How to Stop Your Dogs from Fighting at Home

Every human on this planet has mastered the art of exiting in a moment of overload to seek decompression. We just need a moment to ourselves sometimes, away from the responsibilities of life, a moment out of the office, away from our loved ones, an outlet.

As humans we can use our thumbs, open the door, jog down the street, go to the gym or drive to the grocery store to hide in the gourmet cheese section. We can do this because we HAVE THUMBS! We have the psychological capacity to identify (in most cases) that we are overloaded and take steps to relieve or resolve the issues of our own accord.

Without thumbs and the capacity to process a building issue our dogs are often living in a "pressure cooker". They can not create a routine, structure, handle responsibility on their own. Adding multiple dogs to such a situation often results in conflict, with seriousness varying from mild disagreement and unrest to serious fights and injury. This always starts in small and avoidable ways which unfortunately are rarely identified at these lesser levels. One dog may push another away from receiving affection; dogs receiving toys and bones scattered about without supervision are more likely to compete over these items. The lack of supervision and constant access to those items created ownership, and the ownership in turn created responsibility.

There IS such a thing as a mismatch between dogs, just as two people may simply not get along. There are also some dogs who are legitimately dog aggressive, although dogs who lack proper socialization, are afraid of other dogs, or are reactive may also look this way from the average perspective. However, this is not nearly as common as the "pressure cooker" scenario. In either situation it is vital that we as humans find the confidence and skills to lead our troubled dogs.

Adding structure and supervision to their daily life, from receiving resources to learning to maintain calm behavior in a variety of situations, will add to your likelihood of success. Dogs who can walk nicely on leash together and run off leash safely together are infinitely more likely to get along at home, because they have a common outlet for fulfillment and to release their stress.

Find a dog trainer who has a history of results to help you reset you and your dogs, one who will empower you and educate both you and your dogs to this new beginning. Be willing to walk the walk and make the changes necessary to remove the burden of responsibility from your dogs. As unhappy as living with two fighting dogs has made you, imagine how your dogs feel. My goal is to help you better understand, consider the situation, be confident, and hopefully motivate action to help all involved.