I had just opened the freeze for some ice, when I heard that all too familiar sound of fighting dogs. I ran from the kitchen through the door that separtates the two packs and saw Brut and Zappa standing on hind legs leaning against the other glaring and growling at each other. I had no idea what to do next. Any move I was to make was going to set Brut off. So I watched and waited thinking maybe, just maybe one of them would concede. Not likely but they were not fighting at this moment and I thought they might just resolve it on their own.
Then just as quickly the fight started again. I banged on the glass door and they quickly broke up. Zappa was hurt, limping and whimpering. I took care of him first with some antibiotic cream and gave him a boo-boo sock to wear as he slowly began to calm down.
I was angry that Zappa was hurt. Which meant I was angry at Brut. So I sort of ignored him the rest of the day. He tried to be all lovely dovey with me, but I was quite firm with him. Later in the evening he tried to intimate Zappa and strut around like he was top dog. I sent him to his room.
It wasn't until bedtime when he laid at my feet and I began to tell him I was angry with him that it really hit me why I was angry. One, because he hurt Zappa and two because it was more my fault than Brut's. I saw the recipe for a fight in the making and I knew Brut has been a bit testy lately and I made the mistake of overlooking both those factors. And I confessed my part to Brut. And while we had a quick make up session, I'm still not thoroughly settled. A dog fight is still hard for me to digest very easily.
No worries though, Brut and I will probably have a good heart to heart talk about it and forgive each other. This is just another way to keep me on my toes and not let my guard down so much. Fights used to be the end of the world feeling and it would take me days to make peace with Brut. Now they so rarely happen anymore it is just a good reminder that my job as a dog mom is never done.
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6 comments:
Aww, how is Zappa now?
Oh scary - I'm glad it resolved quickly with relatively minor injuries!
Back when we rescued Great Danes, we ended up with several very aggressive males. Despite our best we had slip-ups where some of these males got together and started fighting - or worse, turned on a more docile dog. Since most of them outweighed us, we started using large metal feed buckets to distract them. All it took was to kick one of the cans, or if needed, throw it somewhere near the dogs to distract them. We had nearly a dozen of them located around the yard - just to be handy if needed. We could then swoop in and catch the offenders. We never hit the dogs, but used the noise they made.
I wish you luck - dog fights are scary!
Monty and Harlow
Zappa is doing pretty good. Thanks for asking Collie222. He's got a gouge on his one leg, but is having no problem walking or running.
I totally understand what you are saying in this post. Our first dog was a rescue with many issues. For the most part, he was great with our other dog, but there were situations that I knew he could go either way. I let myself get too comfortable a few times and he lashed out on our other dog. I would get angry and ignore him, but at the end of the day I knew it was my fault. I would just tell him that it was a good thing he was cute ;)
So good you were able to talk it out! :)
I know what you mean, it is so hard to live with dogs who don't get along. I'll say it again, what I've said before in my comments on your posts: I admire you for being a benevolent shepherd of so many dogs!
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