Dog fights...Part I

[Bailey Guns]

I love my dogs like I love my kids.

But having 6 Jack Russell Terriers can sometimes pose a real problem.

We have two wannabe alpha females that will occasionally tangle. Say what you will about little dogs but if you know JRTs you know they're like little yard sharks. And they don't feel pain when the fighting starts.

I came home from breakfast this morning and my wife was sitting on the floor in front of the door holding the youngest and largest female terrier, Lola. She asked me to take Lola and said she'd fallen while keeping Lola and Nadia separated after some posturing by the both of them. She'd hurt her leg and was having difficulty getting up by herself. (Just stretched some muscles/tendons that probably haven't been stretched for a while)

I took Lola, separated the two females and helped the wife up from the floor. Like a flash of white, furry lightning Nadia appeared out of nowhere and latched on to the left side of Lola's face like a sharp-toothed tick. Nadia is older and slightly smaller than Lola and usually comes up on the short end of the stick with their fights. In the brief moment before she blindsided Lola I could see a look in her eyes that said, "Time for a little payback, bitch!" Game on!

Like a dumbass, I tried separating the two of them. Big mistake but it's sometimes hard to fight instinct and these guys can cause a lot of damage to each other in a short amount of time. As a matter of fact, turns out they can cause a lot of damage to me in a short amount of time, too!

Well...I got them separated. Unfortunately, both my hands look like they've been through a Cuisinart food processor. At least four bites on my right arm from the upper wrist down to my fingers. The left hand is even worse. 5 or 6 bites on the back of my hand and wrist. Needless to say, it's somewhat painful. I know I'll need antibiotics but I guess doctors don't work on Sunday. I don't think I need to go the emergency room...no stitches, just a lot of punctures. All the fingers and such work like they're supposed to so I don't think there's any nerve or tendon damage. Wife's a nurse so we cleaned them pretty good. I'm sure I'll live til morning. Just a heads up, though...if I don't make it the wife is gonna have lots of nice guns to sell so keep your eyes on the "For Sale" forums!

The good news is, the dogs seem to be the only one's in this thing that didn't get bitten.

[Troublco]

Sounds more like a cat fight! You know, you could just stick your hands into a blender and not worry about having to clean the wounds quite so much.

We'll keep our eyes on the "For Sale" area............

Hope you heal quick!

[Graves]

I hope you get rid of those bishes. No need to wait til the wife gets hurt again.

[68Charger]

we had a pair of St. Bernards that would go at it.. combined weight over 300Lbs...

what's funny is we discovered the secret to stopping them from fighting... we leave the room... they were posturing to impress the alphas (us- you should always be the alphas), so as soon as we left the room, they had no reason to fight anymore..

I'm not saying it would help in your situation, but it's probably worth a try rather than getting in the middle of it.. We've adopted several dogs with aggression problems... you've got to find the trigger, and address that- just admonishing the behavior doesn't always work..

also, if you do got the ER, they're going to want you to fill out paperwork about the dog(s) that bit you, and animal control will investigate...

[Bailey Guns]

The situation rarely escalates beyond the posturing. It never happens when I'm home. But sometimes during the excitement of me coming home, they get all freaky. That's when the problems start and even then it's pretty rare.

The bad behavior only happens when the wife is alone with them so I know what you're saying about the posturing for the pack leader.

We've got the dynamics pretty well figured out...sometimes you miss a clue, though, and can't stop the problem before it gets outta hand.

ETA: The animal control thing isn't an issue. They're all friends as are all the local deputies.

[sniper7]

you should post some pictures of your hands. hopefully you are alright and the bites got cleaned up quick and dont get infected.

[Graves]

Yeah, dog bites suck. I had to backhand the neighbors dog when he lunged at my puppy (@ the time). I hit him right in the tooth and took a real nice hole in the back of my hand, I ran in to flush it right away but I guess it wasn't enough. There were nights when I'd wake from a deep sleep to my whole arm in throbbing with pain - I have pretty high tolerence for pain and HOLLY CRAP!! I was too stubborn to get it looked at so this went on for about a week.

[Bailey Guns]

I don't usually worry about infection from minor wounds. But, I'm gonna head to the doc's tomorrow and get some antibiotics. This one will probably get infected if I don't.

I can't take a picture with my left hand (of my right arm) but here's the left hand. Best I can tell there are 5 separate bites:

[Ah Pook]

A couple of my customers are roommates. Both have large (husky) dogs. Both dogs are uber dominant and have to be kept kenneled, letting one out at a time.

A couple of months ago both dogs got out at the same time. I took four big guys to part the two dogs. Two dogs went to the vet and two guys went to the hospital. All four looked like they were in a bad bar fight.