How to Break Up a Dog Fight Without Getting Bit Yourself

It happens. Dogs fight with one another.

You might be walking your dog 100% safely. Or, maybe you’re just chilling at the dog park for a little while.

However, you can’t control what other people do.

…And a dog fight could result, despite your best efforts!

So, what do you do if one happens? How do you protect your dog without putting your own safety at risk?

Read this brief guide to find out:

1. Remain as Calm as Possible

It’s never easy to stay calm when an emergency happens. But, somehow, you must keep yourself as calm as you possibly can.

You’ll make better, safer decisions when you’re calm. And that means you can put an end to the fight faster, which keeps your dogs, and any humans, safe.

2. Try An Air Horn

Your first line of defense, without having to intervene personally, should be an air horn.

Air horns are cheap. They’re also effective.

And you can easily carry one with you on your walk.

Animal shelters frequently use air horns.

If you don’t keep an air horn on your person, making another obscenely loud noise might work.

You shouldn’t scream. That rarely works. However, a nice loud and tough-sounding shout accompanied with clapping hands can in rare cases work. Remember, dogs can tell the difference between a panicked scream and an authoritative shout.

You might also kick a metal fence, or smash a metal garbage can lid into the garbage can. You’ll have to be creative in the heat of the moment.

3. Soak'em with a Hose

If you’re at home or the dog park, and you don’t have an air horn, a hose can be your best friend.

Soak both of the fighting dogs. It usually works to end the fight.

4. Use Your Jacket

This one sounds a bit odd at first. But, you can startle the two fighting dogs apart by throwing a jacket over their eyes.

5. Separate the Dogs with a Barrier

Here, we’re talking about something like a big stick, or maybe a wooden baseball bat. This could also be a tennis racket. Here, you simply place the barrier between the fighting dogs.

The hope is that one of the dogs will choose to bite or attack the barrier rather than the other dog.

6. Citronella spray

Dogs don’t like the smell of this stuff one bit. In fact, they dislike it so much that the mere act of pointing the spray at one of the dogs may be enough to stop the fight.

Citronella collars are actually often used as bark prevention tools.

The one negative is that the spray requires you to get much closer to the fight than an airhorn. And that could put you in some danger.

Notice the commonalities among those tips. Each one keeps you safe and at least at a little bit of a distance from the fight itself.

7. One Exception: The Wheelbarrow Technique

This technique can be somewhat dangerous to you if not done correctly. However, it can also work if you’ve tried the things above but have had no luck.

While the dogs are fighting, you go behind one dog and grab his rear legs. If two people are available to stop the fight, try to get the other person to do the same thing.

However, this can work if you can only do the technique to one dog also.

Anyway, after you grab the legs of one dog, you pick them up like you would your wheelbarrow. The dog’s nose will point down. And hopefully, they will disengage from the fight.

Then, you quickly (lots of emphasis on that word) turn your dog in circles, while also continuing to hold onto their rear legs. While doing all this, you also slowly move the dog away from the fight.

You have to be quick when turning in circles because, if you’re not, the dog can lay down, turn around, and then possibly bite you.

That’s why this technique is somewhat risky. At the same time, it can work to break up the dog fight.

If you feel the safest option is to just let the dogs fight things out, that’s certainly okay too. That’s better than you or other people being bitten or totally mauled.

Do what you can to keep your dog safe. But, remember that your safety is even more important.

Next, take a look at what you don’t want to do to break up a dog fight (and why):

What Not to Do When Dogs Fight

Just like there’s plenty of things you can do, there’s things you should absolutely avoid.

If you do any of the below, you only put yourself at greater risk. And, you may not even end up stopping the fight:

1. Do Not Get Between the Dogs Yourself

Absolutely nothing good will come from getting between two fighting dogs. Never put your hands or legs between the dogs. Don’t try to pry open a dog’s jaw with your hands. If you do, you’re basically asking to get bitten.

You can suffer any one of a number of injuries by getting between fighting dogs. And those injuries could be permanent.

2. Do Not Kick or Hit the Dogs

It seems as though a hard punch or kick to a vulnerable area would hurt so much that it would cause the dog to let go.

Unfortunately, this rarely works once a fight starts.

In fact, it can even intensify the fight once it’s begun.

3. Don’t Use Pepper Spray or Mace

Though effective on humans, pepper spray and mace don’t do much to put an end to a dog fight.

Why?

Because these agents can cause the dog to redirect their aggression to you. You also need to get fairly close to the fight to spray accurately enough.

And, you might get the pepper spray in your own eyes if the wind’s blowing the wrong direction!

4. Never Grab Your Dog’s Collar

You know your dog, and she knows you. So, she won’t bite you because she adores you so much, right?

WRONG!

A fighting dog is behaving 100% instinctively. All they care about at this point is fighting or fleeing. Therefore, they will bite whatever comes into their reach.

And, that includes your hand.

5. Act On the Aggressor

Say the other dog is the aggressor in the fight. Your dog, however, immediately backs down.

The problem with you removing your dog is that the fight is still going on. One dog is still fighting.

You have to deal with that dog to get the fight to end.

6. Focus on the Dogs First

Don’t scream or yell at the other owner yet at this point. You may have a legitimate reason to be angry at them. However, now’s not the time to resolve that.

First, put an end to the dog fight. Separate the dogs. Make sure they’ve calmed down.

Once that’s happened, then you can work out your issues with the other dog’s owner.

7. What If a Dog Holds a Bite on Your Dog?

Do not try to pull your dog from the other dog’s mouth. That will only tear their flesh and cause greater injury.

If another dog is holding a bite on your dog, then keep trying the techniques at the beginning of this article to get the dogs to separate until you find something that works.

Remember, Your Safety Comes First

Now, you know how to safely stop a dog fight without putting yourself at risk.

Remember, however, that whatever happens, your safety is the most important. Your injuries can last the rest of your lifetime. And you can experience severe injuries from breaking up a dog fight the wrong way.

So, if you try everything possible with the equipment you have available, but have no results, don’t feel any shame by simply allowing the dog fight to work itself out.

Yes. The dogs will suffer injuries. And the injuries could even be severe or life-threatening. But, that’s better than you or others having severe injuries.

Stay safe as you walk your dog or encounter other dogs. And hopefully, you’ll never find yourself having to put an end to a dog fight!