Adjusting to 2 doggie home...questions
Going from 1 dog to two is a big jump, but is so worth the effort. So far we have had Tucker since March 6th and Tucker seems to be really comfortable here. They haven't played much since Sunday but Im sure in time that will change.
So far Lance is being dominant as I had suspected. The behavior he displays while being dominant, is barking incessantly at whoever is near Tucker giving him attention. He also is wanting to mount Tucker, we try to stop the behavior with a sound, ehhhh, before he has the chance. Tucker seems to be submissive and is tolerating it. It seems with time Lance is getting more fixated on this, so how do we discourage this? Im thinking its not a good idea to let him continue this even though Tuckers not protesting. What would be the correct method of handling this?
Lance is also showing jealousy by barking incessantly, how do we deal with that?
How do we equally spend our time together while getting Tucker and Lance used to being in the same family?
How do we deal with them using their own crates and not wanting to go into each others?
So far Tuckers been gated in the kitchen with the crate open and available to him as I dont think hes completely used to it yet, but did go into it the first night we had him.
We do not have a fenced in yard, Lance is used to a lead, but with Tucker we walk him out with the leash. Do we take them out seperately for potty time?
My oldest daughter wants to take Lance up to her room at night, while Tucker is downstairs, is this a bad idea. She says he seems mad at her because when she goes to pet him, he backs away from her!!
Ok, well i think this is enough questions for one discussion. Thanks in advance for your help.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Hi Natalie,
If Tucker seems upset by the mounting behavior, then I'd stop it. If Tucker does not seem to mind, I'd probably give it a few days to see if the behavior diminishes, or if Tucker tells Lance off for it and if so, how Lance responds to that. When we first brought Maddie here, she would not let Jack play inside and would mount him incessantly, even coming from her napping spot on the couch to stop his play. Funny thing is Jack is the more dominant dog. However, he gave half-hearted yips to get her off, or sat down, and his protests were not strong enough to stop her. I did end up stepping in and needed to be quite firm about it. I hauled her off by her scruff (my dogs don't wear collars in the house) and scolded her loudly but briefly several times. She still tries it occasionally, but now I just have to say her name to get her to stop.
On the other hand, I would not tolerate the barking at you while you pet Tucker. I would try ignoring Lance completely (no looks, no words, no contact) as long as he barks. When he settles (and his behavior may escalate before it's extinguished), I would then give him very quiet attention to show that's the desired behavior. The problem with attention-barking is even negative attention can reward it, because by simply turning to him to correct him you have shown him that he accomplished his goal, which is to get you to focus on him.
I would let Lance sleep where he normally sleeps. If that's the bedroom, fine. If he normally sleeps elsewhere, keep him in his normal spot.
I would definitely take them out to potty together. Peeing where Jack peed was Maddie's initial bonding experience with Jack, and it seems to give her great satisfaction to say "Oh, this is where we pee!! This is where we poop!!!" when Jack goes. Silly girl.
As far as crates, if they go in the wrong ones I would just stand there (ignore them) til they sort it out. So say they get a treat when they go in the crate. No treat til they are in the correct crate. If they follow pointing gestures, you can help them that way. We have sometimes ended up with two in the same crate! However, if the cat is in a crate neither dog will go in. Goes to show who's the boss.
As far as spending time together, I would leave Tucker gated away a lot the first week or so, bring him out for short periods then put him away. When Maddie came here, she seemed most relaxed when in her ex-pen. She was well crate-trained, used to it, it was a safe haven and most importantly she knew exactly what was expected of her in there. As they get comfortable you can extend the time loose. Don't put Tucker away, though, if Lance is barking at him (unless of course you need to break up a fight). You would not want Lance to think he's "ordering" you to put Tucker away. Take them on lots of short walks together so they get used to each other without the stress of dealing with each other in the house. New dogs must earn their freedom the same way a puppy would. Being in a new house is overwhelming for them, and having a quiet area to retire to can be very relaxing. Many trainers online say when they get a new dog, they keep the dog crated except for potty and walks for the first week or so. I would not go to that extreme, but the idea of a safe space makes sense.
