Creating Harmony: How We Prevent Dog Fights - a podcast by Ty Brown

In this post, I want to tackle the somewhat controversial topic of dog fights. This subject came up recently because I was chatting with a client about our daycares. We run a daycare, and it’s a little different than most. I was explaining the difference between our daycare and other daycares. They asked what we do in case of a fight, and I realized that we’ve never actually had one. I’m looking for some wood to knock on as I write this, because I know that it’s improbable to expect that we will never see a fight. But as a rule, we don’t see fights in our facility. There’s a reason for that.


I’ve been doing group work for about ten years. Before I had a training facility, I had eight to ten dogs at my house training most of the time. We have had the daycare facility for almost three years. So I’ve been working with a lot of dogs for a few years, and a decent number of dogs for the years previously. In all that time, I’ve never had a full-on fight.


Once or twice, we have had dogs bite at kennel staff. On one occasion, the dog made contact and caused an injury. We’ve also had dogs get into scuffles and skirmishes, but never a true fight. Why is that? There are a few reasons that I’d like to mention, so that you can apply them to your dogs.


For starters, we do a lot of what we call “personality matching.” Basically, we try to understand dogs. If we have a dog with a shy personality or reactivity issues, we don’t place them with an annoying younger dog that loves to get in everyone’s face. If we have two dogs that love to play really hard, we probably won’t put them together either. Personality matching is huge for us.


Many people run into problems because they put any dogs together, whether they’re going to the dog park or visiting a friend or going camping. “Well, dogs are dogs,” they think. Consider that for a second. Why on earth would that work? Can you just throw people together—especially kids—and expect them to play well together? There are always personality conflicts in play that you should be aware of.


We also don’t allow very rough play. When I say “super rough,” I’m talking about behaviors like stomping all over the place, barking like crazy, running in circles as fast as they can, and other things like that. We simply don't allow that. If we did, then the dogs’ adrenaline would shoot up and they would be more prone to bad decisions. A dog that has anxiety issues might run off or become aggressive, whereas a dog that’s confident might get hyper and annoying and hurt someone. Adding adrenaline to a dog’s personality can be a recipe for trouble. Now, there will always be adrenaline in a daycare setting. Dogs will always play and have a good time. But if you prevent that play from escalating, then you can make sure that the dogs don’t even get to the point of thinking about aggression.


The third thing that we do is insist on good behavior outside of play. We don’t let them jump on people, we make them wait at doors, and we don’t allow them to pull on the leash. Plus, we do rotations. At some daycares, dogs play for eight hours straight. People sometimes take their dogs out for playdates where they’re out in the backyard all day. That amount of play is so over-stimulating! Nearly every dog I’ve ever met that spent eight hours a day in full-time daycare has some kind of problems—whether it’s hyperactivity, aggression, or irresponsibility around other dogs.


Instead, we practice something called “cycling.” Our daycare dogs move from play into rest and back into play, usually with walks or other training in between. Doing that is what has enabled us to go for three years with no fights that have sent dogs to the vet. I’m going to make sure that we keep doing everything that we can to make sure these dogs are safe, happy, and healthy. I’d like to keep that good track record for as long as possible. If you can do those four things whenever you’re dealing with dogs in a group, you’ll make huge progress.


If a client comes to me and says: “We’re going camping with our friends, and their dog is out of control.” Keeping your dog separate isn’t fun—but that other dog is running around with knives in his mouth and paws. imagine that you’re going to an event with kids and one of the parents said “We gave our kid a bunch of knives. He’s super irresponsible and badly behaved, but hey, he’s a kid! Shouldn't he be able to play with everybody else?” That would be ridiculous! You wouldn't let your kid around another kid who had knives and zero impulse control.


It’s the same with our dogs. If someone else doesn't have control over their dog, then I will absolutely keep them separate. There is no reason to force a square peg into a round hole, and no reason to force your dog into an unstable interaction. You owe it to your dog to manage situations better than that.
Pay attention to those four factors, and you will have success.

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