Food Fight Gone Bad!! Advice for the next 24-48hrs please

[snssewell]

I was hoping this was not going to happen.....everything was going so great with them until today. I was feeding them and I should have known...because Whisper was being really greedy today!!! He was gobbling down his food like he has not been feed in days. So he had finished his and Zihna had a handful left. So I hand fed her the last few pieces of puppy kibble and they both stuck their nose in my hand and before I even knew it.....there was no warning...no growl... nothing!!! Whisper just snapped on her! Zihna tried to run and Whisper had her. Zihna was screaming I jumped up pulled Whisper off of her...Zihna ran to the hallway and my daughter came out the room saw Zihna bleeding started crying...Whisper turned around and was going to charge at Zihna again who was cowered in the corner with my daughter. I grabbed him and threw his ass in the back yard!!! Called the Emergency Vet and went over there. After cleaning it up it was really not as bad as it had looked! BUT BAD ENOUGH!! So they will have their own feeding corner from now on. But what I wanted to know is how to handle them the next day or two. I will keep them apart for tonight. Well Zihna is sleep in her crate right now. If I let her out I will put Whisper in the bedroom. Should I put them on leashes tomorrow afternoon when my daughter is home from school and see what they do? Or how would you guys handle this situation? What should I look out for when I reintroduce them to each other?

Here are some pics....one before we left for the vet and one after it was cleaned up.

Before:

After:

She is a tough cookie though. While my daughter was putting clothes on to go to the vet with me, and I was standing there all shaken up, Zihna went and got some water and picked up the last pieces of kibble that were still laying on the ground. So I knew she was all right. The Vet gave her some penicillin and some antibiotics.

[HuskyCouture]

aw poor zihana just let her rest up, hope she doesn't associate dogs with being bad. if it's a food thing, i would just separate them from now on, maybe even with toys.

[snssewell]

Yes I think it was a food thing! They was playing like crazy minutes before and I guess all that running around made Whisper REALLY hungry....well he is ALWAYS really hungry. But today it was extremely hungry.

However, when Zihna woke up in her crate she started whining a little and Whisper was in the office with me and he ran right out to the crate to check on her. My daughter was in here and she called back to me: Now Whisper is crying too!

So he was standing by the crate crying with her.

So I don't know if he was feeling sorry for what he has done? Then when Whisper was in the bedroom and I let Zihna out she went looking for him and she keeps going to the bedroom door. So hopefully tomorrow everything will be ok again. Got my fingers crossed.

[mrs_aggie]

aww poor Zihna, hope she heals ok. I agree with Jennet and would try feeding them seperately. x

[Andy]

Feed them separately in different rooms.

If whisper is showing signs of aggression or overt posessiveness over toys, bones (high value items) etc

put a muzzle on Him and keep them separate, take the high value items away. Perhaps it only needs 5 minutes

so he gets the idea that, that behaviour is wrong.

Don't worry Zihna will heal up.

Also be careful when grabbing them to pull them apart if they are in a "real" fight.

you could get bitten. I got bit when I stepped in between Darwin and Echo.

[snssewell]

Feed them separately in different rooms.

If whisper is showing signs of aggression or overt posessiveness over toys, bones (high value items) etc

put a muzzle on Him and keep them separate, take the high value items away. Perhaps it only needs 5 minutes

so he gets the idea that, that behaviour is wrong.

Don't worry Zihna will heal up.

Also be careful when grabbing them to pull them apart if they are in a "real" fight.

you could get bitten. I got bit when I stepped in between Darwin and Echo.

Good info Andy. Thanks. +1 Yes he does get a bit funny sometimes when he has a chew toy and he does not want to share, but he usually just growls at her and she gets the hint and leaves him alone. I mean she has to learn so as long as he just warns her and she gets the hint then that's fine with me. Then there are times when they play tug - o - war together with their toys. However, today was a bit extreme. I wonder if he feels threatened cuz she is getting bigger?

Good news is we got them on leashes and reintroduced them to each other. Zihna jumped right back on him like nothing had ever happened. It was quite tense, but it all went well. I was gonna wait till tomorrow but they was crying each on one side of the door trying to get to each other. So I guess they kissed and made up! They ran around the yard together for a few and went potty and now they are both sleep again.

I do have an appointment at a training facility on Monday morning for an assessment of both of them (which I had scheduled before all this happened for some additional leash training etc) So I will mention that to the trainer as well and I am sure they are willing to help if they feel that there is a problem.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Yep I was going to say after a fight is done dont keep them seperate, they need to make up quickly to prevent any problems forming.. if you leave the seperate after a fight they dont get chance to make up it can lead to problems in there relationship.

Do you have crates? I feed in crates for two reasons, it makes them associate the crate with nice things (dinnertime) and also because they have both shown they have potential to be food agressive.

Food aggresion actaully has nothing to do with how hungry the dog is its to do with them be possesive and thinking they are higher in the pack than the other dog so should be able to take what they have.

