Staffy fight :-(

Hi I'm new to here and was hoping for a little advice. My brother and I live in a 2 story house but in separate flats (one above the other). I have an 8 month old border collie, very gentle but a little full on with dogs, just wants to play! Today we picked up a 3 year old staffy from a home where the owners had split up and they couldn't keep him anymore. He was with a staffy bitch in the home and they had a 6 year old child. He was friendly, approachable and excited but we noticed a few scars on his face, nowhere else on his body though. The home we got him from was 'rough' to put it politely. He was a little underweight and he is not neutered. We took him straight to a vet before taking him home and got him checked over and got his 1st injection just in case. We took him on a short walk with my collie before taking him in the house and all seemed fine. We put my collie upstairs after getting home and the staffy in his new home. He got something to eat and drink. Very affectionate again with both me and my brother. This evening I decided to take them both out together again for their night time walk and when I got home I let both dogs into my brothers flat whilst I had a cigarette outside. Within 30 seconds I heard the screaming of one of the dogs and my brother and ran into his flat to find my brother trying to tear the staffy off my collie. The staffy was clamped onto my collies neck and we couldn't release him. My collie was obviously screaming and wet himself as he couldn't get away, he's never experienced any aggression yet from a dog. My brother and I didn't know what to do and I tried kicking the staffy off but didn't have it in me to seriously hurt him :-( my partner came running in from our flat upstairs having heard the commotion and started hitting the staffy very hard in the head after unsuccessfully trying to pry his jaws open. He also stuck his thumb up his bum eventually the staffy released after he pulled on his jowls. He took my collie upstairs and we checked him over. He had a small puncture wound on his neck, very lucky escape for the collie. When I came back down to check the staffy he was so much worse off. He has bite marks to the face on one side where my collie has obviously tried to get him off and bruising to his head where my partner hit him. I instantly burst Into tears at the sight of him! I set about to cleaning his wounds as gently as I could and reassuring him that everything was ok. My brother and partner and I all feel awful at the sight of the poor staffy. But in that moment we just didn't know what to do. As I say most of the wounds are from the collie but he does have some bruising from being hit too. Please understand we would never hurt a dog under normal circumstances and our main concern was for the welfare of both dogs, we just couldn't get him to release. On reflection we realise that it was perhaps too much for the poor staffie to have been introduced to my collie straight away and this was my own stupid fault but there had been no indication of aggression previously. We can only surmise that the dogs were sniffing at each others bits when the staffy launched at the collie. Whether the collie had been too full on or not I'm not sure as my brother didn't see everything and the adrenaline kind of took over and he can't remember. He only knows that the staffy attacked 1st. I accept that we have some blame in this situation, rushing things too much and introducing 2 entire dogs even if one is a puppy. My main priority is the safety of both dogs now. We don't want to have to give the staffy up because of one dog fight but obviously things are going to be difficult with them being in the same building even though it's different flats as we have a communal hall and entrance. We have tried to put a plan in place for now with regards to walking at different times and letting each other know when we are taking them out so as to avoid meeting in the hallway. My biggest concern is where to go from here for the future. How do we help the staffy when we have no real knowledge of his past and have obviously been misled by the previous owners with regards to his scars and socialisation with other dogs? How best can we separate him from another dog should anything like this occur again? I am so upset by the way we dealt with this but panic set in as we didn't know this dog and our collie was in pain! The staffy is being very loving as he was before and we have given him lots of love and attention as we know he must be in pain. We want to work with him and help him, we do not want to give him to another home or to a rescue. We want him to have a home for life as it has transpired he has had at least 2 homes previous to here. We are willing to work hard with him and implement proper training of course. He will also be getting neutered as soon as possible as will my collie when he's ready. But most of all we need advice. Please help? There are not many staffy's where we live as it's farming country really and we never want to be in a situation like this again if we can avoid it as it was obviously very traumatic for all of us, especially the poor dogs. We are not vicious or aggressive people and it was very hard for us to react so aggressively to save my collie, especially seeing how much damage had come to the staffy in the aftermath :-( We will of course be taking him to the vets to get checked over. But I would really appreciate some advice. I hope someone can help and Please don't judge us too harshly we just wanted to rescue a dog from a home rather than get a puppy and we had no idea how to deal with this situation. I know it isn't the staffy's fault, I just wish we knew more about his background and I had never been stupid enough to put them together so soon. Any advice is warmly welcomed.

