If your dogs have suddenly begun fighting, or if you have a new dog in your household that has disrupted the flow of things, you may be wondering how to stop dogs from fighting in the same household.
Any dog owner can tell you, that when your dogs fight, it can quickly turn into a very serious and dangerous situation.
Our article gives you an overview of why your dogs might be fighting, and some steps that you can take to reduce fighting while you train these behaviors out of your dogs.
Article Contents
Why Are My Dogs Fighting?
When it comes to dogs fighting each other in the same household, there are a few different contributing factors.
Unfortunately, navigating your dog’s reasons for fighting can be difficult, especially if your dogs have known each other for a while and start fighting seemingly all of a sudden.
Below, you can look over some of the reasons why your dogs may be fighting each other:
- Stress, either from a medical issue or changes in the household
- Incorrect introductions to a new dog in the household
- Poor behavior that has been reinforced, such as accidentally reinforcing bad behavior in a small dog
- Lack of training and guidance, especially for dogs with reactivity or aggression issues
As you deal with fighting dogs, you must try and figure out the root cause of your dogs’ fighting in order to properly address it.
How to Stop Dogs From Fighting in the Same Household
You can reduce the chances of your dogs fighting in the same household and stop your dogs from fighting altogether by following these tips:
- Reduce your dogs’ interactions with each other by giving them separate spaces in the home; use baby gates and other barriers to stop them from reaching each other if tension is still high.
- Make sure your dogs are comfortable in their separate spaces and give them equal attention; take your dogs for walks separately.
- Start the process of training your dogs. You may need professional guidance to start creating positive associations for your dogs with others in your home; very fearful or aggressive behavior must be handled carefully.
- Spay or neuter your dogs, as this can reduce aggression levels and give your dogs a higher quality of life.
- Learn dog body language as you start training them, as this lets you become more aware of your dogs’ boundaries and allows training and handling to be more successful; you can better understand your dog’s limits.
- Only use positive reinforcement methods when training your dogs – adverse methods like shock collars or punishment can increase fear, stress, and aggression, and you may end up reinforcing the behaviors you are trying to train away.
It’s essential to remember that separation is the number one tip for keeping your dogs safe while you figure out any underlying issues and start the process of training positive behavior.
You should also keep any reintroductions slow and gradual, so as not to rush the process and set your dogs back a step.
What If I Can’t Get My Dogs to Stop Fighting?
Dogs fighting within the same household is a serious issue. If you cannot get your dogs to stop fighting, you may need to take steps to separate your dogs and ensure that they do not interact with each other throughout the day and night.
This can be done by separating your dogs into individual areas in your home complete with their own beds, toys, and food and water stations.
You will need to split your time between each dog equally and work with them on training consistently before reintroducing your dogs to each other period you may need to do this under the guidance of a professional to ensure that both you and your dog can remain safe and uninjured.
Can a Professional Dog Trainer Help With My Fighting Dogs?
A professional dog trainer can help with your fighting dogs. While many individuals may choose to train aggressive behaviors out of their dogs by themselves, professional dog trainers who are experienced in aggressive or fearful behaviors can help you get to the bottom of your dogs’ problems more quickly; they may also be able to provide you specific training tips that are tailored to your household’s needs when it comes to fighting dogs.
You can contact online or in-person trainers to help address your dog’s issues. However, remember that if your dogs are exhibiting extremely dangerous and aggressive behaviors, you should be taking serious steps to keep your dogs under control and address their behavior as soon as possible.
Keeping Your Dogs Happy and Safe
Dogs that fight each other are at a serious risk of injuring each other or even humans that live in the same household.
If your dogs have started fighting, it’s important to address the issue as soon as possible and as safely as possible.
Separating your dogs and giving them their own space in your home can help to reduce stress, as can monitoring all interactions that your dogs have with each other period do not leave your dogs unattended and alone, as this creates a serious risk of them fighting each other.
If you are struggling to train your dogs and reduce aggressive or fearful behavior, you should contact a professional trainer who specializes in addressing complex behavioral issues.
