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Dogs randomly get into a fight?

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  busannie 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi guys, my dog has food aggression and is easily managed so as long as no food is around, he's fine with other dogs. I recently moved into a new house where there is another dog his age, but much more hyper. They play all day and get along great. But it's happened a few times now where they'll be playing and it turns into a fight. It just happened now where they were in the living room all waggly tails and tumbling, when they burst into a fight. I had to pull Pax by the legs and my roommate grabbed Huck by the collar and they took a breath and were fine. What could be sparking this behavior?? And what could we do to prevent it?
 
#2 ·
This would happen with a dog we had for 3 weeks and had to return. Basically sometimes this happens because one dog gets too rough or does something the other dog doesn't like, that dog tries to stop/correct it, the other dog doesn't take the correction, and starts to show some angry/aggressive response and then the other dog returns one...then a fight. All of this literally happens in a matter of seconds, so it can very well seem random or like someone just flipped a switch from play to fight. I would VERY closely monitor playtime between these dogs and not leave them alone together. And sometimes a fight here or there can break out when dogs are still getting used to each other.
 
#3 ·
I have a dog that is great with other dogs, but her and my roommates GSD get into fights because they're both high energy, and from what I can tell, normally one accidentally steps on the other wrong, or one is done and the other ignores that. Some dogs just clash when playing and it's hard to tell why.
 
#4 ·
My dog is a medium energy dog, while my roommate's dog is very high energy. My dog is also very respectful of boundaries, whereas the other one doesn't know the word boundary lol. I have a feeling it's a mixture between what you two said, a high energy dog and a misstep somewhere.
@ChessaQ have the fights gotten less frequent over time?
 
#5 ·
My dog is 30lbs, while my roommates is 70lbs, so we have to not allow wrestling anymore, because it's just too dangerous. The GSD bit me pretty bad(accidentally) the last time we had to break them up, and Echo got injured as well.

It sounds like the other dog in your case is probably not listening to your dogs boundaries. That's the trouble with my roommates dog, she's a bull in a china shop and when Echo is done playing, she just ignores it and keeps pushing and it explodes. If your dogs don't do any real damage and are similarly sized, I would imagine they might sort it out, but it's hard to tell. In my case it simply wasn't worth the risk.
 
#6 ·
my dog is 80lbs and hers is about 50lbs but almost the same height. Neither one had any injuries so I'm hoping maybe the other one will learn Paxs cues to stop eventually? I'll have to just watch them closer I suppose. Posted via Mobile Device
 
#7 ·
I had this problem shortly after I got Bus, after he and Annie started to be "friends". Their first meeting didn't go well due to my coworker not following directions and essentially facing them off- of course they wanted to brawl. When I reintroduced them, I impressed upon them to leave each other alone, and they were happily indifferent to each other for a good while (month or so?) before they decided they actually liked each other. When they first started engaging each other in physical play, it invariably ended in a tussle. Luckily Bus' teeth are more or less flat due to his tennis ball and rock fetching, as he's a good bit bigger than Annie.

I just managed them (either by preventing altogether or intervening when things started to simmer) to avoid the scenarios that would cause them to fight (rough play, play where one dog was looking less than enthused, any sort of tug or toy "sharing"), and they eventually (6 months or so later) developed a better understanding of each other's signals and earned more freedom. There were still some no go things like tug- Bus is a little bit insecure about his things around other dogs, and he takes that sort of intense eye contact and "fight" from another dog over a toy too seriously. They would frequently play "bitey face" without incident, and could play fetch together, though I tried to throw so as to keep them from arriving at the toy at the same time, or use multiple toys. These days Bus is too rough for Annie, but she'll play with him briefly on occasion, and if she corrects him, he backs off appropriately.

I would probably lean toward not letting them reach the point of fighting, as I prefer for my dogs not to practice that behavior because it can become more intense/easily triggered, particularly with same sex dogs. I probably err on the side of too cautious though, as I've also had a dog who thrived on creating conflict with other dogs and would cause serious injury, so prevention was key to preserving what dog interaction she could have- easier to prevent the fights than deal with the aftermath IME.

I know you were having issues with Pax RGing toward your roommates dog, and it's possible that that could play into the conflict, even though the RG of his food/your room has resolved- dogs can and will assign value to the most random things- locations, people, items, space, and it may not happen consistently (he may be ok with the other dog roughhousing near you unless the stars are aligned or dog is also doing ____). It may not be a factor, but it's worth watching out for. Bus will sometimes RG people slightly by getting between another dog and the person, then engaging the other dog in (sometimes rough) play until they back off. He's never entered the realm of aggression, but the fact that this is the ONLY time he plays with these dogs is telling. I don't make a big deal out of it as frequently the other dog is a willing participant, but don't let him do it ON me and often will make him get down or get on my other side so the other dog can get attention without him being obnoxious.

I would make it a point to closely watch their play and see if you can determine the trigger of the fights, so that you can manage accordingly to prevent them in the future. If you can identify it as only "X" scenario, that will allow you to give more freedom than if it's "sometimes when they play". In the meantime, make sure you are separating when you can't supervise, as you don't want them having a serious fight when no one is there to break them up.
 
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