The second in a four-part series on managing and reintegrating pack members after a fight. By Sara Reusche

Last week, I covered the scenario leading up to a devastating incident in which my younger dog, Trout, attacked my older dog, Layla, and the two dogs fought. While the fight ended quickly with the fast actions of myself and my boyfriend, the injuries that the two dogs sustained took a bit longer to heal.

This week, I want to talk about the story the injuries told me. Where a dog bites another dog is very meaningful. Different bite locations tell us about the dog's intentions during the fight - the one reason why I always ask my clients where one dog bit another when I'm working dog aggression cases.

The severity of the bites is also very meaningful and gives a good idea of how safe the dog is to work with in the future. Past history is a great indicator of future behavior, which means that knowing where and how hard Layla and Trout have bitten other dogs can tell us a lot about what they're likely to do in the future.

After the fight, both dogs had injuries. Trout's injuries initially appeared worse. She had a gash over her eye that was bleeding profusely and was eventually closed with two sutures. She also had punctures on her cheek and ear that were also bleeding but didn't require any medical care other than thorough cleaning.

Since Trout is mostly a white dog, the blood from her wounds was starkly visible and very shocking. She fussed at her injuries, trying to paw at the gash above her eyebrow, so her paws quickly became red with blood too. She also had blood around her mouth from Layla.

Injuries to the face and ears such as those Trout received are the most typical injuries sustained in dog fights and they can certainly be alarming at first. Ears and tongues especially tend to bleed alarmingly and the ear wounds often have trouble clotting if the dog shakes his or her head, reopening the wound and causing further damage (not to mention the crime-scene-like atmosphere that the splatter of blood such head shaking creates).

That said, injuries to the face tend to be the least concerning to professional dog behavior consultants. They're the most common, since the skin there is thin and easily torn. They are also indicative that the dog(s) were not fighting with serious intent to harm, but rather disagreeing.

It's the difference between a bar-room scuffle and a knife fight in an alley - there may be a broken nose or cracked knuckles in the bar room brawl, but no one's actively trying to kill their combatant. Dogs that bite at other dogs' faces or ears are angry, but not serious about causing damage.

Next up in the hierarchy of seriousness are bites to the sides of the neck, shoulders or hips. These bites are a sign the dog is taking the fight to the next level, but still is not yet intent on causing serious harm. Even more concerning are dogs who bite at the base of the skull, over the jugular or on the other dog's legs.

These dogs are trying to disable or kill their opponent. The very most serious of dogs, who typically go for the underside of their opponent in an attempt to disembowel them are intent not on disabling but on causing death. Dogs who injure in this way should never again be allowed in the presence of other dogs without extremely careful management such as the use of basket muzzles.

Layla's injuries initially didn't look too serious. She was missing tufts of fur and had extensive bruising over her chest and breastbone and a deep gash on her right hind leg, just above her knee. However, these bite wounds concerned me much more than Trout's very visible and bloody battle scars.

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