Bonding 2 dogs
Discussion
Right - so we got a little girl from Romania to try and calm Simba down and get him more social.
Cookie (new dog) is very friendly, playful and loves people and 99% of dogs.
Simba is a bit more of a grumpy lil git - only likes people after a bit of getting to know them, barks at most other dogs.
They both have their own crates, bed, bowls and toys. Get crated for an hour every few hours to have some quiet time, and throughout the night (despite the protests of both of them)
On walks, both as good as gold - sniff each other, pee and poop next to each other, and generally act like they've known each other all of their lives.
In the house - 90% of the time they ignore each other and just sleep in the hall/crate/floor, or try and come up for cuddles and strokes.
But the other 10% of the time, they have a few tiffs and last night they had quite a big wrestling match which i stepped it to break up, plus they had another one this morning so im told - resulting in a tiny graze to Cookie's snout.
Is this just teething problems and expected in early stages, or am i just being too optimistic and this will continue forever until one dog gets seriously harmed?
Or am i expecting too much considering they've only been together since Sunday lunch time?
Cookie (new dog) is very friendly, playful and loves people and 99% of dogs.
Simba is a bit more of a grumpy lil git - only likes people after a bit of getting to know them, barks at most other dogs.
They both have their own crates, bed, bowls and toys. Get crated for an hour every few hours to have some quiet time, and throughout the night (despite the protests of both of them)
On walks, both as good as gold - sniff each other, pee and poop next to each other, and generally act like they've known each other all of their lives.
In the house - 90% of the time they ignore each other and just sleep in the hall/crate/floor, or try and come up for cuddles and strokes.
But the other 10% of the time, they have a few tiffs and last night they had quite a big wrestling match which i stepped it to break up, plus they had another one this morning so im told - resulting in a tiny graze to Cookie's snout.
Is this just teething problems and expected in early stages, or am i just being too optimistic and this will continue forever until one dog gets seriously harmed?
Or am i expecting too much considering they've only been together since Sunday lunch time?
We're doing both positive and negative re-enforcement.
Both sit and play nice, lots of treats and strokes.
Both start growling or playing up, they get a bit of water misted on them. They now stop at the sight of the bottle, so it's slowly working.
The 'fighting' just seems to be random, but i think it's just territory or pack placing.
Simba was an only dog for almost 2 years, and only lived with another during his foster, where as cookie has always been with other dogs in both her previous life and in foster.
She's a quick learner though- gone from barely knowing sit, to sitting by the roadside when waiting to cross in the 3 days we've had her.
Both sit and play nice, lots of treats and strokes.
Both start growling or playing up, they get a bit of water misted on them. They now stop at the sight of the bottle, so it's slowly working.
The 'fighting' just seems to be random, but i think it's just territory or pack placing.
Simba was an only dog for almost 2 years, and only lived with another during his foster, where as cookie has always been with other dogs in both her previous life and in foster.
She's a quick learner though- gone from barely knowing sit, to sitting by the roadside when waiting to cross in the 3 days we've had her.
The more i watch dog wrestling on youtube, the more im convinced its this rather than fighting - lots of teeth and snarling and trying to nip at the base of the neck rather than on the face (i've had that before with a staffie and a bernese cross- that took a lot of effort to break up)
Jasandjules said:
Do they bow at each other at all during the "fight" or before it? Does one roll over and the other one jump on, then later on it is the other one on the floor?
To be honest it's always when my head is turned or just out of my sight line.Yesterday they kinda (for lack of a better word) rumbled out of the room, and she was trying to sort of get at the back of Simba's neck when i lifted her off him. Luckily she weighs nothing.
Little Update - they haven't been rough housing over the last couple of days, just a bit of Simba showing his teeth at most.
But Cookie is now lying down in front of him, initiating nose touches (some are gratefully received, others have a low growl behind them)and Simba is slowly coming back out of his shell again and started to liven up a bit.
he's still quote protective over "his" side of the living room with his crate.
And when Cookie went to investigate the rabbits, Simba soon let her know that they were under his protection as well, the silly bugger.
But Cookie is now lying down in front of him, initiating nose touches (some are gratefully received, others have a low growl behind them)and Simba is slowly coming back out of his shell again and started to liven up a bit.
he's still quote protective over "his" side of the living room with his crate.
And when Cookie went to investigate the rabbits, Simba soon let her know that they were under his protection as well, the silly bugger.
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