Have tour dogs ever got into a tiff

[Jollymolly]

I cant figure it out but last night my dogs got into it. Very loud very scary to me but minimal damage.I ended out pouring water over them to stop. Today they are both kinda hiding keeping away from each other and from me. Im not sure what I am supposed to do.. I can tell you that this is something I have had go very dif in the past and scares the heck out of me. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Annette47]

Nothing as major as that. Last week Sassy and Cookie were playing and Sassy went for Cookie’s tail. Cookie, being in season, was a little sensitive about anyone going for her tail and read Sass the riot act. Fortunately, Sass just froze submissively like “I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry”. I had to tell Cookie “enough” and then they separated themselves for a couple hours but were fine after that.

I know you said Molly’s been having some pain - perhaps the other dog accidentally did something to hurt her and she snarked? Keep a close eye on them - you don’t want it to escalate. For now at least, I would keep them separated when you can’t keep an eye on them.

[ZoeysMommy]

Having multiple females, I always have to keep my eyes open and watch the warning signs. Its my corgi who is the snarky, dominant one and instigates the fights with my older lab who is typically very mellow but she is a bit snarky herself so no one is backing down in my house. I have never had any major injuries, just basically a lot of noise like you described

I don't leave the dogs unsupervised and I know my corgis triggers very well. If you can pinpoint the trigger, remove it whether it be a toy, bone, high value treat, food, etc.

I do not make a big deal about the fights after the fact, that seems to make things a bit more tense. I keep them separated for a few hours and everything goes back to normal

[Sue]

Yeah a couple of times. Mostly over food with my late Jessie, a resource guarder. Abby approached too closely before Jessie was finished (she was usually pretty good about the distance), and that triggered an attack. Strangely, my most mellow non guarding girl, Abby, almost went after Jessie over a frozen yogurt. But in that case, I happened to be nearby and saw Abby stiffening as Jessie walked by.

Sometimes, it can be just a look that sets it off, or a certain tail posture. We often miss it. If one of yours is in pain, then yes, that was possibly the trigger. Please protect the one that is hurting, and keep them separate for the time being.

[Jollymolly]

I think I am going to have the biggest issue with what happened. Im not feeling confident with my fur kids and fear has set in. I am a mess

[POPTOP]

So sorry this has happened. As best you can, you need to stay calm as the dogs will feed off of your emotions if you are keyed up.

[Maxx&Emma]

Definitely work on your fear/anxiety. That can really make the situation much worse. You have never mentioned a problem before so concentrate on that. This recent tiff sounds like a total fluke, let that help you cope.

I do agree it is very important to keep any that may not be feeling well/in pain protected. I have to do this with Maxx and Emma all the time. I know he would never hurt her on purpose but he is a big, clumsy, (sometimes crazy!), boy and he could easily hurt her and she would probably lash out before thinking. I do my best to make sure it never happens. Stay strong and keep positive, one mistake does not define the future dynamic of your pack.

[Georgia]

I'm so sorry this happened. We used to have a boxer bitch who truly lived up to the B word. Sometimes you could tell she was going to start something because of her posture and she would circle our other dog. If we saw it we could intervene. Other times the scuffles seemed to come out of nowhere. Lots of noise, teeth bared and spittle flying. Fortunately there was never blood. It was just very unnerving for the humans to witness. I hope you can figure out why this happened. Could it have something to do with Molly's injury/pain?

[windycanyon]

I've been extremely lucky here. Mine generally even allow their extended families in w/ new litters... though I play every new mom by ear. I leased one of Kiku's daughters this past winter for a litter and lo and behold, she picked who she allowed to visit w/ puppies and it wasn't the normal tried and true grammas who cleaned her butt as a puppy! They are all different, but again, I know I'm lucky not to have to deal w that so far in 25 yrs or so of labrador ownership. Anne