Hi, I have a very docile, super submissive 2.5yr old labrador. I am thinking of dog sitting a border collie for few days at my home. at the first meeting 5yr old border collie was initially a bit aggressive because my lab was trying to play with her.My dog went into submissive mode. I am just worried that I don't do any wrong by my lab. Home is her territory and other dog coming and being aggressive. Later in the meeting they tried playing with each other. Should I consider dog sitting the other dog or I should do it but should be careful of certain things. Please help.
Hi and welcome to the forum I'd be inclined not to dog sit this dog if you don't feel 100% comfortable with the idea. You will probably not feel happy leaving the dogs alone together and this will tie you to the house. It is quite a lot of work to have a second dog come into the house. Personally I'd only do it if my dog and the other dog were already friends and I knew the other dog well. I have dog sat dogs a number of times but only when I knew the dogs would get along just fine. I'm sure others will be along to give their thoughts too
Well you MAY just need more time. My girl didn't really get on that we'll with my SIL's dog to start with but they just worked on making boundaries and they are now fine. We look after each others dogs for holidays. I have to say mine was more the growly *get out my face* type whilst hers was just wanting to play. Took time but Lilly fell asleep with her head resting on Georgie's rump last holiday. I think it depends on how much you want it to work and how much the dogs are agressive/submissive. Takes time.
I would want the dogs to know each other well and that the was no aggressive/submissive behaviours before I agreed to dog sit another dog.
I think it is better that the dogs get to know each other first. Back when we took Scooby in, Belle went into a "depression" for two weeks. She really wasn't happy & we doubted what we'd done. We were on the verge of having to give him up, thankfully for all, she came round and they rubbed along together. Can you take them to neutral territory for a few meetings?
I think the fact that you describe your Lab as being docile/submissive would be ringing little alarm bells with me , I would definitely be thinking very hard about how this would affect your dog and if you want to take the chance of it not working out . I totally agree that more meetings would help you to make up your mind, good luck .
Hi Ankita and welcome to the forum. I agree with the other posters. It is great for friends to be able to sit each other's dogs, but if they don't get along it can be very upsetting for one or both dogs, and hard work for you. It's a good idea to establish a friendship between the dogs first.
Hi and welcome! Just to add - some dogs never really get on, though they can learn to put up with each other. On the other hand, sometimes great friendships can grow between dogs with time! I agree with what has been said above - spend more time walking the dogs together and letting them play in a neutral area before bringing the second dog round to your house.
I regularly have a couple of labs belonging to my sister to stay for periods of up to 10 days. My dogs know the other two really well and have done from puppyhood. Nonetheless it is quite stressful for my two I think. Lochan hates it if I show affection to the visitors and is liable to become withdrawn, to the extent that the first time it happened I thought she was unwell. Tarka is much more likely to exhibit signs of a noise phobia, I assume this is because her stress levels are generally higher and little things she is a bit scared of but can cope with on a normal day-to-day basis become above threshold (at Christmas she couldn't cope with the ping the new microwave made, despite the fact she hadn't bothered about it for a month before the visitors came). Even knowing these dogs really well, playing with them, etc it has become apparent with time that having visiting dog(s) in your home can be stressful for the residents. I manage it all very carefully now and it is usually fine but I would advise you not to do it in your particular circumstances unless you can get the dogs to get on well before an overnight stay is contemplated.
Very interesting @Lochan - I've just been making some videos today of dogs on Wimbledon Common, and watching some that my dog walker friends have taken. We are looking at how different dogs cope faced with a high number of other dogs (because I'm interested, and they are trying to help some dogs they walk). If you watch closely enough, there are so many subtle signs of stress that can be missed if you are not looking!
I dog sat a spaniel, Millie, last October for a week. Seemed like a great idea, a pal for Maisie (she had met Millie before lots of times) and helping out a friend, but it became apparent that Millie was bullying Maisie and quite a few times she growled and snarled at her. Maisie tried to play with her but Millie would grumble and growl at her. I had no choice to keep her as her owners were abroad sunning themselves! Maisie has become very timid, even scared, with dogs that she doesn't know (following a bad attack by another dog last summer) and as the week went on Maisie withdrew into herself and became quieter than normal. By the end of the week she was having head tremors - they were the result of her stress levels increasing with Millie being in the house. That's my only experience of dog sitting! But reading Lochan's post reminded me of what happened.
I agree that this all depends on what you want to achieve with this. I can see the advantage of pursuing this further if this is some kind of paid "sitting" and you need the money or if it's going to work as a "trade" with the other person also taking your dog when you need a dog sitter. That would be a wonderful asset to have if the dogs are friends and can enjoy the time together. But the "if" in that last sentence is important, to be sure. I wouldn't dismiss this just based on the one meeting, but as the others have said, if you are wanting to make this work, try some more meetings on neutral territory, to see how that goes. It's hard to judge what their relationship will be just from one meeting. You did say they tried to play with each other by the end of the meeting, so there is possibly hope that this might work out.
That would be really interesting to watch, Julie. I don't know if that's appropriate, but it would be interesting to have a thread with videos in with "spot the signals" - be they playful, stress, nervousness etc. Do you think your video would be suitable for that?
It would take a bit of editing....and a lot more material. But would be super interesting - I'm fascinated by seeing such a density of dogs and their interactions, I'm turning into a real dog watcher! I could do "stupid things people do with dogs on Wimbledon Common" too!
Thanks all for your replies. Me and my friend have decided to meet a couple of times on neutral grounds (park) so they get to know each other well before the other dog can come stay with us for a couple of weeks. My dog is super social and super submissive. She will not miss even a single dog in the park and the moment she approaches another dog she goes upside down. I have been taking her to the park since she was 5-6 months old and she hasn't changed. now she is 2.5yrs old. I will try to give my dog more importance so she doesn't feel neglected.
I will do some research on how to read stress signs in a dog. If any of you have any links please share with us
