A while ago I posted the below thread about all the dogs we had in the house: http://forums.bowhunting.com/water-cooler/56521-i-like-dogs-much-anyone-but-come.html Well, we finally got to return our daughter's dogs but we still have our son's labs, Jezebel and Isabel (we call them Dork Dog and Meth Lab) so now we have seven dogs in the house. Problem is, my two Great Pyrenees don't get along with my son's labs. We've had a few fights with some fairly sigificant wounds, but nothing too serious. Sometimes the labs start it. Sometimes my Pyrs start it. Well, last night we had an all-out battle royale. It started when Little Ann, our Redbone pup got shocked by the electric fence. When the dogs inside heard her yelping, they poured out through the dog door and ran headlong into Little Ann and the dogs outside. I was on the phone with my daughter and I ran to the door because I was afraid of what was going to happen, and I was right. I was just opening the door when all hell broke loose. As I opened the door I saw Max, the alpha male Pyr, attacking the black lab. I dropped my phone, hurdled two dogs and literally dove into Max. You need to understand that Max is 140 pounds of lean muscle. I was about to find out just how strong he is. The impact of my shoulder knocked him off of Jezebel and he went down for just an instant, but was back up and trying to get at her again. I held onto the skin on his neck with all the strength I had and tried to knock Jezebel away because, since she'd regained her footing she was bringing the fight to him. While this was going on, Roxy, our female Pyr had attacked Isabel, the yellow lab. My wife was fighting to separate them. Roxy weighs in around 75 to 80 pounds so she's a little easier to handle. She also kind of listens to what you say a little. My wife fared a little better than I did. At one point Max managed to break my grip and tried to get past me and at the dogs again, but I tackled him again and grabbed on with both hands - one on either side of his neck. I was holding on with all the strength I had and I was getting shaken and at one point almost dragged, but I held on. It was during this second round that my little 11 inch tall beagle, Elly May, must have decided that Max was attacking "her" human. Elly and I are very close. You should have seen that little beagle "come to my rescue". She lit into Max like she was a big dog. The problem is, that just made it worse for me. I somehow managed to push her away twice while still holding onto Max. Finally, after what seemed like about five minutes of this everyone started to calm down. Max finally eased up and I pushed him away, jumped to my feet, and stood my ground. He backed down and it was over. Luckily, no blood was drawn this time. I did managed to jam all the fingers on my right hand and scrape my knee, but that's not too bad. I suppose I should feel lucky that Max and Roxy won't bite their humans. I let Elly May sleep next to me all night last night. Well, she usually does anyway, but she earned some extra TLC last night. I can't believe she charged into that fight because she thought I was in trouble. What a dog, huh?
Have you tried a blanket? I have been in the middle of two horrific dog fights while working animal rescue including one where I was bit in the calf and another individual nearly had their thumb ripped off. That fight ended once we were able to cover the larger dog with a blanket. Generally we use water and blankets in our own home as we have two with a history of getting into fights and the blanket subdues them.
That sounds like a good idea, but I'd have to keep one handy in multiple locations. By the time I could go and get a blanket there's a good chance some serious damage would be done.
We have a blanket in the first floor bedroom/office, living room, family room and our bedroom. All other areas are open concept to areas we have blankets. The wife had a fight brewing while I was at work last week and threw one over the bastard before he kicked things off
Yes. This is actually a bit of a sore subject for me. This is his first deployment since getting married. They just had a baby last year and his wife wanted to spend the first half of the deployment at her parents house. Of course, my wife was all for bringing the dogs here for two reasons. First, they would have to make a trip to drop them off. Second, they'll have to make a trip here to pick them up when he gets back from deployment. Since they live in Idaho the visits are few and far between. This way she gets to see that new granddaughter. I didn't like this idea from the start, but the wife wanted them to come here so here we are.
Yeah, I would be a little pissed then too. If it were me I would tell his wife that you want to see the granddaughter soon and that she can take the dogs back with her, or I'd be finding them a new home very shortly. Then again, if they're aggressive I wouldn't want them around my grandchild. But, I'm not a crazy dog lover either.
Wow! I've often wondered about and hoped I'd never have to find out what it was like to have to jump into a melee like that. The most frightening dog fiasco I've had to jump in on was when my mom (old and fairly fragile) got some how tangled up in the collar of my sisters excited lab. My Mom's hand was being crushed and the dog was suffocating, and in it's panic was FREAKING out. It took me, my sister & BIL to pin the lab while I was able to reach in my pocket for a knife and cut the collar off without stabbing the dog or my Mom.
Believe me, I wish it were over. My son's wife is back home in Idaho now, but I wouldn't want her or my wife to try to make that trip in the winter. We checked into shipping them home via air, but they won't do that when the temperature is below a certain point. Shipping them with an animal transport is prohibitively expensive, so we are where we are.
Like I said, it's amazing how strong they are. A few years ago I was rigging some bass rods. I had leaned a newly spooled rod against the wall rigged with a Rat-L-Trap. Max decided to check it out, sniffed the lure and got two of the hooks on the front treble imbedded in his nose. We finally caught him and I was actually sitting on him with my full weight and my 20 year old son was trying to help hold him while I tried to cut the hook off the lure so he wouldn't get the other treble hook in his tongue. Every time I touched that hook Max actually managed to lift me off the floor a little. I'm not huge, but I weigh 200 pounds. When I think about it, there's no doubt in my mind that if he wanted to he could kill me without too much trouble, but he's a very good natured dog. These other two bone heads just either can't or won't learn to be submissive, which strikes me as strange considering they're both females.
Wow. I would so not tolerate dog fights like that. We had two labs, three weimaraners, a vizla and a an irish setter and never once had to break up a fight. If they started to attack each other, they'd be locked up, given away or shot. My love for dogs ends when they endanger people or livestock through repeated bad behavior. Be careful! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Sounds like that little fiasco got the blood pumping! My dog started to get testy with other dogs when he was about 2 years old, and it didn't seem scolding him or locking him up was working very well. Finally, I whopped him in the nose right when he started to growl, and I haven't had a problem since. He's actually kind of a pansy with other dogs now
First of all, I love that you named your little red bone, little ann. Where the red fern grows is my favorite book of all time. And second, that must have been really scary to jump in a fight like that. Someone just needs to put the other in its place Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Last year we had a family member come visit. My dog is an 80+ lb yellow lab, 3 years old. He brought his dog, a 70lb 6yr old boxer that's all muscle in the front. Both dogs are the only dogs in their households, both are males, both not fixed. There was some tension initially and a few small scuffles, but my dog was just roaming our yard as normal, for the most part just ignoring the visiting boxer. The boxer was really the agressor. So as my dog was roaming my yard, all of a sudden I see the boxer go shooting across the yard towards my lab- my lab was about to get blind sided on a full sprint!! So I took off on a sprint at the same time! the boxer slams into my dog and rolls my dog, well somehow my dog ends up on top, and starts to really let the boxer have it. I met the "dog pile" after a few seconds of my dog being on top, and I for the most part jumped into the pile, and tackled my dog, knocked him off the boxer and grabbed him and carried him off, while in the mean time the boxers owner leashed his. Not going to lie, I was kind of glad that my dog finally showed the boxer who was "boss". The boxer had been trouble all day long at that point. Neither dogs were seriously hurt, but both had cuts and were bleeding. The boxer got locked in the garage the rest of the time they were visiting. Only time my dog has ever gotten aggressive with another dog.
