My Kids got into a Big Argument

...but if you know me, you know that all my kids have 4 paws which means it wasn't an argument but a dog fight.

All I remember was yelling no, off and stop. The fight was broken up, and everyone was okay except for me.

I was not okay… rather shaken to my core. It's been over 6 months, and I still feel uncomfortable talking about what happened - where did I fail?

I have always been a multi-dog home and never experienced anything like this ...Was I bad pet parent?

So, I called the trainer, the breeder, the handler and anyone else that I knew in the dog world. The common response was it does happen, it is scary and you're not a bad pet parent.

That all may be true, but I needed help.

We were on the verge of a simultaneous conversion of events:

Daisy and Fleetwood were both maturing at the same time.

To be more specific, Daisy was in the process of her first heat cycle and Fleetwood was 3 1/2 ... so hormones were high.

The funny thing is that the fight was between Fleetwood & Hudson.

It happened in my home office on a stormy morning and seemed to last forever but it was over fast. The dogs were okay and they all looked at me like "what's wrong with you?"

I have always had a harmonious pack before things suddenly changed that day.

Was this going to be fixable?

When I sprang into action on that day, I was also very anxious. As a matter of fact, “Very anxious” is an understatement …I was so anxious that it felt like I couldn’t breathe at times.

I got Fleetwood and Hudson in their crates and called my friend Laurent who owns Elite Pro. They do boarding, daycare, training and they know my dogs.

Next, I reached out to Marc Wingdassen. We had just started working together and I had no idea what to say. But I sent an email that explained what happened.

Ugh! Is he going to think I’m a bad pet parent?

He did not.

Now, I needed to understand what happened and how to move forward.

I wanted to get my happy pack back.

We got to work.

Laurent worked with Fleetwood and Hudson. Could these two peacefully co-exist?

After a fight, not all dogs can 😕

Cue the anxiety.

Marc and I worked every week and as needed on:

• Dog obedience and excitement control

• Understanding the mentality of your pack – different dogs, different dynamic

• Crate management – the best ways to use crates for moving dogs around, personal space and timeouts

• Resource guarding

• Importance of structure

• Becoming the leader of your pack

After a couple of weeks, everyone was home.

Was it great? NOPE!

It was stressful. I felt like a warden and prisoner in my own home. It wasn’t as awful as it sounds but it was close. 

I watched everyone and every move.

Really wanted everything to be okay. These are my kids after-all…of course I did.

Fast forward to the present and here we are in 2026.

We now have a very fun, obedient (debatable with Airedales) and manageable pack but still work at it every day.

One step at a time.