When a new dog comes along

[vettechick99]

We have a 7yo female basset. Came from nothing. Literally knocked up, starving, fleabitten, and living on the street when we met her. Of course looking at her now you'd never know. She's a total diva - sleeps 20 hrs a day, won't go outside if it's raining. She's living the good life.

So we just acquired another starving, homeless (this time male) puppy. Rescued him from the highway on Friday before school. Our basset (already with alpha-dog tendancies) has been exerting her power over this new puppy. A little barking at him when he gets too close, nothing harmful. I'm fine with that - that's how dogs do things. I'm just wondering if she'll ever like this new one; ever want to pal around with him? Or will she always be standoffish? Right now she has very little interest in him.

 

[Luv2Roam]

They may never bond.
However make sure you treat your first dog as the alpha (dominant) dog. The dogs know their place, or will struggle for it.
We always have multiple dogs with no issues. But we know the first dog has more rights (in their eyes) as the new comer.
The first dog gets everything first (food set down first, treats first, etc). The first dog also has dibs on where they get to sleep over the newcomer.
Also sounds like a good opportunity to have them both in training class together.
Our oldest dog is naturally an Omega dog, hence her name. But even she knows if she wants something first, and when it matters to her, she is first over the other.

I also recall having our (then) three dogs interact when the third one came on board. The vet and trainer said it was actually healthy for the eldest to put the puppy in her place. (Meaning she barked and showed her teeth.) So some dominance is normal. Hopefully it just does not go into an aggressive/attack stage.

 

[doxdogy]

More than likely they will eventually become best buds. Right now the Basset is just letting the new pup know that he is in charge. Just takes some time for him to adjust to the pup that he views as an interloper.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Right now, your older female is asserting that this is her house and her family - especially with a young puppy, the alpha dog wants to set the ground rules up straight away, just like you will with your own rules (ie. chewing, peeing in the right places, barking, etc.). This means she needs to be a bit bossy and "distant" right now.

We adopted a 5 year old female German Shepherd, about 6 months ago, to join our 4 year old male German Shepherd. For about 2 weeks, our male growled when the female went near his toys or food bowl and followed her around constantly to make sure she wasn't breaking any of "his" rules. He also "supervised" her whenever she was interacting with "his" humans and would shoulder-check her out of the way when she was getting too friendly and he thought her visit time was up. We had a few dog fights during those two weeks, as well - they always lasted less than 3 seconds and both dogs backed down and walked away at the end of each. After two weeks, our male shepherd totally calmed down and stopped enforcing his rules - our female knew who the boss is, so there was no point in pushing it. Our female shepherd now cheerfully steals our male's toys and squeaks them in his face to get him to chase her, barks at him to distract him while he's trying to catch the frisbee, and they will spend an entire day stealing a single bone from each other while the other isn't looking, while the other bone lies untouched on the floor. For his part, our male shepherd "snuggles" our female whenever he can and they recently shared a small kennel together while being boarded.

I wouldn't worry about it. The first few days are all about setting ground rules, but after that everyone seems to calm down. One thing to make sure of though, is that if your basset is going "too far" - you'll know what this is - harassing the puppy without end after the puppy "screws up", or starts getting overly physical in a "mean" way, you need to protect the puppy from the basset. Use your leg or arm to gently push her away from the puppy and sternly tell her "no" while holding her in place. This isn't so much to actually protect the puppy, but to reinforce in both their minds that no matter what silliness is going on between them, you are still boss and your rules are still at the top. It also reassures the puppy that he is in a safe place where the pack leader (you!) will keep him safe, even from other pack members.

Good luck! I'm sure your basset hound will be good-naturedly tolerating the puppy antics in no time!

 

[amez]

give it a few more days. Our four year old dog was quite put out when we brought home a puppy two weeks ago. She ignored her, pouted to us, wouldn't let puppy get within a few feet of "her things" etc. This week they are best buddies - running around and playing like crazy. Dog1 has learned to wait patiently till puppy is done eating and then eat up her left overs or she even shares her regular food with puppy so puppy will fill up and then dog1 gets the puppies food.
It is quite funny to see our 80lb lab mix wrestling with an 8 week old puppy.

 

[vettechick99]

More than likely they will eventually become best buds. Right now the Basset is just letting the new pup know that he is in charge. Just takes some time for him to adjust to the pup that he views as an interloper.

Interloper is right! We should have named him that instead of Lucky.

We feed them separately because the basset (Grace) is on steriods for skin problems and it makes her...hmm...cranky and mean as hell? But when she snaps at him, we scold her because even though I know it's instinctual, I don't want to encourage it. And after all, aren't I supposed to be the alpha dog of the household?

Really, it's like watching Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier from Looney Toons.

 

[simba928]

Interloper is right! We should have named him that instead of Lucky.

