One Week Down... (LONG)

[NuBoxer Fan]

So, we have had Duke, our rescued 8 month old Fawn (male) for a week today. When he first came home Zuzu was almost uncontrollable... not in a bad way, mind you, but in a crazy sort of, "Oh my goodness, mom, you brought home a new toy, you brought home a new toy, you brought home...." Well, you get the picture. The first night and first 24 hours that the two dogs were together was non-stop. I even had a tough time getting Zuzu to settle for bed time. She is an alpha female, so we had to make sure we got a pretty submissive dog, and we were worried that things might get really ugly. Well, Zuzu has gone after him once, and was corrected immediately, but this was yesterday, after they had been playing together for almost an entire week. My husband said that there was nothing preceding that behavior other than him paying attention to Duke while the dogs were out in the backyard together. Now we are starting to get into the play/sleep cycle... except I can't tell if their play is OK. They growl occassionally, but are usually pretty quiet when they are wrestling around and boxing. They chase each other around the yard and do some pretty good body slamming and boxing as they go, but neither seem worse for the wear or cry in pain. They do ALOT of chewing and biting at each others ears and legs, usually without too much noise and an occassional whimper. When there is a whimper the other one backs off a bit and then there is some kissing and the round begins again. My biggest concern about the playtime thing is that Zuzu looks like a chew toy right now. Duke literally has chewed on both sides of her face, right under what would be her jawbone, I guess, and it looks awful. I have watched him do this and Zuzu doesn't cry in pain and doesn't seem to struggle to get him off of her... I just can't tell if that's playing or something else. I want to make sure that these two will be compatible. They will quit it if I intervene, like right now they are both sleeping on the floor in the office while I type this.
Breakfast and Dinner started out as a bowl sharing experience... Zuzu would eat out of her bowl and then eat some out of Duke's bowl, then Duke would go to her bowl while she was eating out of his bowl. We have tried to manage that because we don't want food time to become a stressful time for either and also because we have to get some weight on Duke's body and we can't really gage how much he is eating when they go back and forth.
The past few nights Duke has woken up at around 1:30 and then 3:45 to go to the bathroom. We pull the water up about an hour before bedtime and make sure that the dogs go potty before we get them settled. I am seriously lacking in the sleep department right now!! Duke follows me ALL over the house, and I will admit that I forget he is still a puppy because he is so big (55 lbs??) so I feel a little overwhelmed right now. I just worry that things are NOT going as well as I think... any expert opinions or advice?

[ikissmyboxer]

The way they are playing sounds normal to me. I noticed a lot of marks and scabs after we got the second dog. The fact that one can yelp and the other backs off means that they are getting along well. Not to mention that they are willing to share food. I've seen some aggressive dogs that would kill each other over something like that. I'm also trying to figure out how to keep them from sharing bowls. Trying to put weight on one and not the other poses a problem. I'm mixing puppy food in with Skynyrd's regular food and Aphrodite definitely doesn't need that.

The first week with two is the hardest. I felt stressed, tired and overwhelmed that first week too. It does get easier. It's like having a second child...it's definitely harder, but I wouldn't trade him in for anything.

[Brynn1508]

NuBoxer Fan- It sounds like your sleep deprivation is getting the best of you. All the play sounds normal. When Bradlee plays with her hubby she always comes home looking like a cheese grater attacked her jaw line
Things will settle down and it sounds like you are doing everything right!! No worries and try to get some rest