Australian Cattle Dogs are not the breed to just back down when something gets started. They don't tend to start the fight, but finish it they will. I am not sure what happened the day that Savannah and Dallas got into it, but we think the original problem was over possession of a toy. The dogs were extra-wired that a.m. when Steve went out to do chores and that obviously led to the end result of Dallas getting his buttocks whupped by a girl in a red coat. We did not hear a single noise and the fight evidently lasted a reasonable amount of time. The clue that it was happening was when Steve heard them hitting the grooming table. When I came out and called them off they did stop, I tend to think it was more from exhaustion than obedience. This was our first fight that resulted in serious damage to a dog, but not our first fight. Savannah definitely lives up to the ACD bitch reputation. She is territorial and does prefer to have it her way. Actually in her ideal world she would not be sharing space with the boys. She is just a very active girl that is young and easily stimulated at this age. I expect some improvement over her self-control as she matures. Also, the boys are learning the hard way to not challenge this girl.
Dallas ended up with about 40 stitches and Savannah broke the bone to the dewclaw on his right front leg so he had to have that removed. He was in his cone for 17 days. He has another week to go before the last two stitches are removed.
Normal management routine here is that I don't have Savannah out with the boys if I am not present. She is my girl and tends to listen to me. We do feel very responsible for what happened to Dallas because prudent caution on our part would have avoided this. Part of good pet management is knowing or anticipating what your dogs will do and then not setting them up for failure. I do not leave my cattle dogs loose when I am not home or at night, they are crated in their spacious vari-kennels. This works for me because I am home most of the time so the dogs have very limited kenneling time during the day. Kenneling gives me control over potentially destructive behaviors and thereby not setting the dogs up for failure.
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