Do not ignore the signs

I was recently visiting with a lady that told me she had combined households with her husband and together they had 10 dogs! I said wow, they all got along? She then proceeded to share a terrible and completely avoidable situation with me. A large adult male dog killed a medium sized female dog while she was at the grocery store. Of course I asked 5,000 questions.

The things that stood out to me were as follows:

1 – She said those 2 dogs specifically had been in a few “scuffles”, and had gotten progressively worse over time.

2 – There were 5 – 7 dogs left unsupervised in a large, fenced in, back yard.

3 – She had been told by someone that a male dog would never kill a female dog.

In my experience, when 2 dogs fight, unless the human delivers an immediate, firm consequence, the fights will continue and will get worse each time. There were lots of signs missed, leading up to that final fight. I do not believe in letting the dogs “work it out”. I do not believe in letting the dogs decide the “pecking order”. My house, my rules. The dog doesn’t decide who’s in charge, I decide and I am in charge.

Never leave that many dogs out together with no supervision, especially if you know 2 of the dogs have had issues.

I have no idea who told her that a male dog wouldn’t kill a female dog, but based on results, I think she realized that was bad information.

I have heard so many people say that their dogs have had a few fights, but it is no big deal or that the dogs only fight if there are toys laying around, but again, it’s no big deal. It is a much bigger deal than you think. Please don’t minimize those scuffles and end up with an injured dog or even worse, a dead dog.



source https://wwwkcdogtraining.com/do-not-ignore-the-signs/

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