We feed them separately because the basset (Grace) is on steriods for skin problems and it makes her...hmm...cranky and mean as hell? But when she snaps at him, we scold her because even though I know it's instinctual, I don't want to encourage it. And after all, aren't I supposed to be the alpha dog of the household?

Really, it's like watching Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier from Looney Toons.

Don't yell at Grace. That's how dogs teach each other. It's like you telling your kids to stop in a firm voice. To us it seems mean, but to dogs it teaches boundaries and that's what Lucky needs. He needs to learn that Grace is in charge. She's an older female (and if she's spayed it adds to it). Older spayed females tend to not want to deal with other dogs being in their face. Supervise them at all times for now but let them work it out. As long as they do not get into any major scuffles and they are not going to harm eachother mind your own business. When I first got my dog (a year old shepherd/collie mix), she would go after the family dog (a 9 year old spayed, female golden retriever/lab). I mean my dog would bite holes in my other dog's head. They finally worked it out (after establishing me as the dominant figure). My dog is next in line and the old family dog is low man on the totem pole. She's fine with that, she just wants to be left alone. If my dog goes up to her food bowl (which we always correct, but it happens), the older dog will back up. She's the same way with the cat, though. That fact that Lucky is a male should help, too. Females tend to be the dominant ones so he eventually would probably just be like "ok, Grace, you do your thing".

The best thing to do to get them to bond would be to do fun things with both of them. Whatever Grace loves, include Lucky in that. If she loves going for walks, bring Lucky along, too. If she loves playing fetch, have Lucky around for that. That way she sees Lucky as something fun rather than an invader in her house. Make sure she gets plenty of love and attention, too. Spoil her with lots of love and kisses.

 

[VickiVM]

This post is so ironic because we're trying out a dachschund right now that needs to be re-homed. She was sort of left with my co-worker who agreed to take her temporarily, but that started to become more permanent.

We have a 1 1/2 year old lab mix who really wants to play with "Kisses", but Kisses will not have it. She growls whenever our Lilly comes around. They've gotten into a couple of scraps over the weekend. We had to separate them most of the weekend.

In fact, we're on our way out the door in a moment to return Kisses. It's too bad, because she's so adorable and obedient and would love nothing more than to just sit in your lap and snuggle all day.

Lilly really wants a gal-pal, but Kisses wants only humans.

 

[dawson5]

We're in this situation and it's gotten a lot better. We've had a beagle mix, he's about 7 now (rescue) and just rescued a chihuahua from an abusive situation. At first she wanted nothing to do with our Brent, would growl at him and even went after him a few times. For the most part he was good natured about it, it did defend himself but seemed to know she was smaller and just trying to fnd her place in the household.

What we did was cement his position as first and alpha. Anytime we came home he was first to be greeted/petted/kissed. She's been here since October and she's fit in just fine. They are now the best of buds and she recognizes her place in the order of things. She does wish he would play with her, he is no longer a puppy and would rather just nap. He will fetch toys, she lives for toys. If he joins in, she defers.

It just takes time and consistency. Lots of love & patience too. For a while we were at our wits end and were looking for a home for her. I'm glad we didn't follow through, she is a good addition to our family.

 

[VickiVM]

This post is so ironic because we're trying out a dachschund right now that needs to be re-homed. She was sort of left with my co-worker who agreed to take her temporarily, but that started to become more permanent.

We have a 1 1/2 year old lab mix who really wants to play with "Kisses", but Kisses will not have it. She growls whenever our Lilly comes around. They've gotten into a couple of scraps over the weekend. We had to separate them most of the weekend.

In fact, we're on our way out the door in a moment to return Kisses. It's too bad, because she's so adorable and obedient and would love nothing more than to just sit in your lap and snuggle all day.

Lilly really wants a gal-pal, but Kisses wants only humans.

WOW - DIS can really change lives...ok, a little bit too dramatic. We were almost out the door to take Kisses back then after I read this post, told my husband how were were going at it backwards. We were trying to make our Lilly get along with Kisses and scolding Lilly when we should be asserting her as the Alpha and helping Kisses to get along with Lilly.

Soooo, we called my co-worker and said we'd keep Kisses for a little while longer and try to make it work.

 

[james'mommy]

It's always hard going from 1 dog to 2. When our rottie was 3 or 4 we added a boxer to our family. He was not pleased. Bubba was interested enough in her in the beginning and would chase her around the house and the yard. We never had dog fights or super growly matches. He regarded her with minor distain for the rest of his life. He tolerated her and would allow her to play with his things. She would always try and snuggle up with him. He would just get up and move when she tried to be with him. When he passed away our Zuzu was devestated. She got really depressed and we ended up getting her a puppy to help her get over it. Adding another puppy at that point as much easier.

