If you’ve ever seen a dog fight in person, it can be very scary, especially if your dog is involved. They are noisy, fast and can be dangerous to any person that tries to intervene. Dog fights can start over a toy, bowl, boundaries or even a person. The good news is that much of the time, there is more posturing and bluster than any real intent to do harm. In fact, they often end before you have a chance to take action.
If you do ever have to take action, however, here’s how to safely break up a dog fight:
A Note About Dog Fights
There is a little secret about dogs and their desire to disagree: dogs don’t go around looking for fights, though it might feel that way if you have a dog that doesn’t get along well with other dogs. Dogs communicate with one another using canine body language, and it is often in an effort to avoid conflict rather than create it. In fact, most conflicts between dogs are negotiated one way or the other while the dogs are still many feet apart and before we even think they notice one another.
That said, miscommunication can happen between dogs just like it does with humans. One dog might be saying one thing while the other misinterprets it, gets nervous or just doesn’t have good social manners, and that is when either or both dogs might buoy themselves up to defend their position.
How to Break Up a Dog Fight
Whatever the reason for the fight to start, it’s important to have a plan of action for these kinds of emergencies. Unfortunately, there isn’t a cookie cutter plan to break up a dog fight, but there are things to try and things to avoid. Dog fights are dangerous and getting involved can be as well. Even your own dog can redirect a bite on to you in the heat of the moment.
If you have to break up a dog fight, here are some things to try:
- Use water: A hose is best (but a bucket or large cup might suffice) and spray the dogs to surprise them.
- Put something in the middle: If there’s a broom handle, baby gate or stick nearby, put it between the dogs to disengage and then separate them.
- Throw a blanket or towel over them: Some dogs will get disoriented enough to take a break in fighting to get their bearings back.
- Surprise them with sound: Got an air horn? Try it. Or bang two metal bowls or pots together. Some dogs can be surprised enough by a sharp noise to stop fighting for a moment.
- Try the wheelbarrow technique: Grab the aggressor (this won’t work if you grab the victim because it renders them defenseless) by the hind legs like they are a wheelbarrow. It’s even better to grab both dogs in this manner, but when you are by yourself, you have to determine who to disable. This technique disrupts their balance by putting their weight on the front legs, and it’s not easy to fight from that position. When you get them apart, isolate them from each other as much as possible.
Whatever you do, don’t do these things:
- Get in between the two fighting dogs with your body.
- Grab the dogs’ collars or reach your hands in the middle of them.
- Grab their tails to pull them out.
- Get your face near the fight.
All of these behaviors increase the risk of you getting bitten by one or both of the dogs.
The best tactic is to prevent dogfights by learning about dog body language and pay attention when you are out in public with your dog either on a walk, at an event or at a dog park.
A version of this post was originally published on AnimalSense blog.