Comments on: Second Dog – Adding a New Dog into Your Home

By: Jonathan Richter

Jonathan Richter — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 04:03:43 +0000

We recently had to put our Westie, Henry, down, after almost 17 years. We still have a Shiba and a Schnoodle. When we got Keiko, the Shiba, we already had Henry, and Keiko looked up to him and always respected him. Those 2 never had fight their whole lives. But when we got Hudson, the Schnoodle, we had some problems. Hudson, despite being much smaller, didn’t want to defer to Keiko. Sometimes during play, Keiko would not appreciate his aggression and would go after Hudson, hard. Hudson would wet himself, and now has some PTSD issues around Keiko, even though at other times they will play with each other like the best of friends.

Having recently lost a dog, we’re thinking about getting a puppy, but I’m very concerned that Keiko will resent a puppy, and I don’t want a repeat of the fights she had with Hudson. Any suggestions?

By: Virginia

Virginia — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:23:54 +0000

My 4 yr old pit bull just out of the blue has become aggressive towards my toy breed yorkillion.I don’t believe he gets the excerise he needs on account of the yorkillion. He gets upset barks and runs at him to stop the play. Last night gizmo (toybreed) was walking by and dozer went over to sniff him and then gizmo went to walk around the back of me and I saw dozer go into stalk mode and all of a sudden he had gizmo in his mouth my husband hit the static button on his collar and grabbed ahold of him and I snatched gizmo out of his mouth. We have had dozer since 8weeks old. We know he is good aggressive with human food and get jealous if my husband pets the other dogs. I have a older jack Russell female who is in pain and snarls all the time but dozer doesn’t go after her. Do u think the way my older small dog is acting might be contributing to his behavior. We have gizmo in a room today fearful that he may attack him and hurt him bad or kill him. Please help

By: shibashake

shibashake — Sun, 15 May 2022 23:16:31 +0000

In reply to Kay Gordley.

With my Shiba Inu, what helped most were supervision, consistency, and repetition. Any behavior that I wanted to change, I would supervise closely whenever those behaviors are likely to be triggered. In this way, I can quickly no-mark the behavior and redirect him into doing something else, something positive. If he redirects, then I would greatly reward him, to reinforce the behavior. If he did not, then I would try other ways of redirection. If he continues to escalate, then I would revoke one of the things that he values. Ultimately, I may put him in timeout temporarily, thereby taking away his freedom and access to resources.

With my dogs, I try to tailor my responses according to their temperament, likes, dislikes, etc. They each respond differently so I usually try out different plans before finding one that works well and has a lasting effect. Once I do, then repetition and consistency are key to changing their behavior.

Hope this helps. I recently adopted a new pup as well, and we also went through some growing pains together. All the best to you and your new pup.

By: Kay Gordley

Kay Gordley — Wed, 11 May 2022 00:11:28 +0000

I just adopted a St Bernard 1 month old pup. She is joining an older Anatolian fixed male. When she joined the older dog they got along fine a played together, drink out of the bucket together,and seemed to get along fine. If she was not hungry she let him eat out of her dish. 2 weeks later she came into heat and suddenly became very dominant with the deck on our house. She will not let him on the deck and will lay at the top of ramp and steps so he can not get up to house. She is now out of heat and this is still going on. Have to tie her up short or put her in her kennel so he can eat or come in. When they are out they play and run just like to best friends but when she gets tired it back on the deck and keeps him off. I am going to have her fixed within the next couple of weeks. She will be down again for awhile. Would like to keep her but cannot tolerate this behavior. Can this be stopped or the dominance be corrected. If not I will have to get rid of her. . Any suggestions would be helpful. Am already working with basic training she is doing very well but the ]other behavior cannot be tolerated.

By: Jordan Hutzler

Jordan Hutzler — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:37:35 +0000

Hi there,
I have a 3 year old male husky, and just recently adopted a 5 month old female Husky/shepherd mix. My male usually gets along very well with female dogs, but he has already bit the new pup twice. The most recent bite drew quite a bit of blood on her snout. Im worried that my male is intimidated by her size, and that he just won’t accept her. She is very friendly and wants to play with him, but her previous owners kept her tied up constantly, so I dont think she quite knows the process of how to react around other dogs.

Thanks,
Jordan

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 15:06:33 +0000

In reply to Amanda.

That happened to me – I had to separate as much as possible. I brought my dog out alone and fed alone .it was a stressful time . We had to leave eventually . Make sure you keep seperated when your are not home and save your money so you get a place .
I had gates seperating every room ! Ugh I feel bad for you but it takes so much work but you can do it

By: Molly

Molly — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 03:42:59 +0000

Hello, I have had a 7 year old female mini Husky (Alaskan Klee Kai) for a year and just got a bigger Klee Kai (4 year old male) a couple months ago. I’m wondering which dog you feed first? I’ve heard the alpha is supposed to eat first, but he’s so jumpy that I set his bowl down before hers. I guess my bigger question is, they get in fights because they both think they are alpha. She was with me first, so she thinks she is the boss, but he is much bigger and younger and faster. They have a history together, are friends, lovers, and enemies on the same day. Who should be alpha? I know (me), but between the two?
Thanks for your help, I love your website!

By: Novella Monroe

Novella Monroe — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 22:15:21 +0000

We have a puggle who is 6 and siberian husky who is 9 they both came to us as fosters few years apart. We introduce them like we have done all of the other dogs in the house. Lately we have noticed that the puggle (Ryan) is starting to show dog to dog aggression towards not only the siberian husky but to our beagle who is going blind. We are just trying to figure out what could be the triggers? What is causing him to act out towards the other dogs? We have another puggle 12 years old, bassett 6 years old, chihuahua 16 years old, collie mix 6 years old, schnauzer mix 8 years old, beagle 11 years old, We just can’t figure the situation out. We have had dog training in the past. They all eat in separate bowls different areas of the kitchen/dining room. As soon as they are done eating they go outside immediately. We don’t have a fenced yard. They are walked around the property. Any suggestions or ideas on how to handle this problem would be greatly appreciated

By: Joleen

Joleen — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 10:43:28 +0000

I have 2, pit lab mixes that are 6 months old and r from the same litter. The first born male and the runt male. This last week they’ve been getting into fights so bad to the point where my boys and i have had to pry them apart and separate them fot an hour or more. I just bought prong collars for both with the hope this will help bteak the fight up faster. I also ordered shock collars and muzzles to helo reduce injury to the dogs as well as ourselves I cant get them neutered for another month as they need to finish their shots firat. I am now afraid to leave them together unattended while we’re at work as the fights have been bad. I don’t want to keep them separated forever but am interested in keeping the fighting to zero if possible. Any suggestions. ?

By: Carl Urzua

Carl Urzua — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 04:59:59 +0000

I have a 4 year old Male Akira in 4 weeks I have a chance to get another Akira puppy my four year old is trained and is very mellow with the kids how long do I keep the puppy separated from the big the four year has his dog house out side I’ll let them play but I’ll have a crate inside the house when they are not playing