Dogs compete over a stick - what starts off as play turns into a fight

2 years ago
24

So the dogs love to chase each other and compete over one stick. In the meantime, Slinking bothers Xena and she turns on him and they have serious words.
No dogs were hurt.
You see Henry securing the stick in the background while the two dogs fight.

I didn't intervene, as I didn't expect it to continue for long and it didn't. You hear me say "They'll stop, they'll stop". These are large boisterous dogs and they play well together. The two male dogs follow the female around and she gets fed up with them sometimes. They still follow her around, despite the fact they're all desexed. We refer to the male dogs as having a crush on the female, they love her.

When dogs I KNOW fight, I generally let it go and will only intervene if it doesn't promptly solve itself or a dog is likely to be injured - in the case of a dog being tied up and unable to escape or a small dog with a large dog.
If the dogs are unknown to each other it's a totally different story. These dogs know each other well and play together well, any squabbles are resolved quickly.

If a dog was to attack or be attacked by an unknown dog, I'd do everything I could to break it up quickly.
I mention this, as things need to be balanced on the likely outcome.
Is a dog likely to be hurt?
If the answer is no, don't intervene. Yes, always break it up, but breaking up dog fights is a risk to the human/s breaking it up. This is part of the risk of responsible dog ownership.

Xena is a beautiful soul who lives with my son, she is my son's lifelong friend's dog. She is a regular visitor and Henry sometimes visits her at my son's home.
Xena was a street dog in New Zealand and her owner got her from the pound. She was the last dog left in the pound. She loves her humans and eats her food with astronomical speed. Something we believe is a hangover from being a street dog and having to survive on scraps. She was brought back to Australia when her owners returned here from work.
The first time Xena and Henry played up here, it was before we had settled on the property and they chased each other over a stick.

They are always competing over a bone or a stick. It keeps them active and agile. It rarely ends in a fight as it did today.

Slinky was also at the pound and was due to be put down, when a lovely soul saved him, despite him being too big for her young family. She desexed and vaccinated him and help into him for three months before rehoming him. I made a commitment to give him a forever home. He is a lovely dog. Loves his humans and just wants to be part of the family.

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