 

[mrsstats]

We have a chi mix and a corgi/chi mix. Kallie, the female, was here first, we added Petey about 1 year later (when we had our other dog put to sleep) Well, Kallie tolerates Petey. They will never really be buddies. She barks at him whenever he does something she doesnt like. Every once in awhile she will engage in playing with him but not often.

In the past, we had added a dog to our current 1 dog home and they bonded fine. Best buds and all. So, you never can tell.

Good luck

 

[simba928]

WOW - DIS can really change lives...ok, a little bit too dramatic. We were almost out the door to take Kisses back then after I read this post, told my husband how were were going at it backwards. We were trying to make our Lilly get along with Kisses and scolding Lilly when we should be asserting her as the Alpha and helping Kisses to get along with Lilly.

Soooo, we called my co-worker and said we'd keep Kisses for a little while longer and try to make it work.

I am so glad you are giving Kisses a chance! It really is an adjustment for the dog. It takes time for them to get to know their place and you to get to know them. It sounds like Kisses has had a lot of instability recently. She needs to figure out her place. Let the dogs work it out. Like I said, in my house, my new girl is totally in charge, but that's ok with the older one. The only thing I would be VERY careful of in your case is Lilly hurting Kisses. Daschunds have very delicate backs so a bigger dog could easily hurt her.

 

[MichelleVW]

I had two dogs, one male one female and added a male puppy to the mix last May. The female was fine with him, but the male HATED HIM. It took him 6 weeks of hating-trying to eat the puppy, until they were finally friends. Now they are best buds and partners in crime.

Now if the starving cat that showed up in September would just get along with the other 3 cats..

 

[johnsontrio]

This post is so ironic because we're trying out a dachschund right now that needs to be re-homed. She was sort of left with my co-worker who agreed to take her temporarily, but that started to become more permanent.

We have a 1 1/2 year old lab mix who really wants to play with "Kisses", but Kisses will not have it. She growls whenever our Lilly comes around. They've gotten into a couple of scraps over the weekend. We had to separate them most of the weekend.

In fact, we're on our way out the door in a moment to return Kisses. It's too bad, because she's so adorable and obedient and would love nothing more than to just sit in your lap and snuggle all day.

Lilly really wants a gal-pal, but Kisses wants only humans.

Chiming in to add our experience here so hopefully you don't feel too badly. We took our friend's male Mini Doxie in after she had 3 little girls under the age of 4 in her home. They don't do so well with little children. We have a male English Cocker. In 3 years they did not bond in the least. My English Cocker only wanted to play when he was outside, the Mini Doxie only wanted to play inside. The Mini Doxie was very good about playing by himself.

The English Cocker hated sharing his Momma and the Mini Doxie was very arrogant about recognizing that he was a dog. Our vet said it probably would never change and that the two would never bond.

The Mini Doxie's are such smart dogs and very entertaining to have around the house. This one was from a pet store and wasn't bought until he was almost 8 months old. He had terrible anxiety issues and a lot of his behavior was cat-like. I would be happy to have another Mini Doxie at some point but I think they do better with their own kind and would only get one from a reputable breeder.

 

[Ka' eo]

Does your Diva like other dogs? Some dogs just aren't that social. If not, she may not warm up to this little guy. We have had a male puppy since November and we had 2 females. One is as aloof as day one. The other is like his wet nurse. She is just great with him; patient, gentle and incredibly sweet to him. She weighs 115 lbs and he is only 8 and won't get much bigger.

Make sure you feed her first, and he is fed away from her.

The good news is that an Alpha female does much better with a male that another female.

Good luck! We have adopted many rescues. I wish everyone would!

 

[vettechick99]

Does your Diva like other dogs? Some dogs just aren't that social. If not, she may not warm up to this little guy. We have had a male puppy since November and we had 2 females. One is as aloof as day one. The other is like his wet nurse. She is just great with him; patient, gentle and incredibly sweet to him. She weighs 115 lbs and he is only 8 and won't get much bigger.

Make sure you feed her first, and he is fed away from her.

The good news is that an Alpha female does much better with a male that another female.

Good luck! We have adopted many rescues. I wish everyone would!

It depends on the dog. If she can be alpha and do her thing, she can be pretty friendly. If the other dog has food or wants to run the show, she gets very snippy. A friend brought her two dogs down once and I asked her not to give them any treats around Grace. Well she didn't listen and gave her two pig ears and I've never seen such a fight before. It was awful! No one was hurt but they sure put in a horrifying show.

I guess being top/only dog for so long makes you set in your ways. Ya think?

Lucky is going to the vet today to get dewormed and shots. He sure looks pretty pitiful so I hope we can get him healthy soon.

And I hope Kisses turns out great for the family, Vicki!