Zena had a big ruck tonight, I'm shocked!

Some neighbours up the road have got this new little black scruff bag terrier type cross, sweet little thing, and everytime it's walked past our front fencing, both my dogs have gone absolutely hurfing out there trying to get at it under the solid gate, especially Zena, and this has never happened before, a lot of dogs walk past and they take no notice, but this one is different.

Anyways, the other night I was up on the green with Zena and saw the lady coming with her two (one of which is this new rescue), and I called out to her, whether I should put Zena on a lead or what, and she yelled back to just leave it and see how it goes and we will step in if anything happened. Anyways, as they got near, this little doglet had the exact same ball as Zena, a bright yellow hard rubber one, and they played together by running after their own balls, even though they were identical, there were no arguments, all was well.

Tonight, the husband came up with the two dogs. I was in the middle of the green playing with Zena and her ball (that yellow one again!). He threw the new little dog's ball over in our direction with his launcher, and as the little doggy game hurfing over to us, Zena ran towards it, probably to say hello, and all of a sudden as they met, all hell broke loose, and Zena was on top of this dog as it was snapping and snarling underneath her, it was quite a brawl, so I yelled at Zena to "leave" and ran over, grabbed her collar and pulled her off! I was gobsmacked that Zena had it in her

Neither the guy nor myself could understand all this since the other night they had been playing together fine.BUT, on thinking about it, I reckon, as that little dog came over, it must have seen that bright yellow ball in Zena's mouth, and today it had an orange tennis ball (for the thrower he had), and I think, that little dog must have thought to itself "she's got my ball that dad just threw for ME"???!! That's my theory anyways, coz otherwise I just can't work it out? We walked on, and I threw Zena's ball, he threw his dog's ball from the launcher and although Zena ran ahead of his little girl, she left her orange ball but they were very close and never argued or fought again, she came back to me with her own ball still in her mouth, even though she had dropped it to pick up the orange one, but heard my "leave it" or decided upon herself it wasn't worth the hassle of picking up the orange one and all was well. I told him what I thought the problem had been, and I'm hoping I'm right, but I was totally shocked that Zena had it in her to fight like that Then again, that other dog WAS coming hurfing over to HER and suddenly launched itself at her, so I suppose she had little choice but to flatten it! Blimey, she could have eaten it for dinner, but thankfully, not a mark on either of them, but a LOT of contact and noise!!

I think dogs know best in sorting themselves out quite honestly, coz the way they were after this little ruck only proved that to me. They had sorted it and were happy to run along together after that. I'm sure I'm right though, it was that yellow ball! Phew! Quite scarey. Thank goodness Georgie wasn't with me coz he might have stepped in, but then again...... Anything for the quiet life old Georgie!!!

that must have been quite a fright and not nice to see! glad they were both ok though.

i agree about the ball theory, sounds weird since they were fine the other night. but who knows lol, at least it ended well.

i think dogs are good at telling each othe off, as long as it doesnt get too aggressive or to actually biting. jake gets told off sometimes for being so exhuberent (sp?) but it never turns into anything, thankfully lol.

Sounds like what Kismet does.. Loads of noise and terrible fury, but no one hurt, or at least not hurt badly... But scary as hell!

Like Zena though, Kismet doesn't seem to hold a grudge.. except for 'nemesis dog'.. a little black scruffy terrier funnily enough.. if they see each other, even across the field, they both start straining at their leashes and screaming at each other.. We don't know what set them off, but whatever it is, neither of them will forgive the other....

I guess balls and a dog hurling towards Zena may have set her off, never an nice thing to happen, hopefully it is sorted and they can get on with playing nicely.

wow that must have been scary! i'm glad they sorted it out and i think you and the other owner acted extremely responsibly which enabled them too.

The only serious fight Daisy`s has was with another bitch (one she knew well) over a ball. We don`t walk them together any more, but because the owner is wary, not because the dogs look likely to start one again.
Luckily dogs don`t bear grudges. It is a shock when it happens though - particularly with bitches as they won`t back down easily.
I hope everyone`s OK now.

One of mine does.

Sorry to hear of your ordeal. It must've been quite scary. I am glad noone was injured and that they are friends again now xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I think you're right H and also we must remember that dogs do not see colours the way we do, I can't remember the details but maybe the yellow and orange colours look the same to them.

As for Zena, well I think she's a bit like our Rianna and it is a bit of a shock to see that they can be aggressive when the occassion arises. But if no blood or fur flying it indicates neither dog was really going for the kill. The last time Bara & Rianna had a fight was after they had chased some chickens, we got them back to us but then they decided to have a ding dong with each other, I was worried but the old boy who owned the chickens said they were just playing

What a fright you must have had H! Glad Zena and the little dog weren't hurt and were friends again afterwards. I have found that Flame doesn't like other dogs running towards her, into her space, and will tell them off, yet she is fine when everyone approaches each other slowly. It sounds to me as though it could well be about the ball - but then again, perhaps Zena felt threatened by this little dog charging towards her.

Just glad all is well that ends well. Also, I think ALL dogs have it in them to defend themselves when they feel they have no choice.

I totally agree that it is better to let dogs sort themselves out too, if at all possible. Obviously if one or other of the dogs is getting hurt, then it is time to step in - but lots of *fights* are noise and bluster and not much else

Oh no, poor you, not a nice thing to witness, and its upsetting when we see our dogs in a different light.

My guess it, it was a bit of resource guarding from either/both of them/

They simply got to close to each other when going after their balls.

Probably best to avoid this situation in the future.. if you take her ball with you, make sure when you throw it, the other dog is not around.

Might be an idea too, with the help of the other dogs owner, to walk both together in controlled situations for a while... both on leads, without any toys..