Your Toolbox for Bites and Fights

Want a comprehensive list of everything you need to manage dog fights and bites? Here are a few things I would recommend having on hand in the event of a fight:

• Air horns – making a loud noise that the dogs rarely hear may help to startle them enough to stop fighting. Marine boat air horns can serve this purpose well. Keep in mind that every dog in the room is going to hear the sound and you may scare many of them, but I would choose that option over letting the fight continue.
• Metal bowls – another option to making a loud noise that might startle the dogs. Clang two bowls together if you have them available.
• Large furniture – if you can push something in between the dogs that can help to startle them so they separate. This could be playground equipment, a chair, or even a large binder, bag or clipboard. The goal is the startle the dogs so they stop fighting.
• Large blanket or bedding – Sometimes covering the dog’s head with something will startle them enough to stop the fight. A towel, blanket or bedding could work.
• Spray shield – this is a citronella based product that you can spray at the dogs (think Mace for dogs). It does have the potential to irritate the dog’s eyes, so I would use this as a last resort.

What about water?

Water does sometimes help stop a fight, but I have found you usually have to have a large amount of water. If you are near a large bucket of water, a baby pool of water, or a hose that is already turned on, that amount of water might work. But if you only have a small bowl of water or a squirt bottle, that will probably not be effective.

What about a bite stick?

A break stick (sometimes referred to as a bite stick) is a device inserted behind the molars of a dog to cause the dog to release his grip. While I don’t think there is any harm in having one of these in your toolbox, I would caution you on your liability if your staff gets bitten while using one. The use of this tool requires you to be physically holding a dog while inserting something into its mouth. That is a dangerous combination. I never used this in my facility because I didn’t feel it was necessary.

The bottom line is your list of tool bite prevention products can be a big as you want and you can keep adding items to it. However, I would rather focus more on staff training and proper dog evaluations as the biggest prevention tool. Those two factors will make a bigger impact on preventing fights than anything else on this list. Everything else is a back up item. Hopefully you never need them.