Two Staffies

[enismirdal]

Today I had the entertainment of watching two staffies try to kill each other. The owner and his friends decided to take them off their leads on the Backs, and the dogs had a funny turn and attacked each other. There was much shouting and screaming of the F-work, the girls yelling, "They're going to kill each other!", the guy calling the dogs, "You f-ing idoits!" (which I'm sure did a whole load to calm them down, and a short burst of general pandemonium among the group.

Now, I may not be an expert in dog behaviour, but I was under the impression that when two dogs get crazy like that, yelling and screaming at them tends to excite them further.

I'm also not entirely sure that when two staffies are fighting, it's a good thing to let your small toddler-creatures wander close to have a look :S

Eventually he managed to get them to stop by effectively standing on their heads. They went back on their leads, and were checked over for injuries (I wasn't wearing my glasses, but I couldn't see any obvious blood.) The girls made a big fuss of the smaller of the two dogs.

OK, anyone know what the proper way to react is, when you have two dogs fighting? Do staffies in such a situation commonly fight to the point of death or serious injury?

Comments

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

You are right yelling and screaming will not help. Correct method if water is avaiable is to throw water over them which will momentarily stun them. Another good way if you are close enough and brave is grabbin the hind legs of said doggies and drag them apart.

And another way is to wach them on the head or the side, not to hurt them but once again to stun them.

And yes, staffies are one of the more aggressive breeds of dogs, sometimes used for dogfighting which is just nasty. Of course as wil all other things the training and upbringing of little staffies into big staffies will have a huge impact on their temper.

Then again my doggies has rarely fought :)

Uli

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Dogs that know each other typically only fight to figure out dominance within pack hierarchies. In such cases, it can be best just to let them be -- such fights are not that serious normally, and the dogs themselves are always happier once they know their place in the pack.

Some dogs though, I think, just have too much testosterone, and will attempt to kill and eat anything vaguely furry, given half a chance. In such cases, the only thing that can be done is for a human (their owner) to assert their pack dominance on the dog and just basically drag them off, making it quite clear that the dog is 'in the dog house' so to speak. Ultimately, with many male dogs, the only 'cure' for this tendency seems to be castration.

[girlofthemirror.livejournal.com]

Tis is true, makes the male dogs less aggressive, but as dogs produce both sets of hormones, spayed bitches can be rather nasty as well.