[Rosekitten]

Hello all, I came here seeking advice and help on my current situation. I recently adopted a lab/pit mix from a couple who were moving to a smaller place of living. They already were keeping the parent dogs and couldn't (due to the landlord rules) have a third dog.

She is seven months old and honest I think she is a sweetheart and I want to give her time to adjust. I worry that something bad will happen before the adjustment period is up though. I made sure to find out how she dealt with other dogs/children. My main issue when I have been seeking out to adopt a pup or young dog has been them getting along with kids or other pets. Granted I knew my cats would take adjustment time.. I don't expect them to forgive me for a while heh.

Now to the issue. She's been here four days. I know that is a short amount of time and I should at least give her three weeks if not longer. But I live in a house with 5 adults and 5 children. Not to mention the 5 cats and one other dog and chickens outside. Chasing cats was expected, we are working with her to discourage this habit. It is the growling I am concerned about.

When we first brought her home she greeted everyone, was happy and seemed to settle right in (minus the cats of course). Even the other dog when we brought her out. That meeting seemed to go great. Now she seems standoffish and growls at everyone. She tried to snip at one of the other house mates. Tries to grab at the cats if they don't get away fast enough. It's her acting so fearful that has me worried. I hope it's just her adjusting but I fear where she snipped at someone already that the kids or other pets might be at risk.

She's not left alone in the house yet, if she'snot being watched shes in her kennel. She doesn't like to go for walks (i've tried to bribe her into a walk and everything).She just seems so bored. She's still a very young dog yet she just lays there all day and acts like she is sad. The only time she gets up is to follow myself or my husband where we go in the house.

We talked about the fact we may have to find her a new home if she is really unhappy here or if she starts to act more on her growls.. I can't risk a kid or someone else being bitten. I'm not sure what to do and I'm trying so I don't want to give up on her but I admit I am worried. I think our overlylargefamily may be a bit much for her.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

do agree with suddenly overwhelmed with an extreme change . Definitely setting up a quiet area , even a baby gated area where she can absorb all the daily goings on, but is not confronted with having to participate or be confronted to make any decisions on how to react. Along with everyone in the house hold helping to ignore her while she is settling in. If you have the fenced in yard, or need to take her out on a leash close to the house I would keep her routine basic simple going out for potty breaks and just sitting outside letting her move around on a long line as her activity time. Would also call the people you got her from and let them know you may need to rehome her. At least let them have first chance to take her back or find another home of their choosing. I would think having her the first 7 months there would be an emotional attachment to want to know the pup is in a good place if yall can't keep her.

 

[Rosekitten]

I'm not sure what their attachment or not is to the pup. I want her to fit in as she seems to be a sweet girl but her increasing amounts of growling and being so timid when someone goes to pet her when she is out and about has me concerned. I already contacted the previous owner to update them on everything. No reply back after I mentioned that she may need to find another home. I'm holding out a bit of hope yet in that she is taking everything in. But it's not fair to the poor girl if she's going to be stressed and unfriendly towards a majority of the household.

I'm still very much leaning towards her maybe being abused where she previously came from though... She flinches whenever you go to first pet her. Part of me hopes I don't get a reply back from her previous owner if that is the case. If she has to be rehomed and I can't work things out for her with our family then at the least I know she'll be as content as I can manage till I can get her a better home.

But like I said I still want to hold out hope just yet on her. But if she offers to bite at anyone she will have to go sadly. I do have her space set up. I may move her kennel to more of the back of our bedroom. So if she needs to she can go back there and won't have to look at the kiddos or anything.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

It's always a polite thing to do in asking the previous owners. Choosing you to have the pup may of been a choice they were happy with for the pups well being because it was you and may have had other people that were interested that they could go to if the pup not work out. Again it is the polite thing to do , if they not answer back it's not your fault to push the issue. Again do feel this pup is overwhelmed for acting out. You said that the pup could go back to a quiet place? I set new dogs and new animals up in house and even the new farm arrivals in their own spaces. For the house I just baby gate off a room, my family room is right off the kitchen and there is full view of the high active and traffic areas of the house. Have their crate food water toys dog bed in there.. they can choose to hover at the gate.. or go lay down out of sight away from the gate all day long But they still able to choose to come up to the gate to greet , get a treat, I put them on a daily schedule for out side potty breaks.. I don't try to do more with them until they settle, looking to me in that happy way for initiating more interaction.. I keep it pretty boring for a while then start adding small things.. Dogs easily can get frustrated when overwhelmed too much over stimulus and will start shutting down, being defensive to make it stop and go away is a typical response that has nothing with being abused.

