Dog got into a tiff with my brothers dog

[gtr1963]

TL;DR- female dog got into a tiff and is now acting slightly different around new dogs.

So we have 2 1.5 year old pups, P is 35 lbs, H is 30lbs , females. Mutts, not really sure what they are as their mom was found on the side of the road pregnant and picked up by a rescue.

My brother has 3 dogs. A 5 year old lab/Pitt mix, female, about 80lbs. And 2 4 year old puggles, males but they’re irrelevant to the story in a way. All of the dogs are spayed or neutered.

Our two pups have been around my brothers dogs ~once a month since we adopted them at 10 weeks. They come to our house, we go to his house etc. They haven’t ever had a problem before two weeks ago. We all went to my grandmas house and she has a huge yard where all 5 dogs were playing. I was playing fetch with a tennis ball with them and after my one dog, P, caught it and came back up near the porch area, my brothers female dog tried to take it from my dog and they kinda went after eachother. No blood or anything but it didn’t stop with me yelling “hey that’s enough” like it does when my two are playing rough with eachother. My brother had to go over and grab his dogs butt to get her to stop and back off and they stopped. They were fine after that.

My dog is now acting a little different around other new dogs in our neighborhood. But she’s still fine with the ones I’d consider her friends. We don’t have a yard so we walk them for every potty break and we thankfully have a small fenced in “dog park” if you will that’s in our complex where I’ll take them to blow off steam. Someone yesterday came up with his 9-10 month old small male dog, I’d say maybe 15 lbs, and asked to come in and play as they’re new to the neighborhood. So they were fine after the initial butt sniff but then P started to get really protective over me. She wouldn’t leave my side and if he got close to me she didn’t look too happy. She didn’t growl but she would show her teeth. I kept walking around and petting the dog to show her he was nice and I was fine. She didn’t go after him or anything but her behavior was off putting and worrying as before this she would belly up to every single dog she would meet. Is it possible that her tiff with my brothers dog could cause some dog aggression issues? Or did she just not like that dog for some reason? TIA any advice appreciated

 

[sparklepaws23]

@gtr1963 It’s definitely possible for dogs to be affected for some time after a fight, especially if they haven’t received any sort of resolution. Your dog seems like she’s displaying some resource guarding behaviour, which seems pretty evident from the interaction which caused the fight between her and your brothers dog. Now resource guarding isn’t only something to do with toys and food, dogs can resource anything that they deem as valuable. She could be resource guarding you (it’s hard to say what’s going on without actually visualising the dog’s behaviour, but this is one thing that could be going on.) after one fight over a resource, it’s likely she’d be on high alert and what to defend more resources.
Another thing that could be possible is simply her mindset after the fight. Some dogs will be more sensitive for a while. If you advocate for her, observe her actions and make sure she’s not being ‘harassed’ by other dogs, she should feel better mentally. One thing I would suggest, though, is avoiding situations where other dogs are able to interact with her as they please. Dog parks are notoriously difficult environments to encourage safe and healthy interactions, so steering clear of those would benefit her significantly. Playing with dogs she knows is a much safer option. It’s hard to give advice on here, but there are a lot of videos on YouTube that cover how to safely reintroduce 2 dogs that have a fight history (this wasn’t a big fight but there still needs to be some resolution for them to be happy in the same space again.) now you know she will likely continue to resource guard, it’s a good idea to make sure there are no toys or food around when she’s playing with your brothers’ dogs from now on. Fetch around multiple dogs is a quick way to start a dog fight!

 

[gtr1963]

@sparklepaws23 Yeah we’re definitely never doing fetch together again haha my two play together fine but they’ve also never been separated really. They’re littermates (yes i know bad idea lol I was uneducated at the time and we’ve worked with a trainer on how to still give them independent times etc) she’s a very sensitive pup, like we were playing tug with her a few months back and I playfully booped her head with the toy after I “won” and she still won’t play with that toy anymore our other pup likes to be slapped around and play rough haha I guess she’s just a lil baby

 

[hiccup]

@gtr1963 When there are 5 dogs in the equation, it's imperative to not create competitive scenarios. Heck, that's my advice for even homes with 2 dogs.

The way I see it, the fetch triggered the competition and dogs violated each other's space and led to a fight.

The fight put your dog way above threshold and ideally needed a few days to decompress from that experience.

But the walking and seeing other dogs kept stacking your dog and caused it to react the way it did.

I would pull back on all activities for a week or more and gently ease back into the schedule. Mainly walking early morning or late night.

 

[gtr1963]

@hiccup Yeah we walk her super early 5 am during the weekdays but it’s the lunch time walks that she sees other dogs. Yesterday she was okay when we walked around 3-4 pm and saw other dogs. She was just wagging her tail and pulling me towards them but we didn’t go say hi. I think I’ll def keep her from meeting some new dogs for a but just so she can get back to normal

 

[thisisaname]

@gtr1963 My dog got attacked by 2 akitas once. She was on a leash, and they were not. My dog is a 10kg west Highland white terrier.

I managed to pull my dog into my coat as the attackers adjusted their grip. We went to the vet and she was unhurt. ( the vet gave her valium, didnt give me any!))

When we got home, she hid for 3 hours.

When we went out ,later that day for a very short walk to let her know they were gone, she was glued to me.

She stayed glued to me for 2 years, she didn't interact with other dogs for 2 years. I didn't treat her any differently than what I had done before. Just trying to keep things normal was my thinking.

One day we met Snow, a malamute aged about 10 months. I don't know what they said to each other but that huge dog gave my dog her confidence back!

My dog is 15 this year , she was about 4 when this attack happened. She still does body swerves when she comes across predatory dogs.

Forgetting is not in their nature. Just allow your dog to get her mojo back. It might take a long time. Your dog clearly feels safe with you and is behaving normally as far as I can see.

Once your dog isn't attacking others, her teeth bareing is a warning to anything that's getting too close. I would just give a quick ah ah, when it happens.

Don't worry, your dog will fine.

 

[gtr1963]

@thisisaname Yeah I gave her a ahhhht it’s ok and she put her teeth away. We normally only go to the “dog park” thing in our complex when there’s no other dogs or when her bff pup is there. We basically use it as a backyard since they aren’t allowed to be off leash in the common areas but I will def keep new pups from coming in for a bit. She’s supposed to see my brothers dogs again this weekend since they’ll be at our parents house and my parents are dog sitting for the day but I reminded my mom and my siblings about the fight they had and to make sure all toys are put away and to not let them outside alone with eachother. I think they’ll be fine if there’s nothing to fight over. They always are separated around feedings just because my dogs eat different food but I feel like it’s a good way to give them a space that’s theirs while they eat.