How scary I have only one dog, and not many experiences of dogs fights, certainly not with dogs I knew so cannot advise but wish you all the best with your situation.

Jin was once bowled over by a GSD which seemed intent (ears back, proper gallop on....) so I charged over (Jin was running for her life screaming) shouting loudly.... thankfully I got there just as the GDS tripped Jins back leg (thank god she ran TOWARDs me) and I bashed right into the dog pushing it over and off. I was so pumped up and furious that my strength came from nowhere. I didnt even think. The owner didnt think alot to the attack or me bashing about her dog but I could just SEE the intent on the other dog. Unfortunately, Jinty did not know that the loud noise and aggression from me was NOT targeted at her and even now she will cringe if I make an angry noise.

I would do it again though. It may have tainted my relationship with Jin for a while but at least she is still alive! I dont know what would have happened......

Anyways, what I am trying to say is try and follow your instincts, try and open them up so you can sense any potential sparks before they fly..... x

(((((hugs))))) from here too. Not got any real advice as I feel others have said it already....re get Yogi X-rayed..and No you can not make them bessie mates.

Here Skye (for all her pinky girl, calm ways) is top dog when going out or when knocked into or herding the chucks (no-one can go near them when she is out there). Like Rune I already know this so she is the one I keep 'away'

When we go out the others get excited but Skye gets put into the car first, as she isn't on a lead/harness and will insist in interfering when Im getting their harnesses on, this causes Tess to get agitated and although they have never had a squabble between them, by letting Skye go out with Pat and sit in the car waiting it brings Tess's excitement levels right down
Same when Skye deals with the chucks, Bruce Tess and Mojo must stay 'away'

Funnily enough the only time I have seen Skye 'have a go' was when someone else's dog ran into her and she came out fighting.....them Bruce and Tess joined in But ''LEAVE IT'' worked

Well you know I've been through this with the girls, but at least with H&S they are a size where I can wade in and split them (one reason why I'll only ever have dogs of a size I can 'manhandle').

But I think it would be good to get into a routine whereby when anything 'exciting' is likely to happen, Yogi & Zak are apart. So for example, when you are about to go for a walk, they both have different spots (inside or outside) which they have to go and sit on before the next stage.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if this has really got something to do with Yogi's current discomfort - Hoki is nearly always the one to start it in our house and often its when she fears she's going to get hurt. That's why we had such a problem when we had Tip - he was always so clumsy that Hoki was terrified of getting hurt, but wouldn't take it out on Tip, only on Stumpy.

I agree with this to some extent The possible problem is that if it keeps happening, you might well find that Zak isn't so willing to back down. This is what happened to Stumpy so that now if mine have a go, pulling one away is not enough as the other is still hell-bent on continuing.


But don't get too downhearted - I know its really frightening, more so because of the power of your Yogi and Zak, but you can learn to work on it (without it being too much hassle). I'm damn sure that if I can get Hoki and Stumpy living reasonably peacefully together, you'll be able to do the same with Yogi & Zak.

Kirsty, I am no expert but I have observed with our two (especially when they were younger) that when they get excited they do sometimes 'have a go' at one another. The only serious fight ours have had was when they came across a house with some chickens and (unusually for this country) it was well fenced so the dogs couldn't get to the chooks and they turned their excitement on each other

The other thing to note is that none of them had any injuries, this indicates to me that maybe the noise, the growling, and the general mayhem made it seem worse than it really was. Dogs have the ability to get their jaws across an arm or a leg but don't necessarily 'close' I speak from experience here as Barauska has twice had her jaws on me yet their was no broken skin only a bit of bruising.

I think if Zak and Yogi had really been intent on doing damage one of them would have 'closed' on the other and drawn blood.

But having said that I know how you must have felt, hope you've calmed down now

We know now that our Baruska was having stomach pains for a long time and that was why she was grumpy and would sometimes growl and snap at me, we've at last found a diet which doesn't upset her and she's been much better, if only she could have told us what the trouble was.

That sounds horrendous. I'm glad you all came through ok though even if it took yogi 4 hours to come round.

