How to reduce the risk of your dog being attacked

How to reduce the risk of your pup or dog being attacked

When you have a precious pet, the last thing you want is for them to come to any harm.

Getting into a dog fight or being attacked can result in serious physical injury, cause your dog to become traumatised (and fearful or reactive as a result), and can even be fatal. It is also incredibly distressing for you as the owner to witness, and there is a risk you will be harmed as well if you get involved in a fight or try to protect your dog. 

I’ve heard from too many people how anxious they become long term after seeing their poor pup get attacked or into a fight with another dog. It puts them on edge every time they’re out with their dog again, understandably!

Needless to say, none of us want to end up in this situation with our beautiful dog. Yet in 2023, Southern Cross Pet Insurance received 448 claims for treatment of dog fight injuries, so sadly it’s not an uncommon occurrence.

While we can't control the behaviour of every dog we encounter, here are some essential tips to help reduce the risk of your furry companions getting into altercations.

Early socialisation 

Socialise your puppy as early and extensively as possible. Exposing them to various environments, people, and other dogs in a positive and controlled manner helps them become well-adjusted adults who know how to greet other dogs politely, and are less likely to react and escalate a situation when they are faced with a less sociable dog.  This is by far best achieved by starting in the pup’s formative period (3 - 16 weeks), when most of their future social behaviour is learnt and practised through exposure. Prevention is much easier than cure!

Teach good manners

If your dog knows how to greet other dogs calmly and politely, they’re less likely to trigger a negative response from another dog. Train your dog to approach other dogs calmly rather than jumping all over them, rushing up to them over-excitedly, licking their jowls excessively, barking on approach or showing other annoying or inappropriate behaviours. If you are unsure, keep your dog on lead for the initial greeting, though note some dogs are more reactive on lead so be aware if this is an issue for your dog.

Don’t allow your dog to rush up to other dogs

Your dog may be friendly, but other dogs may not. Don’t allow your pup or dog to rush up to other dogs without their owner’s permission. In off lead walking areas, teach your dog to wait until you give the “okay!” command to allow them to approach the other dog, once you’ve connected with that dog’s owner and can see they’ve given their approval to the interaction. 

Consider desexing your dog

Entire male dogs are more likely to show aggression, which can easily escalate into a dog fight. Even if your entire male dog is very sociable, other dogs are also more likely to be triggered by a dog that in intact and may have a crack. So from a behavioural point of view, it’s generally safest to get male dogs desexed before 18 months, unless your vet indicates otherwise.

With females, the association is not as strong. However if your female dog is entire, during her cycle she may become more aggressive towards other dogs that are becoming overly interested in her. Her oestrogen levels will be higher across this time and this is an aggression-increasing hormone, so again, desexing may help reduce the risk of any altercations. It’s also essential you don’t take your female dog anywhere entire males may be while she is on heat, as she may be mated and the female pheromones can excite males and increase competitive fighting between them. 

Intervene early

Learn to recognise even subtle signs of stress and anxiety in both your own dog and other dogs. These signs may include growling, barking, raised hackles, stiff body posture, and avoiding eye contact. If you notice these signs, calmly remove your dog from the situation before it escalates. If you intervene early when the dogs are only posturing and before they go into full arousal, you have a much better chance of preventing an ugly situation. 

Build strong obedience

If you see your dog approaching a sticky situation, you want to ensure their basic obedience is up to scratch (particularly the “leave it” command and recall), so you can call them back to you instantly and without issue. This can save a world of trouble, but it takes practice to teach your dog to leave an arousing situation and return to you every time you call! 

Use a powerful rear present position

This simple advice could save your dog one day!
If you can see a dog approaching and you think they might be aggressive, if you are unable to avoid the interaction in time, then the number one BEST thing you can do is put your dog into a rear-present position. This means holding your dog so that your dog’s bottom is facing the approaching dog. Do this by holding your dog on a lead, between your legs with bottom facing out. Or you can crouch and hold your dog from the side, as Jazmin is doing in the photo below.

