you mentioned the lab growling and then the two of them playing...you got in the middle because...?

I have heard that you should NEVER try to break up a dog fight. But I just can't stand there and let it happen - and the majority of scars on my body prove that. I can rationally say its a bad idea, but I could never just let one occur.

Raven wrote:As for the healing and scaring, it's worth it to check out "Herbal Lodge" online and for a small price of $7.00, compared to the innumerable benefits of it, purchase a small tin of Nojmuk. It's full of anti-microbial herbs and takes care of a variety of things. You will not regret it. Nathan Wright is the owner and a medicine man. Knows his stuff. Everyone I've let try this salve ends up not being able to purchase some fast enough. I met him on my last trip to Tennessee (though he's from Minnestota) and his products are as real and awesome as he is.

Good info. Thank for sharing this!

No...I couldn't make out if the injury resulted from breaking up a fight ("growling") or overly rambunctious fun ("playing").

I knew a guy who used to break apart his GSDs with a high-pressure hose (gee, I don't have one in my living room????). Someone else advocates grabbing their back legs and pulling back, where of I see the value if one dog is being submissive in the fight and you go for the aggressor, but if it's two dogs going at it and one person...?

Koda loves ball and he brought the ball to me.. I went down to grab the ball and yeah. You can tell if a dog is fighting another dog because they thrash out and will make the other dog bleed. This is puppy play and a little bit of dominate behaviour. I guess I got something for christmas I didn't want haha.

Christie M wrote:I have heard that you should NEVER try to break up a dog fight. But I just can't stand there and let it happen - and the majority of scars on my body prove that. I can rationally say its a bad idea, but I could never just let one occur.

I have heard that too, but I obviously do not listen. My first line of defense works pretty well, most of the time. My motto is : "If you want to fight, fight ME" and most of my pack decline that offer. I offer my services loud and clear If there is just one of you breaking things up, it is not easy, I admit. My usual is to grab right behind the ears and hold/lift. But you will have to pick the most dominant one, and hope that the one getting beat up has the sense to get out of there when you create that break for them. I should not even post this, since it is one of the 'don't try this at home' tricks.

As far as bad bites to people: Remember that dog bites are very very nasty and biggest danger is infection. When that k9 turned on my husband a little over a year ago, the ER did not close the wounds (50 stitches) all the way, but left room for it to drain. I suggest anyone who gets bitten remembers that. (drainange, do not close it up) Also, if you are going to the Emergency Room, they will have to report it to the cops. No way around it. The offending dog has to have their rabies vaccination up to date. If not, the dog may very well (warning warning!) be put down, then tested for rabies. If it does not have it, you get the good news that your now dead dog was not infected. But he will be no less dead! If the dog does have proof of current vaccination, you may still have to quarantene the dog (at your cost) for 10 days, for observation and looking for signs of infection. Not a horror tale, just fact, so beware.

OUCH sorry about your bite!!! I also know never to get involved in a dog fight, BUT, like the others, I dont listen. My first instinct is to, in a deep loud growling voice say the dogs name, so far so good, then if that dosnt work, I go for the scruff and just grab it and rip the dog back. Luckily I havent had too many times where I have had to get involved though, good thing. A friend of a friend who trains pulls all four legs out from under the dog, she said that works.

I get behind my dog and wrap my arm around his waist/groin area and pull. Stops him immediately. Then he makes a submissive posture and looks up at me while I lecture him.

(He doesn't fight, per se, I would call it a very loud argument. He never starts anything, just wants the other dog to know that he's not a wuss.)

Breaking up fights is no fun, it's much better to do all you can to prevent them. I don't think you can effectively give advice on how to break up a fight it if you're alone, there are so many things you could do and all will depend on the situation, environment, and dogs involved. I think the "just let them figure it out" advice only applies if it's a small quarrel, a few growls exchanged, some posturing, maybe a few snaps (I don't even tolerate that nonsense in my house although some times if one of the dogs is being plain annoying sure I'm fine with the other dog giving them a piece of their mind as long as I know they aren't going to try to hurt the first dog), but not a full out fight where one or both dogs want to hurt the other. No chance in hell am I standing idle tapping my foot thinking "common, figure it out already", what with a calculator in hand tallying up how much each tear and bite is going to cost me at the ER vet? If I even have a dog left to save?

I've only had 2 situations in my house where serious fights occurred.

The first was in college before I ever thought about behavior work or training. I had a 6ish female GSD mix and then adopted a 2ish female chow mix. They were fine for about 6 months, then they wanted each other dead. I learned ALOT during that time and almost lost my thumb. I ultimately placed the chow. There really were no known stimulus and the figths were very serious.

Much, much later I happily had multiple dogs in and out of my care and did a ton of rescue. I got a rescue DS (well....he wasn't REALLY, but that's what he was sold as) and he was a 95 pound boy. I also had a 14 month intact male who was about 75. Everyone was fine and we all went for nightly walks to and in the pond. One day, they decided that they didn't like each other anymore and got into it. But it wasn't really serious and I was able to break them up. So I decided to not let them hang out together.

A month or more later, Ike and I came in from doing some narc work and Rocco (the big rescue) had broken out of his crate and was waiting at the door. That fight was NASTY! My only recourse (and what I swear by now) was looping a leash around Rocco and tying him to the door. Then looping a leash around Ike and choking him off. In reality I was choking both dogs out. Worked and Ike had a very swollen head. The 2 leash method just now seems like my go-to if I had to. They can't fight if they can't breathe and I have a physical way of keeping them (hopefully) from coming back at me.

Sorry - long, but kinda funny story. We were at training one day and an officer had his K9 in his cruiser, but left the window down....and Savvy could be a BITCH. I pulled Ike out to work and Savvy jumped out and immediately started posturing over him. He wasn't much for letting dogs have a chance any more, and they started to throw down. I was PISSED. Here I was, with 6 cops - all over 6 feet and huge - all with hands covering their faces in shock.

I grabbed Ike by his collar and flank (thank God that dog never dreamed of coming back at me), picked him up and threw him to the ground, pinning him. I back handed Savvy and just said, in my meanest big girl voice "Will someone grab this f--king dog before they get hurt." THAT broke the silence and a few guys came in to subdue the already subdued female.

One of the guys just sheepishly said "Um Matt? I don't want to fight with Christie. She just body slammed that dog."

I don't know if I could do it again. It was an adrenaline thing. But really? I was the only one with adrenaline at that moment????

Incidently, Ike wasn't traumatized by the body slam. He found all of his hides right after

And you weigh all of 10 pounds.

Raven wrote:And you weigh all of 10 pounds.

And you are my new best friend

That two leash method sounds like a great thing to keep in the memory banks...

leih merigian wrote:That two leash method sounds like a great thing to keep in the memory banks...

And slip the leash over what? I assume the head(s) are hardly still, going at the other dog with vigor?
With that being said: The scuff is on the neck too, and I manage to grab that anyway.