What is fence fighting? Picture this: two dogs in a backyard, standing at the fence. They see something on the other side — maybe a squirrel, or a cat, or another dog. They’re desperate to see/sniff/chase/interact with that animal. The two dogs bark and bark and bark and finally turn and bark at each other — sometimes resulting in a fight.
Lally and Moose were fence fighting just this morning. They were sitting at the sliding glass door to the patio when a black cat came by. (Just my luck, right?) We had ourselves a big, loud barkathon (at 8 o’clock in the morning, mind you) and then settled down.
Until the cat came back.
This time, that black cat dared to step onto the pavement! The barkathon began anew, and this time, the frustration and excitement was too much. One dog got a little too close to the other, or barked a little too loudly in the other’s ear, and suddenly their anger at the cat turned onto each other. They barked and snarled and snapped — bared teeth and all — until I waded in shouting. Thank goodness they broke it up as soon as I got close enough to touch their backs!
Moose had a time-out in the bedroom and Lally had a time-out in the living room (while I caught my breath and tried to get my heart to slow down again). I checked both dogs for injuries — thankfully, none — and everything was fine again. The incident was quickly forgotten, and Moose was soon licking Lally’s ears like they were old friends.
So what’s the cause of this transfer of aggression known as fence fighting? One online veterinarian suggests that it’s a problem of being territorial. Dogs are used to having particular places that are theirs, and they don’t recognize that outside the fence should mean “not theirs”. Boredom can be another trigger for fence fighting — it’s fun to bark when you’re bored, and if it gets the other dog riled up, too… well that’s entertainment!