This inhibits threat from the approaching dog and in many cases will defuse a situation and prevent an attack occurring. There are appeasing hormones in a dog's anogenital area, so the other dog is unlikely to be aggressive towards your dog if it is approaching your dog’s rear-end.

See in the images below, how the grey Schnauzer cross reacts aggressively to Reggie the Golden Retriever cross when approaching face-to-face. However when Reggie is spun around and presented rear-end first, the Schnauzer is able to sniff and engage in a more sociable manner without lunging, snapping or growling.  I am using a piece of high value food to lure the Schnauzer in to sniff Reggie's inguinal/ano-genital area to get the interaction going.

Don’t underestimate how powerful this simple manoeuvre can be! I’ve run countless live workshops in which an aggressive dog will be brought in to meet a sociable dog. In almost all cases, when approaching face to face there is an aggressive response, but when the aggressive dog is instead approaching the rear-end of the other dog, they are much less likely to react in a serious manner.

How to teach your dog to accept a rear present

HOWEVER…don’t wait until you’re faced with an aggressive dog to try out a rear present! You’ll need to train your dog to accept being held in this position so they can do so in a relaxed manner when necessary - if your dog is trying to twist around or react to the other dog then it will be more difficult to manage, and also not as effective.

To train this ideally you’ll need a clicker and high value food rewards (such as chicken, cheese or dog roll) for this training. Before you begin each training session, run through some basic commands like Sit, Down and Zen Down using the clicker and food rewards to get your dog in a calm and focused state.

Begin without any other dogs around, just practise walking with your dog on a lead, stopping, then putting your dog between your legs with bottom facing forward. Click and reward your dog for accepting this in a relaxed way. Start by holding your dog here for just a second or two, then release and move on. Gradually increase the amount of time you hold your dog in this position until your dog is comfortable standing like this for a good minute or two.

Then you’ll try the same technique but this time with some other calm, sociable dogs (rally your friends with dogs to help you with this one!).

• Walk with your dog as usual, clicking and rewarding for calm, relaxed behaviour.
• When the other dog is approaching, stop and hold your dog between your legs and click and reward.
• Allow the other dog to approach and sniff your dog’s rear end. Hold your dog until the other dog has finished sniffing, then you can let your dog turn around and sniff the other dog in return. Click and reward all calm, relaxed and sociable responses.
• Practice this with as many different dogs as you can. Start with dogs that you already know are very sociable, then try it in the park when other dogs you don’t know approach.

Once your dog is used to this routine, if you’re ever approached by an aggressive looking dog you can use this as a tactic to defuse the situation. It’s not guaranteed to work with an extremely aggressive dog, but it is your best bet as dogs rarely if ever attack from behind, with the exception of mal-socialised or fighting dogs. 

See in the photos below, we practise the rear-present technique in a calm situation with sociable dogs to begin with. Use food to keep the dog in the rear-present position calm and happy to remain in that position while the other dog has a good sniff! 

Protect your dog

These tips will help you reduce the risk that your dog will be attacked or become involved in a dog fight. However, life is unpredictable and these awful situations can happen despite your best efforts to protect your beautiful pup. 

I can’t stress strongly enough how important it is to make sure you have pet insurance. We use Southern Cross Pet Insurance - they have simple plans for all budgets and when I have made claims in the past, I’ve been so impressed with the care and empathy of their team and how smooth the claims process was. Being with a reliable insurer like Southern Cross Pet Insurance gives you peace of mind that your dog can get the care they need if something terrible happens, and certainty about what you will be reimbursed if your dog needs vet treatment - no nasty surprises or difficult decisions about what level of care you can afford to give your dog.

The last thing you need if your dog gets into trouble, is to be worrying about the financial impact of the vet care they need!

Learn more about the policies they have to offer at https://www.southerncrosspet.co.nz/

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