Almost a year ago now we had a major dog fight in the kennels at work. There are dividing doors between the kennels so that a kennel can be doubled in size when a big dog or a pair of dogs come in. Anyway in one kennel was a little 14 year old jack russell (although he didn't act his age). Due to some building work taking place a pair of dogs got moved next door to him. Within in moments of being in their room one of the pair forced the door off it's runner and just laid in to the jack russell! I was passing the kennels at the time having just fed the goats and I heard a right commotion. I rushed over to see what was going on in time see another staff member going in to the Jack russells room with a blanket. I thought I heard her shout the name of a cat and figured that the JRT had gotten hold of one of the cats some how. Imagine my surprise when I get in to the room to find a dog that to my knowledge was meant to be in a completely different kennel block pinning the JRT. By this point the two staff who had been present when it all kicked off had already tried dragging her off of the jack and in the process broken her collar. Unfortunately she had hold of the jack by his neck and when they lifted her he just got lifted with her. Anyway I grabbed the water bowl from the room and poured it over the aggressors head which momentarily caused her to let go of the jack. He retreated to his room and she was hauled off in to the corridor.
Anyway the worst thing was she's punctured his neck and this dog was terrible with vets. To the degree that he hds to be sedated to see one. He just wasn't handleable at all. Luckily we'd done a lot of work muzzle training him and although he was clearly still very shaken up, he would only let me near him at first, he let me put a muzzle on him. He kicked off something chronic when i picked him up to put him in the cat carrier to go to the vets but atleast he had a muzzle on so he was safe. Once at the vets they sedated him and checked him over. They found multiple puncture wounds that had to be stitched.
Needless to say we were all very shaken up and we are in the process of blocking up the dividing doors so that it can never happen again.

The reason I'm telling this story though is that after the fight the two staff members involved kicked themselves because they hadn't thought of the water bowl. One of them said she'd thought of water but couldn't think of anything except the hose which was outside. I pointed out to both of them repeatedly that in the heat of the moment they did what they thought was best. They were already in the middle off it before they even knew what was happening. For me, I was coming in to that kennel block expecting an animal to have hold of another animal, granted not quite the animals I was expecting but I'd have dealt with it the same way whether it had been to JRT attacking a cat or even two cats fighting with one another. In the brief period of time I had to get from the outside of the block to the inside I had made a plan in my head of what I was going to do. The most difficult thing when two animals are fighting is not to panic. Step back for a split second and think. It's better to go in with a plan. Easier said than done but it could be the difference between injury or no injury, whether to another animal or yourself.

I hope you find an answer as to what caused such an extreme reaction and I hope it's easy to solve.

How awful for you.

When mine get excited they often 'have a go' at each other(though not to the same extent) and I have found that if I shove a ball in their mouths it acts as a distraction (I don't play with them it's purely to focus their attention away from each other). May not work with yours but worth a thought maybe.

Sorry to hear this Kirsty, it is frightening when dogs 'go' even when it is only noise. My instant though was Yogi's ED esp as Zak bumped into him. Hopefully the vet will put more light on that. I haven't much experience with this, my boys have had the odd disagreement in the past but only split second squabble. Zephyr can be a grump but Zeus is very submissive to him so it never comes to anything. I think you need to be strong with Yogi though and let him know that it won't be tolerated. And always see the signs early so you can say 'hey, quit it' before it intensifies. I have to look out for it with ours and other dogs in public, and snap them out of it if they become too tense and stiff. But, in this case it sounds like it all happened very fast with no warning. Try not to worry too much though, dogs will be dogs and it looks worse to us than it is to them, as you say none of them were injured so prob a lot of noise, GSD's like to be dramatic don't they! xx

I very much agree

Deep breath, Kirsty - did anyone get damaged?

A tiny puncture wound can happen by accident when teeth are flying - I have had that happen between Merlin & Rue when they were first getting to know one another, I call then 'dents'. They still sometimes have a spat, but it's all noise and "handbags at dawn" - just a canine shouting match which looks and sounds scary, and is over very fast.

My first thought too, was Yogi's elbows probably making him feel grouchy - and possibly also aware that he can't run away from trouble as easily as he once could, so more likely to adopt a defensive posture.

Maybe just keep calmer dogs around Yogi if you can, or maybe one other dog at a time, if group situations can lead to something like this?

Poor you, I hope your stress levels are getting to normal
I know it can be scary when my two get into it, when mia is high she physically can't back down and I have to shut her in her crate to calm down
Does sound like the dogs were a bit high and a knock, possibly with some pain caused an overreaction

I wouldn't be racing to neuter anyone, especially as it sounds like zac was just fighting back
Hope all is calm now