There’s no getting away from it, dog fights get the heart pumping! Luckily when my own dogs, Max and Ernie, had a very firm disagreement the other night, they did what most dogs do and chose to make a lot of noise rather than actually hurt each other.

Most dogs don’t want to actually hurt each other when they fight. They use body posture and vocalisations to get their point across, and in most cases de-escalate the situation.

Often dog fights sound a lot worse than they actually are.

Often things escalate when people intervene. We have the best of intentions to resolve the situation and prevent escalation. And if you have reason to believe the situation is likely to break out into a serious fight that might well be the best course of action. However, just like adding tension on the lead of a potentially reactive dog can tip their reaction over the edge, restraint during a disagreement at home can do the same.

As can shouting and screaming at them. This can just add fuel to the fire.

Not many of us spend most of our time with someone without falling out from time to time. Generally light disagreements from time to time are nothing to panic about.

Perhaps luckily, I had left the dogs in the lounge to go into the kitchen to fill their water bowl. Just as I’m turning with a full bowl of water I hear snarling and yapping from Ernie, immediately followed by growling and high pitched barking from Max.

There was no mistaking it, they were in the midst of a very heated debate. My heart rate instantly rocketed. Perhaps that’s just how it always feels to have two dogs you love getting into a fight, maybe it’s past memories of having two dogs that did fight and cause each other injury.

It felt like it went on for a while, but actually it was probably just 2-3 seconds.

When I came back into the room Ernie was looking sheepish and Max was walking away with the prize – a hoof.

My reading on what happened:

Max had been chewing the hoof initially, went for a drink and finished the water, hence me re-filling the bowl. Whilst Max was watching me fill the bowl Ernie decided to take his chance and make a grab for the hoof. Max realised what was going on when Ernie was close enough to the hoof to feel like it was now his, and Max disagreed.

Ernie snarled and yapped at Max and Max went to grab it back, an unconfident attempt at keeping the hoof. Max growled and high pitch barked, seemingly an upset and frustrated display of “but that was mine and I don’t want to give it up”. Ernie is no fighter; it wasn’t worth it to continue the disagreement. Avoiding conflict is more important to him than the hoof.

Yes!

As I said before, our human responses can frequently turn interactions sour more quickly because we try and interfere but end up doing so with tension. With dogs who are familiar and normally socialise well, they will most likely sort themselves out with their own inbuilt and learned communication skills.

I entered in a rush, tense and staring to see what the problem was, even this could have increased tension again. I don’t normally rush into rooms, looking directly at them and looking tense so even without me shouting, or approaching them I was conveying that something was still wrong.

Luckily Max and Ernie generally read each other well and have built up a good rhythm over the years. Generally Max “wins” because he is likely to feel more strongly about the toy/food than Ernie. However he does respect if Ernie definitely already has ownership of it.

Max has had some stomach related issues recently and I suspect that this means he places more value on food items, possibly has some conflict around eating, and may make him more irritable.

Ernie has had a bit of a cough so may have felt a bit under the weather.

They had both been in the car for an hour not long prior to this incident.

Any or all of these factors may have contributed to why they ended up having a more intense disagreement over this hoof then they might normally do.

Behaviour never happens in a vacuum! Something that is drilled into us in our education as dog behaviourists. It is always influenced by multiple factors, and these can be different on any different day.

But at the end of the day, it was over in seconds, and was all just communication. They were immediately fine with each other after that – dogs can be much better at moving on after these things than we are!

Personally I have learned that I can relax if the dogs squabble! (Whether I will or not next time remains to be seen – staying calm when there’s a potential for dog fights is easier said than done!)

I can trust that they are able to communicate themselves out of a difficult situation. And taking those few extra seconds to take a breath and walk into the room to assess the situation calmly isn’t going to do anyone any harm.

If ever they have a fight that goes on longer without signs that they are working things out then the calmer I am, the more easily I could intervene without causing more chaos anyway. Slowly moving a visual barrier between them could be a good solution in this scenario.

I hope that the boys have learned that they can also feel confident in sorting out conflict without injury. Both walked away and their non-injurious behaviour was successful in de-escalating the situation. Great!

If things had escalated further, or this kept happening, then I would perhaps learn not to give them long lasting/high value chews without a barrier between them. Or only under strict supervision with one chew each. And I would get them checked out further with their vet to make sure they were healthy, and look into anything remotely suspicious on this front. Also I’d look at general stress levels and where trigger stacking fits into the pattern.

All of these things could be reasonable next steps when you’re facing dog fights.

For now I’m doing nothing, because it seems like a one-off event. Usually “the look” is more than enough for the other to realise they’re pushing their luck.

• Understanding trigger stacking and your training
• How to create a safe space for dogs
• How to introduce a new dog to your resident dog