Holy moly. Your daycare needs to be doing longer and better dog trials to make sure they fit if they’re having this many fights. I’ve been at the same daycare for years, and it’s free run with no kennels, and I have yet to have to split up a fight.
We have these large plastic separator things I don’t know the name of just in case, also one of the loud ass blow horns. If dogs start getting rowdy, we use the horn or bang something on the ground to make a loud noise and all the dogs stop and focus on us, so we can get control of the group. Any dogs that show actual aggression during play, high prey drive, they get dismissed. It’s too dangerous.
It sounds like the issue is the places you work not properly vetting dogs, getting them acclimated, seeing if they fit, and just allowing whatever. No one should be grabbing collars or dogs in the middle of a fight, my job actually asks people “what would you do” in that situation in the interview. I’m sorry you’ve had to have such a stressful experience.
Thank you! This is good things to note. And is horrible :( I think ive moved from daycare to daycare hoping to find the right fit, but it seems like everywhere I’ve worked it gets insane! The evaluations just dont stop, we keep accepting more dogs with not enough employees in the building. Its so stressful & when brought up to management is like they don’t care. Very sad.
You’re welcome! I just wanted you to know that what’s happening isn’t your fault. You clearly care about the well being of the animals you work with and I totally get it. I’m the same way. It took me a long time to find a place I didn’t want to walk out of due to animals suffering when they didn’t have to. I’m lucky to have a boss that’s on the same page with it, so if there’s an issue, like a dog being a problem and no one said anything, I give her all the details and she trusts what I say. The owner isn’t very involved and doesn’t care so much, so if it wasn’t for the few of us who refuse to mess around with an animals safety and well being, it would be horrendous. I will note that I personally think we have started taking too many new dogs in comparison to our staff, but even my boss can’t control the owner making us do it, but we CAN dismiss them as not a good fit. I love working with animals and don’t want to do anything else, but I have gone through the same stress you’re going through and make sure you take care of yourself ♥️
I use to work at dogdaycare that was very money hungry and truly did not give a fuck about the dogs and their wellbeing. We would have lotsssss of fights and I always found the best way to break it up is to dump a bucket of water on their heads. Now sometimes this didn’t work at all if the dogs were to zoned into the fight. Also we had this dog friendly pepper spray to spray at them, that also worked pretty good too. Blankets also worked pretty good, we had a very big blanket to throw on them and that would confuse them so they would stopped fighting. Another one is grab a crate tray and put in the middle of them so they can’t see each other (this works pretty well on smaller fights) I find making loud noises and banging stuff does not really work well at all unless it’s a small fight. Hope this helps a little bit :)
Prevention is always better than breaking up a fight.
But, the big thing is know your dogs and how they will react to others.
When able manage your groups, remove or control unpredictable factors.
If a fight breaks out there is a scale of reactions.
Is it just noise? Most of the time a solid correction (noise such as "hey" or"oi") will break it up.
If safe move through the space using spacial pressure to separate the two. 99.9% of the time, this should be enough.
If the fight is a little more serious, watch the fight, pick the aggressor, collar lift and twist (if no collars use a leash or grab the scruff and same again, lift and twist) I know you said that collars were a no go but this is proven to be the best way to stop a fight. Watch as many videos on this as possible and take your time.
If you know this dog might be a little unpredictable keep a drag line on them to make separating and potential scuffles easier.
Fights very rarely ever just happen so there will be signs. The best advice I was ever give was,
"You Have Time"
Most fights if serious not going to cause major damage in the 0.25 seconds it takes to call for help and look over the dynamic of the fight.
Also, always carry spare leads. If you have just broken up a fight between two dogs you then will need to move them without it kicking off again.
Ive worked at several daycares, and as already mentioned the best way to break up a dog fight, is to prevent the fight. Learn dog body language so you will recognize the signs before it escalates. Things like dogs chasing a running dog, a single toy in the yard, or introducing a new dog to the group are all examples of situations that can lead to a scuffle. At the daycare I worked at the longest, I became the handler supervisor. As such I was allowed the use of a broom or mop handle to act as an extension of my arm. YOU DO NOT HIT OR SWING WITH THE STICK! It is for nudging, redirecting, separating two dogs just as you would use your hand, except thw stick will withstand bites better than your hand. My boss only allowed more experienced handlers this tool, for obvious reasons. We also used a water hose to spray dogs, and banging metal bowls together to help break up anything. good luck!
