These dogs are playing

Play mimics fighting.

Playing can shift into a fight. Understand your dog’s play style and how to avoid fights.

Dog fights are risky. If you’ve never had one, you don’t want to.

It is far easier to prevent them than to break them.

Break A Fight

Prior to a Grip

If the dogs do not yet have a hold on you, you may be able to break the fight with other methods. A bucket of cold water, a water hose, or putting a barrier between the two dogs. Such as a baby gate, may be enough to stop them. Take care not to put your hands near the dogs’ mouths.

Attempting to separate the dogs in a dog fight by pulling them apart will result in tearing and extensive damage.

A break stick should be used if one of the dogs has a grip. It is easier to break up a fight with two people, but if you have no other choice, you can do it by yourself. If you are alone and both dogs are fighting, you may need to restrain one of them tying one to a solid object. When one of the dogs is tied, you must “break” the other dog and immediately pull him/her off.

Follow these 4 steps

Stay calm – I know it’s nearly impossible, but screaming doesn’t help.

Approach the dogs, straddle one with a hold, and then wrap your legs around the dog’s hips just in front of the hindquarters. Make sure your legs are securely wrapped around the dog. With your break stick in one hand, grab your dog’s collar firmly and pull upward slightly with your free hand. (This is a good reason to keep collars on your dogs at all times.)

Insert your breaking stick behind the molars where the gap is. If the gap is small, you may need to work the stick in slightly. The stick should be inserted into the dog’s mouth between 1/2 and 1-1/2 inches.

Turn the stick in the same way you would a motorcycle throttle. This causes the dog to re-adjust its grip and bite onto the stick, releasing the other dog. If both dogs have a hold on you, you’ll have to separate the second dog from the first.

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