Wife and I have a 3 yo yellow boy (castrated) who I’d say is a dominant however, since he was runt of litter I say it’s all in his head. He wants to prove he’s the bmoc. He’s maybe 65 lbs soaking wet. My grown daughter is getting a puppy, coming home mid November, and since Mom and dad (us) are retired and she works, well...doggy daycare it is for us. Which is way OK. Puppy will be a female yellow. Our boy is a fantastic dog, with humans. He’s well trained and obedient and very food motivated so he can be taught easily. Love him to death. With other dogs he’s not good. I work pt at a boarding kennel and can bring him along so I can pick and choose the dogs I mix him up with. All dogs he will charge and growl, hackles up, tail curled and stiff but wagging slightly. Most dogs are intimidated and submit. Dogs that go back at him (playfully but strongly as he does) confuse him and there’s some rough play, growling, and serious checking of private parts. Eventually they play and roughhouse themselves out. We don’t mix with dogs out walking or play parks, he’s trained to “leave it” and does. Personally, I think our boy isn’t mean, just pushy, and our reluctance to mix him up with other dogs has resulted in him being under-socialized. I’m looking for relative advice on how to introduce the puppy to our boy and for how to make this a (mostly) successful relationship. Thanks so much!
I would be really, really careful. It is likely that if your dog is the first dog this puppy meets after leaving the litter, that the experience will make a big impression on her - which will literally last lifelong and form the personality she develops and the dog she becomes. Being charged at by a huge dog with hackles raised, can easily be a terrifying experience for this puppy. And if this dog responds like that off his own property, imagine how he may react when confronted unexpectedly by another dog in his house. Ideally, your daughter's puppy would not meet your dog until she is outside the socialisation period (14 weeks+) and has met many other well-adjusted dogs with positive experiences. If she then does happen to have a bad experience with your dog, hopefully she will shrug it off as just one amongst many previous good experiences. Can your daughter take some weeks off work when she gets the puppy? Can you figure out a way to separate both dogs at your house during the day, in a really bomb proof way, so they don't meet each other? Once the puppy is 14wks+, you can figure out a way to introduce them very gradually with both dogs on leash taking a walk parallel to each other and gradually getting closer if they both seem ok. He's not behaving like this because he is "dominant", but because he is confused and scared about how the other dog will respond. It sounds like he has sometimes met other males who haven't responded well to him, and he is confused about how to approach other dogs. If you were scared of spiders and one approached you with intent, you would quite likely stamp your foot at it and clap your hands and try to get it to run away by making yourself seem big and scary to the spider. That doesn't mean you are being "dominant" over the spider, it just means you are scared of spiders...
I AM scared of spiders and if one approached me with intent I would run hell for leather in the opposite direction!!
Good point. But dogs are almost always either on leash and unable to run, or contained in a house or garden or fenced in dog park - and unable to run and get away from the feared dog or person. If you were tied to a chair with a spider approaching, but able to move your arms... you are either going to let the spider walk all over you (which some dogs do, too - this is the 'freeze' response in the face of something frightening) or you are going to smash it (fight). Given the choice, the majority of dogs will choose to move away from things they are scared of, too. It is typically humans who prevent them from doing this. And when 'flight' isn't possible, that's where 'fight' begins... There are only 3 responses to fearful stimuli - fight, flight or freeze. And much of the work with reactive dogs, is helping them reinstall the 'moving away' part of things - so they have less need to be reactive.
Again, thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate it, it’s made me think. As I wrote in my op I work at a boarding kennel and I have the opportunity to bring my boy along with me. Here and there, if the time and dog are right, I allow him to meet other dogs. Again, as I said, he will growl and and approach (“charge” probably is too strong a word) wagging tail and very curious as far as private parts are concerned. He will lick them sometimes. Timid dogs will just submit and allow it, then they’ll play or ignore each other. More confident dogs will sniff back and go back at my boy, which will surprise him, and then they’ll chase each other and play and roughhouse. Eventually they’ll just stop and relax. The operator of the kennel is a trainer and knows my dog well. I’ve spoken to her about all this and she feels there’s not a bad bone in my boys body and that he will be fine with pup but things must be controlled and slow a time the start. She feels that he’s just not been allowed to be a dog much, socialized, and that’s entirely my fault. Rather than deal with the hassle of “meeting” at dog parks, trails, and such, my boy is trained to walk by other dogs. He does often whine if the other dog shows interest and if they do mix, he’s restrained on leash. Anyway, we are going to work on his social skills, in controlled sessions and we’ll see where it goes. When time comes, we are also going to strictly control the meeting with my daughter’s puppy and im again looking for ideas how.... puppy in crate, away from my home, my boy on leash, perhaps short meeting or just glimpses at first, etc, etc. If it becomes apparent it won’t work, or more time is needed, we can easily accomodate.
I would just hold the puppy in your arms and (if pup seems ok with it and not terrified) allow them to sniff whilst you hold the pup. If that seems ok, you can then sit down on something so pup is more at the height of the older dog, on your lap - and allow more sniffing and sometimes some facey-facey biting play if they do that. Do this outside the house and preferably not on your (his) property. I would perhaps avoid putting the pup down on the ground with him, for a couple days - keep pup behind a stair gate or crated and use separation and allow them to smell each other and get used to each other in that way. (You might get loads of frustrated barking from the pup, at the dog behind the stair gate - stick some cardboard in the stairgate so pup can't see through it.) When you do introduce them, put the adult dog on the leash and allow the pup to choose to approach or move away - it would also help if this intro is done 'moving' on the leash, so taking a short walk around a field for example, so the pup is exploring and not just into the adult dog. And repeat that a few times. Then it's about supervising every interaction they have indoors, to make sure that neither is harassing the other....
Now please don't take this the wrong way. One thing that concerns me here, is that very occasionally, I have left my dogs in kennels. Under strict stipulation that I do not want them meeting/engaging with other dogs whilst in their care. I have one dog who "appears" confident, most walkers I have met also think he is a confident young lad. You really have to "know" to understand this isn't the case. I would be very upset if I was aware that he was being introduced to another dog, because he (my dog...) appears OK with that engagement.