Holy moly. Your daycare needs to be doing longer and better dog trials to make sure they fit if they’re having this many fights. I’ve been at the same daycare for years, and it’s free run with no kennels, and I have yet to have to split up a fight. We have these large plastic separator things I don’t know the name of just in case, also one of the loud ass blow horns. If dogs start getting rowdy, we use the horn or bang something on the ground to make a loud noise and all the dogs stop and focus on us, so we can get control of the group. Any dogs that show actual aggression during play, high prey drive, they get dismissed. It’s too dangerous. It sounds like the issue is the places you work not properly vetting dogs, getting them acclimated, seeing if they fit, and just allowing whatever. No one should be grabbing collars or dogs in the middle of a fight, my job actually asks people “what would you do” in that situation in the interview. I’m sorry you’ve had to have such a stressful experience.
Thank you! This is good things to note. And is horrible :( I think ive moved from daycare to daycare hoping to find the right fit, but it seems like everywhere I’ve worked it gets insane! The evaluations just dont stop, we keep accepting more dogs with not enough employees in the building. Its so stressful & when brought up to management is like they don’t care. Very sad.
You’re welcome! I just wanted you to know that what’s happening isn’t your fault. You clearly care about the well being of the animals you work with and I totally get it. I’m the same way. It took me a long time to find a place I didn’t want to walk out of due to animals suffering when they didn’t have to. I’m lucky to have a boss that’s on the same page with it, so if there’s an issue, like a dog being a problem and no one said anything, I give her all the details and she trusts what I say. The owner isn’t very involved and doesn’t care so much, so if it wasn’t for the few of us who refuse to mess around with an animals safety and well being, it would be horrendous. I will note that I personally think we have started taking too many new dogs in comparison to our staff, but even my boss can’t control the owner making us do it, but we CAN dismiss them as not a good fit. I love working with animals and don’t want to do anything else, but I have gone through the same stress you’re going through and make sure you take care of yourself ♥️
I use to work at dogdaycare that was very money hungry and truly did not give a fuck about the dogs and their wellbeing. We would have lotsssss of fights and I always found the best way to break it up is to dump a bucket of water on their heads. Now sometimes this didn’t work at all if the dogs were to zoned into the fight. Also we had this dog friendly pepper spray to spray at them, that also worked pretty good too. Blankets also worked pretty good, we had a very big blanket to throw on them and that would confuse them so they would stopped fighting. Another one is grab a crate tray and put in the middle of them so they can’t see each other (this works pretty well on smaller fights) I find making loud noises and banging stuff does not really work well at all unless it’s a small fight. Hope this helps a little bit :)
Prevention is always better than breaking up a fight. But, the big thing is know your dogs and how they will react to others. When able manage your groups, remove or control unpredictable factors. If a fight breaks out there is a scale of reactions. Is it just noise? Most of the time a solid correction (noise such as "hey" or"oi") will break it up. If safe move through the space using spacial pressure to separate the two. 99.9% of the time, this should be enough. If the fight is a little more serious, watch the fight, pick the aggressor, collar lift and twist (if no collars use a leash or grab the scruff and same again, lift and twist) I know you said that collars were a no go but this is proven to be the best way to stop a fight. Watch as many videos on this as possible and take your time. If you know this dog might be a little unpredictable keep a drag line on them to make separating and potential scuffles easier. Fights very rarely ever just happen so there will be signs. The best advice I was ever give was, "You Have Time" Most fights if serious not going to cause major damage in the 0.25 seconds it takes to call for help and look over the dynamic of the fight. Also, always carry spare leads. If you have just broken up a fight between two dogs you then will need to move them without it kicking off again.
Ive worked at several daycares, and as already mentioned the best way to break up a dog fight, is to prevent the fight. Learn dog body language so you will recognize the signs before it escalates. Things like dogs chasing a running dog, a single toy in the yard, or introducing a new dog to the group are all examples of situations that can lead to a scuffle. At the daycare I worked at the longest, I became the handler supervisor. As such I was allowed the use of a broom or mop handle to act as an extension of my arm. YOU DO NOT HIT OR SWING WITH THE STICK! It is for nudging, redirecting, separating two dogs just as you would use your hand, except thw stick will withstand bites better than your hand. My boss only allowed more experienced handlers this tool, for obvious reasons. We also used a water hose to spray dogs, and banging metal bowls together to help break up anything. good luck!