The wrong kind of fireworks

Fourth of July weekend has come and gone, and the days leading up to it featured nonstop fireworks — unfortunately, not the brilliant displays that make little kids grin and grown adults gasp. No, I'm talking about the kind of fireworks that end with someone heading to the ER.

I took five calls in as many days from people who've been injured breaking up dogfights in their own homes. All of these people have two things in common: They have more than one dog, and their dogs are the same sex.

Housing same-sex dogs under the same roof invites serious dominance and territorial issues. Everything in a dog's life is subject to the territorial instinct: food, toys, beds, bones, other dogs and, yes, humans.

People think they'll get two dogs and the dogs will be pals — best buds who will share everything. Wrong. Dogs don't share; people share. And some of us aren't even that good at it.

Living with two dogs of the opposite sex is challenging enough. Two male dogs and you're inviting drama. Two female dogs? Might as well invite Joe Biden and Stanley McChrystal over for dinner while you're at it.

One of the people who called this week found out the hard way: Her two female dogs went at each other on her bed. She tried to stop the fight and ended up in the hospital for five days. She could have been killed.

Another couple I talked to has two male dogs — and two little boys, ages 1 and 7. The dogs fight all the time, and the 7-year-old has already been bitten in the face once.

And then there was the woman who was injured breaking up a dogfight in a park. She was walking her two pugs and approached a woman with a schnauzer. The schnauzer attacked one of the pugs; the pug's owner grabbed the schnauzer to get it away from her dog. While separating the dogs, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around — and the schnauzer's owner popped her square in the jaw!

I guess we know where the schnauzer learned her social skills.

The underlying problem is that too many dog owners don't know enough about dogs. They lose sight of the animal, of the reality that a dog is not a person.

Dogs don't need playdates; they need exercise and proper socialization.

Dogs don't need friends; they need to know who's in charge.

Dogs don't need community property; they need boundaries.