 

[Rosekitten]

Yes she has her own space. She can go pretty much anywhere she wants but she has her own quiet corner out of the way of everyone. I grew up around a lot of dogs so I know a few things. I'm just more concerned that she is growling so much. Even if no one is remotely acting like they are going near her. I hope it passes and she settles in but with little kids I do worry a lot. I can't really gate her off due to how the house is set up sadly.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

dogs don't always make the best choices on their own.. it sounds like the dog is free roaming loose in the house which allows for situations and encounters that they may not be ready to handle just getting started.. which is different from me starting the dogs off contained in an area 24/7 as their first introduction into a new home and environment. Nothing about you don't have experience with dogs. just trying to help the pup...

 

[Rosekitten]

She stays in our room most of the day unless myself or husband walks out of the room. There isn't a real way to confine her short of leaving her in the kennel all day minus bathroom/food. Her size makes that a bit unfair to her to do that. The other option is buying one of the fence gates for inside the house but to get one sturdy enough to hold her costs quite a bit. She's been fairly good today minus the slip up just now. Not sure if she was playing or chasing but the cats were not playing (though I don't expect any of the cats save maybe one to bother making friends enough with her to play). Still a bit edgy towards the other house mates but less growling today is at least good. We'll see how tonight goes though. That's when she seems to get really agitated with the cats.

Would moving her kennel to the back of the room help? It would be next to the bed but further away from doorways so less traffic.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

agree being in the kennel would be hard for extended periods of time. odd longer passage ways can be expensive to cover. I like using 1" x 1" to build a gate that is wide enough and high enough. you can purchase them in 6', 10',
and 12' lengths then cut the vertical height of your gate where you want it, and be able to space them that can or can not allow smaller animals access through them... Still have to work with them to respect the gate everything is going to take time. .


there is also this one that some one mentioned in another group https://www.amazon.com/Regalo-192-Inch-Super-Wide-White/dp/B003VNKLIY/ref=pd_ybh_a_88?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BTX2QJVJ0F4J6QF9QGBA

I don't have this gate but seems like it is very flexiable for different sizes.

some times all you need is time... introducing basic skills on a daily routine they can repeat and have the opportunity to keep practicing the skills your showing them.

My dogs were new to bringing cats into the house... I did a rotate schedule.. dogs put up while the cats had a time of day to be loose in the house, then I put them cats in a room while the dogs were having their time. getting your foundation with the new dog is first for me, I don't consider being able to train the cats... so I just work on the dog lol lol ...

High stressful times for your dog there would be nothing wrong with putting her away in the bedroom during that time.. for right now,, and see if helps.. then slowly in time bring her back out. She sounds like she is responded to you and what you are doing..

 

[Rosekitten]

I actually was looking at that gate though marked down is a bit more affordable. I'll try moving her kennel more to the back and out of the way. Less fighting today/tonight has me a little more at ease. Granted like you said.. cats and training are not a thing. Least never something I have managed minus litter training in all the years I have owned and worked with cats. Two of the five cats in the household are mine and are fairly laid back so putting them up should be easy to allow the dog a bit less stress walking around the house. The other three.. two stay in the back rooms so they should be fine. The last one is the one who is friends with the other dog in the house. She seems to be trying to make friends but seems unsure how to take a younger dog compared to the older lab mix in the house.

I think she has a thing against older males... My husband she is fine with, though we both brought her home so that may have a hand in it. But it was just today I noticed she only growls at my housemate's husband and their eldest son. Though timid she has never offered to growl towards the two other adult females in the house or the kids. Maybe I'm over looking into things at this point.

 

[Rosekitten]

As an update I did have to rehome the pup. After meeting a few people I found a small family who wanted to adopt her. She took to them right away. She's being taken to the groomers and has a dog park near-by as well as neighbors with friendly dogs (some greeted her already while we were there). I think she is in a much better home for her where the stress of so many people around won't upset her. I worked with her and I can happily say she was much more playful and outgoing than when we first got her from her previous home. I didn't want to really re-home her as she was a sweetheart but she seemed always on edge here and was still acting like she disliked one of my housemate's older children getting near her. Where she was re-homed to she even gets to sleep on the bed where my husband did not want her doing that here.