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How do you deal with a dog fight?

So I am new to Rover. I've done a lot of dog boarding in the past and thought I'd hop onto here to make a little extra money, and I got my first request for this weekend. It was all very exciting. It was for 2 dogs from the same household.

Both are very large. At least 65+ lbs. I asked the owner about any behaviors I needed to know about. He told me one had a little food aggression, and I was like ok I can deal with that. I found out later that the other one protects his toys. I mentioned that to the owner and he was like oh yeah forgot to tell you about that. I was irked a bit, but shrugged it off because it wasn't too big of an issue then.

Well like 15 minutes later, we're all in the backyard (my two pups, a friend's pup I'm watching, and these two). They're all running around, and then dog 1 puts his paws on dog 2. Dog 2 turns around and just bites onto his brother. To clarify this dog fight is between the two dogs from the same household. And then of course the other three dogs are going crazy too and I'm yelling at them to stay back. It was chaos. Pure freaking chaos.

I'm 5'2" and did my best to break this up. I know sometimes if you grab and lift their hips the dog will let go. It lasted about 3 minutes and the dogs did end up separating. I got swiped at one point so I have a scratch and bruise on my arm. I put them in separate kennels, called the emergency hotline, and called the owner.

Overall, I'm just like what??? This is my first time and this happens??? Like is this setting the precedence for what to expect out of future boardings? I don't even know what to think.

2 Answers

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I’m sorry you were put in that position. You did the right thing by calling Rover and their care line. Not all clients are like this. This sounds like the client wasn’t being truthful with you about their dogs aggression. I would suggest the ‘meet and greet’ method. Maybe offer to meet the dogs/pet parents first and feel them out. Ask questions- and if there’s any red flags or you feel like somethings off - then respectfully let them know you appreciate them but feel you are not the best sitter to serve their needs. But SMART to let Rover know about it so another boarder doesn’t face the same situation you did.

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During M&Gs I ask owners EVERYTHING! I have an entire list of questions in a book (pretty much memorized now) and I do add to it when I think of other things or read different scenarios. Don't be afraid to ask questions, you want to be able to know as much about the pets in a short time. I sadly had one owner neglect to tell me the severity of separation anxiety/aggression his "COVID puppy" had. The dog had attacked myself, two other family members in my home and my dog. Always have a backup emergency plan. I had called Rover Support while I set up a crate to isolate the dog until the owner would answer to pick up his dog. if you feel an owner "hid" information from you that can put you or a pet in harms way, contact Rover to have them flagged.