Is there a safe way to break up a dog fight?

Let’s face it, you can become a victim of a dog fight being a single dog parent out for a walk or in your own yard amongst your 20 dogs who on every other day of the year get along fine.  Dog parents just like any other parent may not think rationally when their baby is in harms way. Take a few minutes and read some helpful information on the safe way to break up a dog fight, and hopefully if your ever in the situation you will remember the correct way to handle the situation to avoid injury to yourself.

Dogs play with their mouths, so lets first rule out playing or a simple scuffle from our fight category.  If you have dogs who safely play, bite, and growl and never do any harm to one another, let the dogs be dogs. If your not sure if your dogs are  playing or actually fighting watch the dogs body language. Stiff rigid bodies are NOT the stance of a dog in play mode.  Keep in mind however, that if one dog is much larger then the other, this type of play should be broken up, because even if the larger dog does not mean to, he can easily injure the smaller. If you have a dog who is clearly an aggressor and a dog who is clearly a victim, intervention needs to be done to avoid serious injury or death. An indicator you have a problem is if the dog(s) are getting more riled up the longer the fight goes on rather then slowing down or  trying to walk away. If the dog involved has a history of violence or aggression, even simple play should be monitored and not allowed to escalate.

Your in the middle of a dog fight, and your first very wrong instinct is to try to pull the dogs mouth off the other dog. Please do not go for the head, you are directly in the danger zone. Most dog parents think , ” my dog would never hurt me”, but guess what dog mom/dad your dog is not thinking clearly right now and they can easily swing and grab onto you and inflict very serious injury not intended for you, but here nor there, you will be bit and you will get hurt. Redirected aggression, is like a reflex, and your  now the target.

The only safe place to be during a dog fight is far enough away that you are not in the bite zone. Keeping a safe distance and not being in mouth reach is your safety zone. All attempts to break up the fight  with little to no risk of harm need to be zone from this space. If your dogs are on leash you can stand at a safe distance and try to pull the dogs apart. This method leaves you very small windows to break the dogs apart. At some points in the attack the dogs will release their grip in attempts to get a better grip or bite and at this millisecond of time you would need to pull them hard and fast enough to create distance between the 2 dogs.Not all fights involve 2 leashed dogs, in many incidents the dogs may be off leash and you will not have this option.

Tools: unless you walk around with a backpack full of fight stopping goodies, you most likely cant reply on these options, however if you are in your own yard  a viable option is spraying the dogs with a water house, or blasting off an air horn. You can also spray your dog in the nose with citronella spray. These distractions may help you buy a few seconds while the dogs are confused or startled to end the war.

Moving onto slightly more dangerous solutions, you are now in the bite zone. Simply pulling on a leash is not an option, there either is no leash or its not doing a thing to create separation. Your next option is to place a large object in between the dogs, a sheet of cardboard,  plywood, a baby gate, lawn chair  a garbage pail lid , etc; you get the idea; may give you the break in contact you need to grab the dog by their hind legs, right under the hip, or the tail and  end the fight. Grabbing a male dog by his scrotum is also an option for a gaining control of the situation. There is a good chance of getting bit in this situation due to the lighting fast speed a dog can swing around and bite. Once you have the dog by their hind legs keep them in a wheel barrel stance and back them away from the other dog. You are limiting their” spin and bite” mobility if their balance is on the front half of their body while you wheel them away. Make sure to break visual contact between the dogs and quickly as possible and turn the dogs away from each other.

The most dangerous of all which should be avoided unless your dog is in a serious life threatening situation is to grab the collar. Your hand and most likely face are directly in the danger zone and your odds of being bit this close to the dogs mouths is more then likely. Twisting the collars will cut off air supply and eventually release the grip.  A bite stick can be inserted from the side of the dogs mouth between the jaws, and continually wedged until the attacker lets go.

The best way to break up a fight is to stop it before it starts by knowing your dogs body language, but if already underway try to remember your safest options to end it quickly and injury free!