Looking for some insight

[Axelsmama]

Hello,

I have an 8 year old, female norwegian elkhound, her name is Jenna. She is a submissive dog or at least she was when we had our other female dog who passed last year.
Enter Axel almost 6 months old, male, boxer. He was neutered before we brought him home.
I have up babygates to separate them.

They have met face to face and the first time Jenna, growled, wrinkled her nose and snapped at Axel. He didn't pay any attention to it but I pulled them apart and separated them again. Next time, Jenna was laying in her spot under the table and Axel saw her move, jumped up and went after her. Separated them again.

We took them out to our fenced yard. It is about 3/4-1 acre all fenced in. They sort of played a few minutes but we separated them again because Axel trys to mount her and he puts his head on her back.

Last night on our evening walk Axel saw a dog sitting on her porch like a good girl and didn't bark or lunge or anything to try to get to her but then he heard dogs barking and did his erect posture in the direction of the barking. We just turned around and came home. I wasn't sure what he was thinking.

This morning, I came down stairs and Jenna was sitting at the bottom of the stairs as she does. She does not come upstairs. And Axel just walked right by her not paying any attention because he wanted to say hello to my mother and daughter.

Later this morning, Jenna is in the kitchen, separated with the baby gate, and Axel came to the gate to see her. But he stood erect this time and no tail wag.

Any thoughts on this? Axel is fine with other dogs at say Petsmart. Is he too old now to socalize more? Is its even a socalization thing? He does wonderful with people. He even laid down at petsmart for a toddler to pet him. He said hello to a jack russell with no issues.

Do I just remove the gate and let them finially just get it over with? Jenna has free roam of house and Axel sleeps in his crate at night and free roam when we are home.. except for the separation of the dogs with the gates. My husband feeds and walks Axel in the morning then brings Axel up to our bedroom to say hello and Axel takes a little nap until I get up.

Axel has a dog party next weekend to say hello with other friends and have a trainer take a look at him and see where he needs to be for training classes.

He knows sit, down, stay, but not with distractions.

So sorry for such a long post but I want to make sure I do this right by both dogs.

[Jan]

How did you introduce the dogs? They should have been introduced on neutral territory. Take them both out on a walk a meet up away from the house. Take them for a long walk and gradually bring them closer together. Take them to an off leash area where they can play together and see how they get along. If things go well you can take them home and let them loose in the house. It might be a good idea to keep them separated when you are not there, until you are sure that they are getting along.

Good luck!

[Axelsmama]

Thank you for your suggestions.

They met through a fence the first time. So I guess I screwed that part up? Do you think the walks will fix that?

Today when I was playing with Axel, Jenna was barking to come outside and play too. We let her out, I kept Axel on the leash. They said hello and then he wanted to play and then she barked at him. She would lay down and he would run towards her to play and boxed her in the head. She barked again. I don't think she liked that. I am afraid to let him off the leash to meet her because then I would have no way to pull them apart if needed. Is that bad?

My daughter and I will be taking both of them for a walk this evening. She will go one way and I will go the other and we will meet in the middle and see what happens.

He is such a playful puppy with loads of energy. Jenna seems to coming out of her shell and asks to come play a little bit. Especially if she hears us playing with the puppy. I do wish I found Axel when he was a little bit younger but he isn't quite 6 months old yet. So maybe that isn't too awful. I know many people adopt older dogs just fine.

[djheitz]

The idea is to walk them TOGETHER. Meeting up from opposite directions won't have the same effect. By walking together (and keeping both under control) they are learning to be part of the 'pack' with you as their leader. As long as they see that you are in charge and they can relax and just get to know the other dog's scent, they will accept each other much more quickly. They should both be kept at the side of the walker and not allowed to pull forward or lag behind. This should not be a leisurely walk where they are free to sniff and stop whenever they want.

[Axelsmama]

Thank you all for the good information. Going to try the walk tonight. Wish them luck

[Axelsmama]

Good news.. I think.
Well I took both out for a walk. One of the neighbors has a huge fenced in yard like mine and let me take the dogs there to let them loose, after the walk. Axel tried his boxing out on Jenna and she let him know to straigten up. Later after some serious mounting trys they were laying down together and he was licking her face and tongue. She nuzzled his head a few times. She is still snippy at him when he trys to mount her, but I am hoping that will be out of his system in about 30 days. She doesn't try to hurt him, she just snips at him and does a little bark. I think its a good thing that they could lay down in front of each other and both listened to a few commands for treats. I will just keep taking them out to our yard everyday now so they can have some play time, as well as separate play time.

I am so glad I found these boards. You all are wonderful people with great ideas that really care about their animals. I hope someday that I will learn enough that I may be able to help someone out who may have questions about Boxers.

[djheitz]

I'm glad it went better. Keep the walks up, though. It's good reinforcement even after they seem to be comfortable with each other.