In this Omaha dog training session, we address behavioral challenges with 6-year-old Pitbull Thor, focusing on teaching him effective dog fence fighting solutions, encouraging him to choose to move away rather than engage in fence fighting with the neighbor dog.

What is Dog Fence Fighting?

Dog fence fighting refers to the behavior where dogs display aggression towards each other while separated by a barrier, typically a fence. This behavior can sometimes include jumping at the fence or attempting to climb over it.

Dogs engage in fence fights for several reasons, such as territorial instincts and frustration with the barrier. Territorial behavior often stems from fear or the perception of a threat, prompting a dog to vocalize and mark its territory by barking at neighboring dogs. However, when barking escalates to growling and snarling, it signifies the dog’s heightened protectiveness over its territory and family.

Tackling Dog Fence Fighting

Before we worked on stopping the fence fighting with their neighbor’s dog, we spent a considerable amount of time discussing Thor’s needs and the leader follower dynamic in the home.

If a dog doesn’t have any rules, can nudge or lean on people to tell them to give it attention or it is under exercised, it’s very common for a dog to get the impression it’s your leader or needs to protect you. I’m pretty certain that is a high contributing factor here.

After suggesting some creative ways of exercising him inside, sharing rules and how to enforce them, my petting with a purpose and passive training methods, I was ready to share some tips to stop a dog from fence fighting.

I wanted to make sure the neighbor dog didn’t come out when we were working on this trick to stop fence fighting. Once a dog is aroused, they won’t hear anything you say and training is pretty much useless.

I sent Hunter, one of our Behaviorists in training, over to the neighbor’s house to ask them if they could keep their dog inside, since Thor’s guardians didn’t have their number. Hunter said he thought the neighbor thought Thor’s guardians were being passive-aggressive about not having their dog outside.

Hopefully Hunter did a good job of explaining that this was my request and we didn’t make any drama between the neighbors. Our only goal is some peace and solutions to help a dog give up its fence fighting habit.

Dog Fence Fighting Solutions

We headed outside so I could show the guardians how to get Thor to focus on them, come when called and train him to move away from the fence instead of running along the fence line barking at the other dog. This approach works for every breed and you don’t have to be a professional Pitbull dog trainer to do it.

Thor’s guardians should do this exercise multiple times a day for the next few weeks. This will help prevent fence fighting when the other dog is not present. Dogs need lots of practice to learn new habits, especially when trying to stop them from doing something when they’re excited or aroused. Repetition is key for success.

These don’t have to be long practice sessions. In fact, short 2-4 minute practice sessions a few times a day are better than one longer session. With daily practice and exercise, we’re confident Thor can be more focused and kick his fence fighting habit.

To make sure Thor’s guardians can remember all the tips we covered in this in-home dog training session, including how to combat fence fighting, we recorded a roadmap to success video.