That's just my idea of what worked for us. As far as playing together, they might surprise you. Mine will sometimes go weeks without playing, then they will play almost every day for awhile and then have another period where they don't. Maddie is 6 and Jack is almost 4 and they both would rather chase tennis balls than play together at this point. However, they are generally quite near each other and always seem interested in each other's comings and goings.
Good luck!
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Here's Jack (red and white) and Maddie (tri) sorting out the crate issue. That's Maddie's crate they are in, but this was soon after she arrived and Jack still thought all the crates were his.
And the accompanying blog post:
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Permalink Reply by Nicola Porter on
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Beth, you got and English fella?????
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Very cool, I am too.
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Permalink Reply by Don on
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As for the crate thing I keep things simple at the house, as I've 2 dogs and both have their own crate. It may seem silly to us that one dog is in the other crate but as dog logic goes that's invading the other dogs den. As you know dogs are pack animals and they do have dens. I'd limit that for a bit, however if Lance is cool with the new dog sharing a crate then let them do so.
No treating one dog differently then the other, this is an absolute no-no. If one gets to sleep up stairs then both do, if not then both sleep down stairs. Favoring one or the other will create a dominate house, something that just never turns out ok.
Hum, Mounting can be many different things, not just dominance, sometimes dogs use it to initiate play, it can be stress or nervious dog, or dominance. Be sure to figure out why its taking place before assuming its straight up dominance.
So, hopefully this helps a bit, the largest hurdle you're going to have to get thru is not favoring one dog over the other. Look at it this way spending time with each other will be a good bonding experience for them. Sleeping together is a great bonding experience and one that I do try to encourage in a muti-dog house hold.
As for the barking, teach them to bark on cue, it sounds silly but limits the barking by teaching the behavior as a " I'll signal you when I want you to bark". Reverse logic works wonders on dogs believe it or not, give that a shot.
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on
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beth has given u wonderful info! i have fostered many dogs and everything that lance is doing is actually what the foster would do because teddy is submissive so it was the other way around lool but yes i know its hard to ignore lance barking at you when u are petting tucker but in the long run it will get better. if he is just barking at tucker for no reason then i would defiantly correct him
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Hope all is going well! I think Beth has given you great info and some of the other things will just work out in a month or so. If they are getting along fine while you are home I would just leave them figure it out (except the barking) but continue to seperate at night and while you are gone. I have at least 3 big crates in my home and they all share them...usually one at a time...so if they are fine with this during the day I wouldn't worry either. Can't wait to hear more!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Seanna was EXTREMELY jealous when we brought Jackson home. She too is a very dominant dog. She displayed her dominance mostly by growling and snapping--over toys and attention. I was able to cut down on her aggression by spending time with her alone, letting her know I still loved her tremendously. We took lots of walks with just us.
I think some of Lance's aggression is just the normal pack leader mentality. Seanna and Jacks had lots of little spats, and after trying everything, I finally just let them work it out. No blood was shed, and things are much better. My vet said it best, "it's going to happen eventually whether you are there or not, so just let them work it out". Dogs really know what they are doing, and I've never had two dogs in the family that couldn't get peace worked out. (And I've fostered many). It's worrisome to us, but remember, they're dogs...not humans.
I would try to make them all a part of the family. I found that walking them together makes for happy dogs...I would probably feed them seperately, but other than that, let them be a pack.
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Lance definately is a snuggly boy, he loves to snuggle!!! In fact yesterday I tried playing fetch with him, he played a few tmes and stopped!!! He then went over by hubby laid with him on the floor and fell asleep, awww, he misses his snuggle time. He used to snuggle with me on the couch all the time!
This morning he was on the couch in the living room, so I went and sat next to him while he was sleeping and petting him, he loved it. Tucker was just chillin in the other room, didnt even come to see what we were doing. I made sure to pet Tucker when I came back to the other room.
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