boy oh boy....dog fight this a.m.

[myboys]

I still cannot get over what I witnessed this morning. After an hour of cuddling with me on the sunroom sofa and romping a little outside.....I went to my room to get dressed for work. Butch followed me in...followed by Sundance. I don't know what transpired in those seconds but the fur starting to fly. It got very very ugly with teeth bared and snarling and biting. They were banging into my bed and my bureau and I was on the other side. I used my "alpha" voice, threw a blanket at them...to no avail. It ended when it ended...Butch has a torn toenail. They were panting and huffing and I just took them outside. They have had occasional outbursts (only with each other...never with other dogs) but nothing was as bad as this morning. My DH says this has only occured when I am present. They both are possessive of me. Is that possible?
OMG...it was AWFUL AND DOWNRIGHT SCARY!!!!

[Boogie and Linda]

Dogfights can be very scary. Mine have had a few so I know. The best way to avoid a fight is to figure out what the cause is and then when you see that trigger separate them right away. Mine fight over food and pack order. I have to make sure that Teddie goes last on everything or else Fozzie will attack him. It sounds like maybe something that you inadvertently did may have triggered this fight.

[JasonandNat]

Yeah this kind sucks. We've been through it, been relatively calm the last few months since FengHuang put the fear of the gods into ShenLung for his unprovoked attack. He recieved quite a few stitches and staples as his lesson. Since then a few 'discussions' all short and to the point. Yesterday ShenLung decided to be jealous and got one good tooth into his sister before she went to full on grizzly, it was over in a minute. He had been acting a little too excited the last couple days, he's back to behaving today!

As mentioned, this is 'controllable' but you really have to get on it quick. In our case before FengHuang's mental switch flips, after that, "it's on!!!"

[dannyoconnor430]

Mine have done it a few times. General trigger is Max being a fool and over stepping the mark. In general I split them up quite easily (they wouldn't dare bite me) but they do get very very rough when they go. Mostly when it has happened, Holly has had a snap at Max for what I think is no reason, he then goes mental (but from day one Ive never let him bite anything so he just kind of goes ape with his front legs and makes bad noises lol), she makes no noise - straight for the side of the face. Never had much blood and not exactly regular. don't worry, just try not to favour one over the other is all.

[gebower]

Chows are a long ways from being sissies. They're built rugged and they play rough and fight rough. When my two get into it, I show them the flat of a broom to separate them, no hitting, just separating them, and push the flat of the broom towards the aggressive one and keep it up until they settle down and yelling NO. It works well for me. Thank God they don't go for each other's faces, leaving scars, my Chows are too good-looking to end up with scars on their faces. They usually go for the scruff on each other. I've heard of people BEATING the dogs with a broom, all that does is fire them up even more. Usually after they settle down though, I have to remove tuffs of hair from their mouths before they eat it and they will eat it if I don't get it out.
NEVER EVER put your arms or legs between Chows when they fighting because they're biting EVERYTHING in front of their faces at that time. Save yourself a trip to the ER. Max is 75 lbs. with big teeth and mouth to go with it. But, Zeena, his little sister, who is about 20 lbs. lighter than him, has razor-sharp fangs which I do not want to feel. The broom does not bleed, I do.

Gene.

[Victory]

Hmmm, if it's happening around you and not around your DH or when they are alone, it is a jealousy issue or you may be promoting the gamma over the beta unintentionally and this will cause issues. Watch them closely to see which one normally proceeds the other in/out of doors, which one gets up and moves when the other walks by, who begins to eat first, which one pushes to the front for attention first etc. These are all behaviors of the beta, (to your and your DH's alpha) and if you try to promote the other one, letting him into your room first etc, it will start a fight. Dogs don't do equality very well, one is the leader the other is the follower, and that's the way it's gonna be. We humans have to accept that our "favorite" may not be the beta, and then stand by the pack order to protect the gamma from getting hurt.

The other thing to do is really pay attention to body language, there are always warning signs, a lowered head, tail wagging differently or held rigidly still, ears and eyes very focused and intense, front legs held stiffly, when one of mine assumes any of these postures I immediately intervene, just a sharp call of their name is enough to distract them normally; Firesong is hyper and quick to take offense for any slight she thinks Dreamdancer has done, so I watch her more as she'll go after him for nothing and everything, (it's all his fault that she can't get to the squirrels and birds outside the window, you know) Keeping the peace is sometimes like being a bouncer in a bar.

[vicster605]

Well said Victory

[sue]

i think your answer is in the post you have written are they possessive of you yes,you gave love and affection for an hour then they know you had to get ready to go to work and leave them. what better way to stop mum from leaving us we know we will have a fight then she want go.chows are intelligent dogs they will work together to get what they want.i find this time around having twins i see vey clearly theres an extra kind of bond and connection between the pair of them.if the same thing happens again within the next few days i would suggest you change your routine ie close your bedroom door so they cant follow you in and when its time for you to leave only a quick cuddle for each before you go.if it still happens then i would suggest you take them for a good 1 hour walk before you get ready to leave they will then be too tired to cause a commotion before you leave.keep changeing things in your routine then it will be less likely that pattern of behavior will develop.

[Tippsy'smom]

I've only ever had full out brawls between Tippsy and Jasper, both of those were over food, and both times it was Jasper who jumped on Tippsy. Tippsy didn't sit well with him lunging at her and pinned him. She barely touched him and had him "screaming". Since these we've only ever had "discussions" between them. Jazz knows Tippsy is beta and I'm alpha and he doesn't question it anymore.