Throw a Blanket Over Them

Last night I was making copies of some rebate forms in the office (it’s not like an “office” … more of a spare room with a desk) and all of a sudden I hear screaming and the sound of dogs trying to maul each other.

I dropped everything and ran out to the living room (our house isn’t big…it wasn’t much of a trip) to find my husband in the middle of a violent dog fight between Trooper and Timber.

I head toward the couch and grab a blanket and throw it over the dogs. This stops the fight immediately.

It probably didn’t last more than 30 seconds, and the dogs had no injuries, but unfortunately hubby was a casualty. He has three large puncture wounds on his arm and they bled pretty good. He was still complaining this morning about the pain.

Could this have been avoided? I’m sure. I have no doubt that it started because of a toy. They’re both young males and I think Trooper has felt less secure since we got our foster dog in September and now have our new member Timber. Since September he’s been quicker to lash out and growls much more than I’d ever seen him before.

Trooper and Timber get along really well normally. They play together roughly and chase each other around the yard. They even play tug of war in a playful manner. But twice now they’ve had these major blow ups with each other.

It just reminds me that we can’t let our guard down, even for a minute. Hubby was playing a video game and surely not paying attention to the two monsters who were right next to him on the floor. Should he have gotten in between them? Probably not but that is our first instinct…to break it up.

Thankfully, I remembered the advice we received when we adopted Quinn. She was our second dog and we asked the lady at the rescue what to do if there was a fight. We had no idea how Kodiak would respond and Quinn was a complete stranger to us so we were concerned.

The woman at the shelter said that the best thing to do in a dog fight situation is to throw something over the dogs - a towel, blanket, coat, something. This will generally break it up. Thankfully it worked this time.

Both dogs were taken down … I laid across Timber and hubby held down Trooper until they both relaxed and submitted fully. This is also an important part of calming things down…getting both dogs to submit and realize that they are not in control.

Trooper and Timber are both at daycare today…together. Both have no doubt forgotten all about their little scuffle last night. But hubby and I won’t soon forget.