Don't be too upset Hun. You were working off of instinct just like they dog. Well done for rehoming by the way ;-) I have never experienced a dog fight so I can't help with what to do but I know some1 on here will. My heart just went out to u so I had to write to say don't be upset about it. You stopped something that could have turned fatal x

First of all, no one is going to judge you harshly for trying to do the right thing. It's a horrid situation you've found yourselves in and I can only commend you for not giving up on this lad straight away, I know many others would.

Do take both dogs to the vets asap. Dog bite wounds can infect very quickly, so for even a small wound a course of antibiotics might be a good idea.

Reading through your story, I wonder if you've been sold a pig in a poke, so to speak. It does sound like there may be more to the story than just a simple home break up. It's sadly not uncommon for people to omit part of a dog's story when trying to rehome. It's great that you want to make yours the last home he has, but please remember that you and your collie have to be safe. I volunteer for an RSPCA rehoming centre and know that spending time in kennels isn't great for any dog, but if your wellbeing is in danger then it's not so awful that you shouldn't contemplate it. In other words, don't feel that you're in a situation that you HAVE to put up with if, after trying hard, it's really not working.

Having said that, it sounds like you have a good set-up to try and get this to work. Keeping the dogs separate for now while they heal, then do gradual on-lead introductions would be the way to go for me. You may well find that both are a little reactive/nervous. Be careful of not making a fuss especially of your collie while he's showing worry behaviours as that can reinforce them.

I'd start away from the house, with both dogs on leads, walking next to each other but at a distance away. That distance should be where they are both aware of each other but neither feels uncomfortable in the other's presence. If you can't get within a few metres of each other without the staff having a problem, you need to have a professional behaviourist's assessment.

If you can walk along side each other, then do that for a few minutes until they relax. I use treats a lot, and would suggest you have some with you so you can reward any moment that the dogs look at each other positively, or if one is nervous reward a moment that they relax.

As they relax, start to get closer, gradually closing the gap until they are walking along next to each other. When they first go nose to nose, let that happen for literally 5 seconds, then call them both away with a treat. Try to avoid pulling as that makes the dog want to pull back.

Build up until they can be on lead next to each other, snuffling along happily together. You may get there in one session, it may take longer.

On at least the 2nd session, once they are happy in each others company, let them off lead without any fuss or excitement. Just quietly unclip. Keep treats to hand for good moments, always rewarding the good and quietly bringing them away if there is any raise in tension.

Keep a collar on the staffie. One of the ways you can often (but not always) get them to let go is by twisting the collar while you are standing behind. Please, don't put hands in dogs' mouths while they are fighting. I know you want to protect your collie but being bitten yourself is no fun. I know!

See how that goes. If you're not making progress, then do call an expert. Yes, there's a cost but it's better than another bad fight with potentially serious injuries to yourselves as well as your dogs. And in the meantime, make sure you keep your staffie on the lead whenever there's a possibility of another dog being around. He's still an unknown quanitity for you and you don't want an incident with another dog, which could result in a complaint.

Let us know how it goes and do ask if you've got more questions. You'll find a wealth of knowledge on here, as well as some very friendly ears!

Hi ya welcome to the Forum. Don't be too hard on yourself we all live and learn. The problem was most likely down to introductions done too quickly and not in neutral space but as to why it kicked off in the first place, who knows.

Going forward, as mentioned in the post above by Liz socialise on leaded walks. The more you do the more comfortable they will both become. I know it's easy to say but remain relaxed. If you are tense then your new little fella will pick up on it.

There's not much more I can add that Liz hasn't already covered other than please do try and relax. You may find that given time to settle and bond they won't repeat this sorry scrap, however, any interactions for the foreseable future must be supervised at all times.

