Breaking Up Dog Hold

[SLOBuds]

We have a small 10 acre parcel on central coast of California. Bought about 4 years ago. One of the neighbor dogs started visiting pretty soon after we arrived. A female mix.

Then we got a large male mix, mostly Shepherd. They got along fine because the female is dominant and the male is passive. He backs off from everything.

Then we got a small female shar pei mix. Our new female will not get along with the neighbor's dog at all. Our shar pei is not agressive, but she definitely needs to be the dominant one. Our dog and the neighbor's dog have snipped at each other in the past, but today they had a serious fight. It ended up with our dog clamping onto the neighbor dog's ear - to the tune of much yelping and me being terrified that the ear would end up torn off.

The shar pei clamped on to the ear and neither me nor my wife could get them separated. (Of course ... now the big Shephard wants to get in the fight too!!!) Finally I wedged my fingers in her mouth, and my wife took hold of her wind pipe, and our shar pei finally let go.

The aftermath was just as exciting. It was interesting to see that both dogs were in some kind of base instinctual mode and neither would calm back down for quite a while. But we separated both of them by a wide distance and tried our best to calm them (and us) down.

Turns out that all of the blood was coming from our shar pei. Little nicks here and there. Some of my blood as well. The neighbor's dog was OK - the ear was in tact, not split or torn at all.

We have the neighbor's dog banned to her own yard now. And it's going to have to stay that way. Our dog - not sure yet, but some pretty serious training is needed.

The question I have is if anyone knows a good way to break dogs up, and/or how to get those clamped jaws to open? I do understand that prevention is our best medicine. But I would be happy to hear about other ideas.

We are a long way off from putting this dog down. She is sweet in most other ways except for the need to dominate.

Thanks,
Martin

 

[thingy]

They make and sell shock collars,look at cabellas,,[its a store that sells sporting goods,,] or nite light,[another cataloque/ web site],,I've bought three of them in past,they work,,,collar[shocker] goes around dogs neck,you got a remote that activates shock,,,you have settings that you can make[levels],,from tone and no shock,to make em piss level,,,,they have different ranges according mostly to cost,,from 1/4 mile on out to a mile [they say],,,,after putting it on them you start out at low setting,,when they don't listen to you,shock them,,after a short while,they get the idea,,,they yep like its killing them but on lower settings it don't hurt them really a bit,,if they are more stuborn,,turn it up,,,after awhile all you got to do is put the collar on [or a dummy collar some come with] and its amazing how smart a dog is!! thingy

 

[dooleysm]

Shock collars, or e-collars, as they are also called, are not meant for continuous usage. They are intended to be used during training sessions or by hunting dogs while in the field. The manufacturers have recommendations on how long the dogs are supposed to wear the collars, 12-24 hour max, if I recall correctly.

I use them all the time when I take my beagles out hunting. Number 2 (out of 6) is enough to get the dogs to listen. Anything more and they are pretty much incapacitated. I've shocked myself before on the hand and it's about like a static electricity shock.

 

[Kendall69]

If your close enough to a hose, just hit them with water, worked for me.

I did that shocking thing on a well trained Shepard, to keep him from scaling an 8ft fence and getting out. I mean this dog was trained to walk on his hind legs, wouldn’t eat food if it was starving, come, sit, stay all by hand commands etc.
One day I zapped him with the shock collar, to stop jumping the fence, and it turned the dog into a ******.
It was only a quick zap, and I think I lobotomized that poor dog. Soon after he jumped the fence one more time and I never saw him again, **** I don’t blame him either, he probably thought if I would zap him, next time I may go after his manhood.

 

[Highbeam]

I made the mistake of pulling my 100+ lb chesapeake bay retriever off of an attacking boxer while my dog's teeth were clamped onto his leg. Lots of blood and stitches for the attacking boxer. My dog was on leash and I simply grabbed on to his tail and pulled him out as the boxer's owner arrived on the scene.

Do NOT get into the fight as you did. The dogs are not themselves and will see you as an opponent. A hose of water, a blanket over them all, or just shoot the neighbor dog next time.

Shar-Peis are pit fighting dogs bred to fight to the death. Chows and pit bulls have this instinct as well.

 

[ALBALD1]

I sure wouldn't stick my hand in the dog's mouth while its fighting. I also don't think the shock collar is gonna help unless you get one for both dogs. Most likely if your dog let go, the other dog would just jump on her again. I've had 14 dogs over the last 15 years & certain ones just didn't like each other. I just learned to make sure they didn't get together. I would tell the neighbor he needs to keep his dog away & keep yours home too. I've had a few that were aggressive & they spent almost their whole lives in pens or on chains. I don't like keeping them up, but I couldn't let them cause problems for the neighbors. By the way, these were mostly "dropped" dogs that I let stay as long as they didn't cause major problems.

 

[anojones]

I agree- you need to stay out of the way as you are likely to get hurt and as soon as you get one dog off, the other dog will attack. However, you can use a breaking stick (I'm not sure that's the offical name for it). You put an oblong stick into the back corner of the dogs clamped jaw and twist the stick to force the animal to open it's jaws. Ideally the stick would be flat and so fairly easily placed and when twisted would open the jaw. It was probably what you were trying to do with your hands.

 

[Unregistered2013]

i rescue pit bulls and have a pretty good regimen here --

 click link

 

[thingy]

Well,,you gotta put the shock collar on the dog that starts it,,poster did say his dog was now the starter,so put one on him and make it stop. Never had a problem making dog retarded,quite the contrary,,one dog I had was smart enough to know when I had the dummy collar on.
Wore out two basicly on one beagle,[he lost one somehow],,he had enough electricity zapping around in his body to light a light bulb if somebody screwed one in his butt.
Are these dog fighting type dogs? now if thats the case,just shoot it,,they ain't good for nothing else,[not up on the fancy breeds].
But a rabbit dog sometimes don't wanta stop hunting or wants to chase deer,,shock collar is about the only thing that works on some beagles,,,have used them on golden retrivers too,,makes em come and set down beside you real quick if I remember right,,,,thingy

 

[salopez]

yep a sharpi is a pit dog...so I would get a breaker bar to open its jaws. As long as the other dog is not snapping you should be fine. your dog is going to just sit there till the other one gives in.

Shock collars wont work on your dog. She won't feel it. I would put up a fence, keep the dog in, or get rid of it.
sorry.