Since I havnt found a really tried and tested way of getting my two to accept that they are equals and get equal messures of everything I think its safer to feed in crates.

If you cant do this I would say feed in oposite ends of the room and body block any attempts of one to get to the other before they have finnished.. this is what I do when Im out and have to feed my two, I stand in the middle of the room while they eat and then if one tries to get to the other I say AH AH very loud and walk them back standing very tall. They should accept this and go back to their own corner.

[valkyries]

when i first got Thor the fights we had with him and Odin were out of control, they could not look at each other. Each time a fight broke out i'd put Thor into quarentine for 5 min's then let him out.

They are best mates now they do every thing together, but i still feed in diff rooom's xxxxx

[snssewell]

Thank you Sarah for the advice. So I am glad I let them get back together last night and not keep them apart over night. It was kind of impossible since they missed each other so much when they were separated. Zihna has a crate and I had already thought about doing the crate feeding after what happened. I used to when I first got her, so I will start that again, at least I know she is safe in there while eating.

Whisper and the other dog used to get into fights too when they grew out of the puppy stage, but neither of them ever got seriously hurt. So this was kind of a shocker to me especially since she is still a baby. But she took it like a champ.....and they love each other again...although I am still a little nervous when they both are together and I have my EYES on them.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

I really wouldnt worry, my two have had some hum dingers over toys and food but are always best mates again 5minutes later, just have to watch them around food thats all! Fairly normal from what I can tell!

[snssewell]

when i first got Thor the fights we had with him and Odin were out of control, they could not look at each other. Each time a fight broke out i'd put Thor into quarentine for 5 min's then let him out.

They are best mates now they do every thing together, but i still feed in diff rooom's xxxxx

Oh my...I am glad it all worked out in the end. Thanks god...so far they never had a serious fight over anything but the food incident yesterday. But I am pretty sure as Zihna gets older there will be more to come....hopefully without blood.... or they both get muzzled for a time out, then they be looking stupid LOL

[snssewell]

I really wouldnt worry, my two have had some hum dingers over toys and food but are always best mates again 5minutes later, just have to watch them around food thats all! Fairly normal from what I can tell!

Thanks again . Yeah it would not worry me so much if Zihna was not still so little. But I will get over it in a few days

[Mad Huskies 3]

Hi Zhinababy

Hope zhinas wound isn't too bad and it heals up for her nicely and I bet whisper feels absolutly rubbish for hurting his best friend?

Puppies seem to have this whole attitude of a tennis ball, no matter what happens they bounce right back and carry on as normal.

Lots of hugs and licks from the girls to yours

Cheers

Kerry

[snssewell]

Hi Zhinababy

Hope zhinas wound isn't too bad and it heals up for her nicely and I bet whisper feels absolutly rubbish for hurting his best friend?

Puppies seem to have this whole attitude of a tennis ball, no matter what happens they bounce right back and carry on as normal.

Lots of hugs and licks from the girls to yours

Cheers

Kerry

Awww thank you Kerry. Yeah she was quite bold when I let them get back together. i was like wow...if it had been me I would have not jumped on his back right away . And I DO HOPE that Whisper feels bad for what he has done. He has never listened so well as he did last night so I think he knew he messed up and Mommy was upset with him.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

ouch that looks sore, glad shes ok tho, cant rly add anything to the advice already given sorry x

[snssewell]

ouch that looks sore, glad shes ok tho, cant rly add anything to the advice already given sorry x

Thats ok Thanks for stopping by . Yeah I am sure its sore...she looks like she just came out of a boxing ring with Mike Tyson lol. Poor baby. I am just gonna try my best for them not to play too rough because I am sure it is gonna be sore for a few days. Don't want her to hit her nose on something...I bet that would hurt. But she was digging in her toy box last night with her nose and it didn't seem to bother her. It might hurt me more looking at it than her lol.

[Timbaboy]

Awww bless her! She will be fine though! Dogs are real tough! I've saw a couple of nasty dog wounds here but they never really bother the dogs! The best bit of advice I've saw here is be very carefull when splitting up a real fight! I stuck my hands in between two males fighting two weeks ago and ended up at the doctors with some bad bites on my hand! We have to chain the huskys here for food ( all 86 of them! ) but it jus avoids any conflict! Good luck!

[snssewell]

Awww bless her! She will be fine though! Dogs are real tough! I've saw a couple of nasty dog wounds here but they never really bother the dogs! The best bit of advice I've saw here is be very carefull when splitting up a real fight! I stuck my hands in between two males fighting two weeks ago and ended up at the doctors with some bad bites on my hand! We have to chain the huskys here for food ( all 86 of them! ) but it jus avoids any conflict! Good luck!

Thanks. Yeah I took all the good stuff away (Kongs, Bones, Chew toys) and left them with some stuffed animals and squeaky toys where Whisper has never showed any signs of possession with and they have always played nice tug o war with. They only get the good stuff separate now... as in Zihna being in her crate! That way no confusion with which Kong is who's....lol.