The Big Fight

Well today, the worst happened. As you all know we ha ve the 2 dogs (Polly, JRT, and Florrie Westie cross Dandie) anyway they get on great, and although Polly can be mardy she even gets on with my aunts elderly JRT, and most of the familes dogs etc. But anyway as you know a one of my other aunts has a Patterdale terrier. Well Barney is 5 months now, and rather rambuctious (sp?). Anyway Florrie is only 5 months and hasnt had a season yet, so i suppose but as Polly is 6, and unspeyed, booked in now BTW, she has the lets say lady smell.
And lets say BArney liked the smell, and decided to mount her, but she wasnt happy about being mounted, which you cant really blame her. So she growled, and then it happend 'BArney Lunged for her.
And i am telling you know we kept SBT's, Dobermans, Labs and i have never seen anything as bad as this. They were in really fight stands, both up on hind legs, mauling each other, we were all having dinner at the time, and we heard a yelp from the part of the garden that stretches round the side f the house, and i went into the lounbge, looked through the window and saw it.
when we got out side, they were both sought of in a frenzy, and wouldnt stop when we called them off. And as Polly did finnaly back down, and went to come to us, BArney went to go for her again, so it just so happens we have this big old shepherds croook, it was my grandfathers, anyway so using this i managed to stop there being more blood shed as they went to start again, i grabbed Poly by the only thing i could get, her tail and yanked her back, and Barney, may have got confused, but i doubt it, as i grabbed Polly out of the way, he lunged for me as i went to walk away, latching on to my hand. We managed to get him off, evebtually, and now difficult decisions will have to be made, he has done similar things b4, not too sure what can be done
Florrie was just watching in disbelief BTW.
So now Polly, has got a cut paw, now bandaged up, and a few bruises so to speak.
Barney was fine, but my hand is killing, it seems to be ok, but i am not sure, apart from a few cuts and bite marks, its mainly bruising, lucky it was my eft hand, so i cans till type
But now i think difficult decisions will have to be made, sureley my aunt wouldnt be stupid enough to trust him again. He bit me, and ok it may have been iun the mistake of the moment, but he hung on when his 'owners' called him off, and tried to physically move him.
So today has been very wild, but any ideas, on what to do with Barney?
Also polly doesnt seem to phased by it, she working dog, she has seen it all, but i am worried about that cut, we put the antispetic stuff off fthe vet on, that we allways have in the cupboard, and put a bandage on, bu i aint too sure?
Any advice helpful

you should never try and seperate a dog fight like how you did- this is why you got bit - are you suggesting that the dog concerned be destroyed because he bit you?

Why did the adults not deal with the situation instead of you?

If the dogs do not get on then keep them seperate - if you see a dog fighting like that again don't go in and handle the dogs

Well let me rephrase it Emm, i didnt try to seperate them whilst in amgor fight, they had seperated, just and Polyl was wlking off, when Barney went to go for her again, and she had her back turned, un aware.
Not that he should be PTS, i think the dog has underlying issues, he can be so unpredictable, he has done very similar things, he is a bit of a loose cannon, not too sure bout that one

he is only a puppy himself and his hormones are kicking in especially if Polly is due in season.

a dog trying to get to a bitch because he can sense her hormones is not unpredictable - maybe they should be kept apart when un supervised

Well from wot I am reading Polly is in season yes? If that's the case then the dogs should not have been left alone in the first place.

As Emm says never, ever try to intervene with fighting dogs

Nope, she wasnt in season, she went out of season about, let me think 3 or 4 weeks ago. I believe may have been a little sooner. I missed a big part out, as i was crossposting it, from another forum, and i didnt paste it properly, sorry on that one.
The dog is meant to be a Patterdale terrie,r but is much larger, looks abit like a Lab infact, he was from a local farm. Unknown history, last of litter, was told the mother was out working. He has very deep issues, he is way too nervy for a pup, and way too unpredictabel, for example.
Not soo long, he tried to hump, a friend of my aunts, and as she pushed him off, he started to snarl, and mouthed her hand.
Last week, when we went to visit them, he was asleep in the garden, and we went and were sitting outside, and he just jumped at me snarling.
I at first thought it was me, but he has done very similar things multiple times.
Anyway, as lonmg as Polly is ok, then that is all that matters, dont care bout the hand
best wishes

have the owners taken the dog to the vets to make sure there is no medical reasons causing this behaviour - if not then the dog sounds like he needs a training programme to help socialise and build his confidence and show him the desired behaviour

I'm no dog expert, far from it. But I've read up a lot on it (I know, text book cases) before deciding to get my pup and it sounds like the owners haven't taken the time out to socialise him properly.
When you say, he didn't let go even when his owners called him, has he actually been taught this, if they were shouting at him, it would have nerved him more and so he would have hung on.

I'm sorry, I know you obviously know more about dogs than I do, this being my first, but this is what I take from what I've read.

I think it's important that the owners get the dog socialised and basic trained (at least) and if he is known to be like this, why was he not muzzled in company?

It is clear that you shouldn't have separated the dogs like this, even though, as you say, it was more or less over but i would be interested to know what you did with the stick? Did you hit him? The separating them (especially with a stick) and the fact that it all sounded very chaotic and you were probably frenzied as well, and therefore not in full control, probably just added to the situation.
But you've done it, and I'm sure you'll learn from it. It's good that Polly doens't seem to be too hurt by the event, and I have to say, I admire your courage for saving your dog! I don't know what I'd have done as it would be very difficult to sit by and watch my dog fight.

I hope, a solution is found for Barney and that he can be socialised. If he's still only a pup, make sure that his owners get him to socialising/training classes asap. I would nag if I were you, or even offer to take him yourself!

Lottie

My only comment would be that I think if the dog has done this before or similar things then it should be in some sort of behaviour trainign type program and shouldnt have been left with the other dogs if its unpredicable as you say.

I dont beleive in putting a dog to slep without first trying other options. I would advise your anut to take the dog to vets initially to check for medical reasons as to this behaviour and then a behaviorist to try to sort it.
good luck
Dani