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5 year old hound mix aggressive toward new puppy

496 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  3GSD4IPO
Hello, i'm having some issues with my 5 year old hound mix, Loki, and my room mates new yellow lab puppy.
Some history on Loki, he is a 5 year old (what i believe to be) plott hound. I got him from a family who had 2 litters when he was 8 weeks old and have had him since. He was neutered at 2 years old. He was raised alone until he was almost 1 then introduced with my brothers 6 month old blue pitt rescue and they are amazing together, aside from being slightly destructive while playing (tearing up toys and wherever we give them to play with but they will not destroy things they are not given). Loki and Freeway(the pitt) have never had an incident or fought. He is territorial and slightly toy possessive. It is a challenge to take him to dog parks because it seems if energy is high he is more prone to snapping so i normally avoid dog parks and play with him one on one as i normally don't have to keep him on a leash because he listens to most people very well and doesn't run off or wander, he normally just wants to be around people and doesn't have an interest in other dogs.
My room mate brought in the yellow lab puppy (Daisy) a little over a month ago and she is precious. He (roommate) has a fiance who stays with us regularly, over the weekends, and she also brings her dog, a 40-50lb lab mix named Luna. Luna is very sweet and extremely submissive and skittish around new people, but she and Loki have had no problems or incidents.
The first incident Loki had with the new puppy (Daisy) was my fault completely. I was in the yard with both dogs, throwing a soft Frisbee for Loki and Daisy was lying in the sun. I made a terrible toss, trying to take a video of Loki catching the frisbee and tossed it to land literally on top of Daisy. Loki in typical fashion went after the frisbee before it touched the ground and caught Daisy on her back and neck giving her a cut, but immediately stopped and cowered away, acting like he knew he messed up. The second incident im still unsure of the situation as i was not home at the time but it was while all 3 dogs were in the house, from what i was told the dogs were all just laying around and Daisy was exploring the house. Loki was lying away from everyone else near the dining area and Daisy came by sniffing around and Loki snapped at her, picking her up by the neck and shaking her. Again i still haven't been told my my room mate who owns Daisy what happened, only by another room mate who was in his room at the time what he knew. Now the owner of the puppy is trying to tell me that i have to get rid of Loki, who i have had for 5 years and have really gone through some tough things with. Im not entertaining the idea of re-homing my best friend.
So i suppose what im asking is for opinions on the situation, possible solutions aside from keeping them totally separated. At the worst i will look for a new place for me and Loki, but im curious is this may be a passing thing just so the pecking order is established, or if i should do something preventative such as muzzle train Loki. Im mainly concerned because im switching my work shifts to nights and dont want to have either of the dogs kenneled for 10-11 hours a day because there is no supervision. Thanks everyone.
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Also, normally they get along well. They can typically play mostly Loki holding a rope toy and Daisy tugging and they also seem friendly most of the time even laying together

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... what im asking is for opinions on the situation, possible solutions aside from keeping them totally separated. At the worst i will look for a new place for me and Loki, but im curious is this may be a passing thing just so the pecking order is established, or if i should do something preventative such as muzzle train Loki. Im mainly concerned because im switching my work shifts to nights and dont want to have either of the dogs kenneled for 10-11 hours a day because there is no supervision. Thanks everyone.
The best solution is to keep them both separated.

Kenneling for 10-11 hours is not a bad thing if he is crate trained and if someone gives him a break in the middle. Or, keep Loki in a separate room. "At the worst' Loki can kill the puppy. Shaking by the neck is very inappropriate, no matter what the trigger was. It might not be a passing thing and in fact, dog fights and bites tend to stay at the same level of intensity or get worse under the same situation if training isn't done. For example, if Loki snapped and shook the puppy for sniffing around him, he is very likely to do the same or worse next time it happens.

Honestly, your dog sounds like he doesn't really like other dogs and just tolerates them. That is fine, but Loki has proven multiple times that he will react rather than retreat if he is pushed. I would never trust a dog like that unsupervised around other dogs. In fact, I would not trust a dog like that supervised around other dogs, in certain situations. I would also never trust any "territorial" and "possessive" dog unsupervised with another dog. Period. It doesn't matter how great they get along otherwise or how many years they've lived together. I would never do it. It's not a matter of 'if' an accident happens, but 'when'. And honestly, separating might make Loki feel better too, because his space and other resources won't be encroached on.

I have a very possessive dog; he is selective and has punctured dogs twice over resources. He will get into a fight if greeted by dogs acting a certain way. We've lived with 5 different dogs/roommates in multiple different houses. I have boarded other dogs in my home. There has NEVER been an incident because my dog is physically in my room with my door shut, or in a crate, any time I am not directly supervising. I have a puppy who is now 9 months old. A few months ago, my dog bit the puppy in the face and broke skin for coming near him when he was sleeping. This happened while both dogs were literally next to me, and I dropped my attention for a second. They're friends now (much to my surprise) and play every day. There has not been another incident. I will still never leave them unsupervised as long as my older dog is alive.
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Reason 657.6 why I keep my dogs separated. First thing, you have one dog that comes and goes. Do not think for an instant that this dog who comes and visits does not re-arrange the social structure with every arrival and every departure. IME it is the submissive dog that starts an issue.. I am not sure why.

Now in this mix is a 12 week old puppy. ANY dog that does NOT give a puppy this age a "pass" is unstable. Period. IF Loki actually SHOOK the puppy, everyone is very very lucky there is no dead puppy.

You can train, you can reward, you can work on this and maybe get a fix but it will never be a reliable fix. The instant all the dogs are together, they focus on each other and all that training can go out the window.

Separate the dogs. It is that simple an answer though it is not that simple a solution.
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