It’s a beautiful day, so you’ve decided to take your best friend out to enjoy some fresh air at his favorite spot – the dog park. Everything is going well and Fido is having a swell time with his friends so you’re relaxed and chatting with other owners when suddenly you hear the awful sound of a dog fight. Whether it’s your pal or somebody else’s it’s your first instinct to step in and break it up, but you need to be careful. If you don’t know how to safely break up a fight, you’re at serious risk for a bad dog bite.
When two dogs are fighting, they are operating on pure instinct. They are focused on protecting themselves by acting aggressively, and that means that if a human hand or arm or leg gets in the way, they’re not stopping to make any distinctions – not even for their much-loved owner. You need to find a way to pull the dogs apart without getting any part of your body in front of their jaws.
It may feel like the best way to break up a dog fight is to get in the middle of it or to grab your dog by the collar, but that puts your hands at risk from the other dog. You need to approach the action from behind, preferably with at least two people using what is known as the wheelbarrow method – each person grabs one of the dog’s back feet, lifting them off the ground and pulling each dog back far from the other. Not only does this break up the aggression, it also surprises the dogs and stops the intensity.
Breaking up a dog fight on your own is much harder and more dangerous. The goal is the same – to break them apart – and the best way to do it is with a leash. You want to create a slip knot at the end and loop it around one dog’s belly, then use it to lift and pull the dog away. This is very difficult to do, and even if you get one dog to disengage, there’s a chance that the other will keep attacking. If that happens, try using the wheelbarrow method on the other dog.
If you know what you’re doing, it is possible to avoid a dog bite when breaking up a dog fight. If you do get bitten and suffer an injury, you may have the right to pursue a personal injury lawsuit against the owner of the other dog. Call us today to set up an appointment to learn more.
