Hi, new here. We have a 5 yr old male lab/catahoula mix. He’s been our only dog for the last 5 yrs since he was a puppy. 10 weeks ago we welcomed a beautiful 22 mo old chocolate female lab into our home. She came from a home where she was allowed to come & go as she pleased & pretty much had the run of the place. There were also smaller breed senior dogs in the home that her previous owners were concerned with her chasing them. We were told she went everywhere with them so we assumed she’d been well socialized. She’s just as sweet & goofy as she can be but the problem is she’s like a wrecking ball. She’s a big exuberant girl & everything she does is as big & exuberant as she is. Our boy is pretty put off by that & is definitely not as happy as we are about her being here. We properly introduced them & walked them together which we thought had gone pretty well. The 1st time we brought them together in our yard though was pretty much a disaster. We were supervising & everything seemed to be going fine at first with sniffing & all but then suddenly she came at him like a freight train & pounced on him. Not to attack him but to greet & play with him. I’m sure that’s not the way he saw it though. Long story short we’ve had to keep them separated by gates & rotate them since. We’ll try very short supervised periods of putting them together but it always ends up with her chasing him, pouncing on him, or just not leaving him alone. If he goes to drink from the water bowl she goes too & he’ll just move away. If he tries to come to us for affection or attention she’ll try to block his efforts by crossing in front of him or circling around him. We have been able to have them in the yard together but only when we’re able to keep her focus away from him by playing tug, ball, fetch, etc. The problem there is he might want to engage in play with us too but she hogs all the toys. We always make sure to have multiple toys available. If he tries to go for one of them she’ll quickly run & try to grab it. We do call her away from him with another toy option & she’ll come to us but the 1st opportunity she sees to grab what he has she’ll take it. During the week when it’s only me while husband is at work it’s difficult to give individual time/attention to each one. 1) because she gets anxious if I’m out of her sight or even if I’m just on the other side of the gate. 2) I also keep my 4 yr old granddaughter 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day while her mom works. Our boy has shown some interest in her & I’ve actually seen him attempt to initiate play with her maybe once or twice but because she’s such a wrecking ball I really think he feels intimidated by her so he’s decided maybe it’s better just not to have anything to do with her at all & I can’t really blame him. I’ve been doing a lot of reading trying to find the right way to handle the situation, training advice, etc. Seems like she’s lacking manners & impulse control so have her enrolled in a 6 week manners class course but that doesn’t start til the 1st week in February & have been working w/her on the impulse control & trying to help her calm down. If I can hold out til the manners classes begin I’m hoping to talk to the trainer to see if I can have both of them assessed & get some help & direction. I guess I’m at that “what on earth have we done?!!” and/or “maybe they’re just not the right fit” fork in the road right now. Just venting, looking for a little support and/or reassurance, or similar experiences. Thanks.
Hi MiMi, I'm wondering how you're doing, and if your problem was resolved. I'm new here too, came to see what advice I could find on a similarly crazy 26 month old yellow lab. I adore her, and she's utterly good-natured and loving, but she's overwhelming. She worked with a trainer for 4 months during lockdown, but there was very little improvement in her tendency to lunge and whine at every dog on our walks, and to jump up on people. Since then, I have continued to work with her. I exercise her (lots of fetch in the backyard) before going on walks to wear her out a little; some days, it helps, but not always. Did you find a method that worked?