Well done for taking him in

Thank you for your advice I know I went on a bit, I just wanted to make sure I gave a clear picture of what happened.
This morning I took the collie for a walk and we met a dog (mild panic for me) but you would think nothing had happened at all! Straight in there wanting to play with the lab we met, I was a bit cautious but didn't want to hold him back and exacerbate the problem and he was just fine. So that's good news at least.
When I got home I put him up in our flat and checked on the staffy at my brothers. My brother isn't particularly well and is at home all the time which is why we wanted to get him a dog. The idea being they would be good company for each other and help my brother to have a focus on something other than his illness. I admit i had a little panic at first as I couldn't get hold of my brother but he answered eventually, lazy git! Anyway after taking a look at the staffy his cuts look quite minor and clean now. The bruising is fairly obvious through his short fur on top of his head. One of his eyebrows is more swollen than the other but he is being very friendly and giving lots of kisses. I have booked him in to the vets anyway to get him looked over and get some antibiotics into him. We talk him for a short walk this morning so as not to over do it in case he has any injuries that aren't visible.
The most difficult person to persuade is unfortunately my partner as he has left it to me to decide what we should do. But his initial reaction afterwards was one of sorrow for what he had done but also fear for our collie and of course he wanted him out the house. I think he will be more receptive over time though.
We will take your advice on board and hopefully we can get these dogs happy with each other eventually. As long as we can get to a point that they can walk with each other and meet without fighting that's the most important thing. I was so worried everyone would tell me we had done the wrong thing by hitting him :-( I've hardly stopped crying since, it was just horrific but I was more upset for the staffy because of what we did to him than about the actual fight. Literally had nightmares about it last night! My brother and the staffy apparently just slept together in bed last night and all he wanted to do was get under the covers and cuddle up to him. He's such a sweet natured dog, I just hope we can help him. Thanks again. I'll be sure to come back to you with how it goes over the next few days/weeks.

Thanks for the update Jenny. In the heat of the moment all you guys wanted to do was seperate them and yes unfortunately the little fella got injured in the process but it couldn't be helped.

it sounds like you are a very caring family and only want to do what is right for him (what's his name by the way ?). He sounds perfect for giving your brother something else to concentrate on and will, I am sure, become his best furry friend

To get things moving with the socialisation don't stop them meeting, simply keep them apart on leads. The more familiar they are with each other the better things will become.

Glad to hear your Collie hasn't suffered any lasting effects too

Thanks Ian. His name is Blue! Our collies name is Sasuke (pronounced so-skay). Blue was named Derulo before but we weren't so keen on the name so have decided to go with Blue and he seems to be responding to it well. Hes a blue staffy, so its not very imaginative I know but it fits him and it wasn't too far from his original name that we would be concerned he wouldn't understand it.

My partner has also just text me asking how Blue is, so I know hes OK and calmed down now too. I just rang him up and told him everything you helpful people had said and how Blue is being really cuddly and kissy and he was happy. I think it was just that initial reaction of fear for Sasuke that upset him.

We've had a friend of my Brothers gossiping about how stupid we were introducing them so early which doesn't help when you live in a small village he has a small bitch staffy himself that he rescued from a bad home so hes taken it upon himself to judge from afar grr. Wouldn't mind but we know we rushed things, it just all seemed to be going so well and gossip like this won't help Blues image! Anyway we will take everybody's advice on board and hopefully get our family back on track!
Thanks again everybody, I'm so glad I found this site!

He's probably frustrated at not being more helpful than he was and this is how he vents it. It sounds like Blue's had a rough past and so will need time to learn new skills.

Just reading this, I can't offer any more advice to the amazing things people have already said, but just wanted to say well done for rescuing Blue and I am so pleased that you are sticking with him. I would hate to have had to deal with what you went through and I hope everything works out ok for you and both dogs. xx

The first thing to do in that predicament is not to panic. Difficult I know, but try to remain calm. You can see what happens to a pooch when someone is speaking to it in a high pitched voice and getting excited, the pooch does too. In a fight if we start shouting and panicking it has the potential to make the dog worse.

However, try not to blame the staffy too much, it could be that the collie had a go first and the staffy was protecting itself, it just got the upper hand. One thing I was told in a situation where any dog is latched on, is to hold the dogs head so it doesn't shake and tear the other dogs skin. Its already got its teeth in, potentially, just make sure you don't get close to its mouth with your hands of course.

You have realised you mistakes in introducing too soon so thats the first step. Don't try to dwell on it, it could have been a lot worse. It isn't, its passed, now look forward to enjoying your time with him and also pat yourself on the back for rescuing a dog from a crappy situation and rehoming it.
As I have found out, they do test us.

Simply to soon to leave alone together, and that goes for any dog not just staffies. my girl is a timid lil lass but you just try and get another dog in the house that she doesnt know. long term friends are played with while she was snapping at my brothers dobes heals and growling like a demented thing even though he is four times her size. as always with dogs slowley slowley