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Old dog doesn't care for the new dog.

774 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Erin1979
I adopted our small Scottish Terrier mix (Bo) from the shelter two years ago, he was found as a stray in company of a Labrador. Bo has always done great with other dogs and always eager to play when we have gone to dog parks or while he was in obedience school.
I thought he wouldn't mind when I brought home a 3 year old Labrador (Boyd) over the weekend.
I don't know if it's a dominance thing or maybe because the new dog is in his territory, but Bo has been somewhat aggressive towards Boyd.
He barks, growls and snaps at him, although Boyd outweighs him by 60lbs. Bo gets really upset when Boyd and I are playing or when Boyd comes to me for scratches. Bo acts like he is protecting us.
Boyd on the other hand ignores Bo, when Bo is growling at him, Boyd ignores him and walks away. Bo tried to jump on Boyd's back on the first day and he just walked off, which I think made Bo mad.
Boyd was raised with a Miniature Pinscher, who always hated him and would constantly bite at him, so unfortunately I think Boyd is used to being picked on.

I've never been in this situation before and I don't know which steps I need to take. I would appreciate some advice before someone gets hurt. So far I've just been separating them when Bo gets out of control. I'm not showing any favoritism towards one or the other and Bo is not getting any less attention than he previously did.

Both boys are neutered and the same age.
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My daughter and I did take them both for a mile long walk this evening and they did great together, even walked side by side. They were also fine with each other in the yard after we arrived back home.
We are feeding separately also.

Bo is the one I struggle with, he started guarding my daughter severely back in October when we bought our house and moved. He won't leave her side and even guards her while she sleeps. He's constantly nervous and on edge. I've talked to our vet about it, who he sees monthly for his skin condition and gland issues and he can't give me a solution.
I've noticed that he gets the most aggressive when my daughter interacts with Boyd, when I think the jealousy comes in.

Right now they are not around each other often in the house.

Since the first night that we had Boyd here, he does not want to be in the house. I set up a place for him in the living room, with his bed and toys. He was fine for the first 15 minutes and then went to the door, scratched on it to be let back out and started howling. I tried my best to distract him for about an hour and it continued on. I opened the door and he ran back out to the shade tree that he had claimed earlier in the day and laid down. I could not leave him there, so we decided to try the garage and he was content with that. I left the door to the house open in case he wanted to come inside and he never did. Same thing tonight. The garage is not a terrible place, we never store cars or even tools in there. It's a 3 car garage, so big and has a couch, radio and a huge window.
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Normally I would have done a meet and greet between the two, but getting Boyd was somewhat an emergency situation. Boyd came from a family member. Originally I was told that she did not have time for him because she goes to school, works 2 full time jobs and she had to quickly find him a new home because she was never home to care for him. After we came to see him, I was told that her ex husband would beat Boyd, so severely that at one time Boyd was given a bloody nose. She was not with the guy anymore, but she does not want Boyd around him.
Which is why I also agree that I need to protect Boyd from any harm, including our small dog. I am determined to make this work, even if the two never get along, Boyd will be happy and safe.
We will do the brisk walks twice a day, it did seem to work yesterday and we're going to work on some NILIF (I had to google that to see what that was :)).
Thank you everyone for your replies and I'll update.
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