Another dog.

boxer17 · #1 10-23-2009, 11:37 PM

We are trying to help out a local boxer rescue by fostering an older female.

We adopted Chops back in March and thought this would be a grea idea. Well we went there tonight with him and got along well with a female so we brought her home...then the fun began.

He has pinned he twice...looks very mean...noisy, but no blood. I think he might be jealous..it happened when she came close to me when he was being petted and another time then petting both of them.

We know that we should pet him first, and so on, but we don't want to change him in anyway. He is a great dog. Is this happening to be expected as this is his house and she is new? What can we do help this out....we don't want to have to give her back, but we will if need be because Chops is important to us and he is our dog...but we would love to help another dog in need.

Any help would be great!

TwoDogs · #2 10-24-2009, 06:58 AM

It sounds as though he sees you (and your affection) as a resource worth guarding. If it were me, I would keep the two of them separated most of the time and only allow controlled interactions. I would also restrict access to all resources for both of them. The new girl has to earn the privledge of resources, and your male has to be reminded that it's you that controls access to resources, not him.

When I brought my male home, my female wasn't very pleased. She liked him, but she didn't like the thought of him in her home, getting her attention, laying in her bed, etc. I crated my male or kept him in a separate room alot. I also tethered him to me so that he would always be with me and I could control their interactions. I started on the obedience training immediately and made him practice constantly in front of my female. I think she saw that he wasn't getting a free ride and that I was controlling his freedom and access to resources, so she didn't have to.

An added benefit to having him tethered to me and doing so much training, was that I really got a good read on his body language and temperment. It wasn't obvious at first, but he had some rude, pushy tendencies. In alot of cases, my girl was right to try and deny him access--of course she did go a bit overboard in her corrections, though.

Manage the interactions, control the resources, teach each of them to wait their turn for access to resources like affection, going out the door, etc. You should see improvement.

boxer17 · #3 10-24-2009, 09:04 AM

Thanks for the information. Although I think we will just take her back today.

We have a 3 year old son and this situation is a bit too much for all of us. We will just continue to help the rescue organization in other ways.

She is sweet and even have blue eyes. What is weird is the fact that we have dog sat my in-laws lap/pit mix and have not had a problem. So who knows.

Thanks for the input!