Dog Fight
Put the muzzle on the dog, and his chain collar with the long line attached. Take the dog to a tree that has a strong root, about two inches in diameter, protruding from the ground surface. Scrape the earth from under the surface root, pass the line under the root, and pull the line through as far as it will go. Since the dog is attached to the line he will be obliged to lie down and must remain there as long as the person who is holding the line keeps it taut. Care, however, should be taken that the dog is not held down too long or too tightly. ‘Down’ is the word of command.
It is now necessary to introduce another dog and handler, who, taking great care to see that his dog does not bite the dog that is lying down, sits his dog on the tethered animal for a few minutes, and then takes him off again. The handler holding the tethered animal now releases that dog for a few minutes, and the procedure is begun all over again. The next step is to introduce other dogs, each of which, in turn, is made to sit on the offender for a few minutes. Next, each dog should be directed, in turn, to jump over the dog that is lying down, if necessary the handler of each dog pulling his dog over the offender. Then try to sit two dogs on him; then a dog sitting on him and another jumping over them both. If this is done in an organised manner, it will take about a week to achieve success, practising about twenty minutes daily.
At the end of the week, leave the muzzle off the offending animal, but retain the chain collar with line attached, and, to make sure the dog is not likely to get out of hand, continue chance the dog should get up it is quite easy to draw him to the ground again. Go through the same procedure with a leather collar instead of the chain collar. After about a fortnight it should be possible to make a dog sit on the offender for several minutes without any attachments other than the lead and leather collar. Walk round both dogs saying, ‘Down’, ‘Down’, `Stay’.
Sometimes an owner has two dogs that persist in fighting with each other, and up to the time of correcting them it has been necessary to keep both dogs apart in the house, and when exercising them outdoors.
The procedure is practically the same, but in this case the owner needs no second person to assist him, provided both dogs have been trained individually to have become obedient enough during the exercises described in the earlier sections devoted to the training of stay and down positions. As both dogs, however, cannot be trusted with each other, it will be necessary to muzzle them both, and they must be made to lie down within a foot of each other’s noses. To do this, use an iron pin at the end of each of their leads, the leads, of course, being fully stretched for this purpose. Provided both pins are well placed in the ground there is no possibility of either dog getting free. The dogs are now directed to down, and stay, the commands being repeated several times if necessary. Walk over each dog swinging another lead or a conveniently looped rope, and bang a stick on an old tin or pail to make as much noise as possible near the dogs. Every now and then throw the tins over both dogs, the object being to distract the attention of them both.
Then, if neither shows any inclination to get up, unmuzzle one dog, and take it round to the back of the other dog, but do not allow any attempt on the part of the dog that is lying down to get up and attack the dog walking behind it. The owner, of course, is always in a position to withdraw the dog he has hold of, and the iron pin would, if necessary, prevent the other dog attempting to get near the dog being handled. The owner should now reverse the procedure: muzzle the dog he was handling first, peg it down, remove the muzzle from the other dog, and pass up and down behind the dog he first handled.
Having practised daily for some twenty minutes on. each occasion for about a week, the procedure becomes familiar to both dogs, and the handler can now practise jumping one dog over the other, but the handler must always see that he does this from the rear of the animal being jumped over, so that he is always in a good position to withdraw the dog he is handling. At the end of two weeks it should be possible to follow the previous instructions without muzzles on either dog, and he can practise making one dog sit on the other as it passes over the back of the one lying down, again only from the rear of that dog, until both dogs are familiar with the procedure.
During this period both dogs should be encouraged to walk with each other, with muzzles on, round the premises of the owner, and if it is possible, they should sometimes be handled by a stranger while they are being exercised. Even if the stranger can handle only one dog, and the owner the other, it will help both dogs to become accustomed to each other. Then only one dog—the more aggressive—need be muzzled, and later neither.
As it is necessary that the owner should be able to leave both dogs together without having to worry about them fighting with each other, in the initial stages both dogs should be tied, in the down position, for several minutes, and the time increased until they can be left together for several hours, the owner appearing on the scene at intervals,