[BatMann722]

Over the weekend we adopted/rescued our new dog. His background 6-7 months old and was originally a Romaninan street dog. He has been living in a charity kennels for last month.

Initially everything was fine and they seem settled/no early aggression or worrying behaviour. However yesterday afternoon he started to display this behaviour of snapping at our older original dog (6 years old). It only seems to occur around the sofa and when we are giving attention to our older dog. Even if we are giving attention to the new one and the older one goes to the other person in the room. He will occasionally get up and follow just to snap a bit at the older one. Our older dog is very placid and doesnt snap back/tell the younger one off. He just walks away into the corner and lies down.

He doesn't do this when feeding. Even when you give them both attention at the same time in the kitchen (where they sleep) he doesn't bother our original dog at all.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how this behaviour could be changed/helped? To teach our new one that this isn't ok.

 

[Khecha Wacipi]

This dog is very, very new to your home. He has no idea why he is there, doesn't know or understand where he is exactly and has no idea if this is temporary or not. He is probably anxious. He needs a lot of time, space, and patience.

You need to keep the dogs separated unless you are there with them. Keep one or both on a leash when they are together, and do not ever encourage interaction between them. Just allow them to be in the same place, but not close enough to each other to set off any kind of reaction. It will help if there are two people and you can give both dogs treats when they are in the same room and being quiet. Make sure all times they are in the same room and quiet and calm and positively reinforced with treats and calm upbeat praise.

this will take time and a lot of patience on your part. Don't correct the new dog or your old dog for any behavior they show towards each other, as that will teach the dog to have a negative reaction to the other dog. If one or the other looks anxious or unsure (ears back, turning face away, licking lips, etc.) or starts to growl then take one of them out of the room. You need to create an atmosphere where your new dog can relax, and that may be hindered by his not knowing where he fits into the household when the other dog is there, and feeling he needs to assert boundaries.

You will need to be patient and give this lots of time so that the new dog can settle in and relax. This could take weeks or even months. Do not try to rush it, or rush interactions between the dogs - let it take its own time.

 

[Toedtoes]

I agree with the above. I like using a leash while they are in the same room as it creates a physical connection to you and the new dog. That physical connection can help build the mental connection. It also allows the dog to move a bit but will keep him from going to the other dog.

Here is an app to help you read dog body language. It can help you determine if he is showing fear, anger, etc.

 

[BatMann722]

Ok, thank you very much both for your responses. Very helpful

 

[Jack Naylor]

I use the metal self closing pet / baby gates ..... the ones which are left permanently in place, and have a magnetic / latch closure that need a hooman to open. Display affection, feed, interact in every normal way with both dogs on their own side of the gate. Eventually,(usually) they will begin to show signs of interest with one another.

Also remember, new dog knows that old dog was here 1st (everything smells of him) old dog is afarid of losing his status. In my experience, the greater difference in age and the greater the difference in breed characteristics, background and previous lifestyles, the longer this seems to take.

 

[bogdanfloares]

Over the weekend we adopted/rescued our new dog. His background 6-7 months old and was originally a Romaninan street dog. He has been living in a charity kennels for last month.

Initially everything was fine and they seem settled/no early aggression or worrying behaviour. However yesterday afternoon he started to display this behaviour of snapping at our older original dog (6 years old). It only seems to occur around the sofa and when we are giving attention to our older dog. Even if we are giving attention to the new one and the older one goes to the other person in the room. He will occasionally get up and follow just to snap a bit at the older one. Our older dog is very placid and doesnt snap back/tell the younger one off. He just walks away into the corner and lies down.

He doesn't do this when feeding. Even when you give them both attention at the same time in the kitchen (where they sleep) he doesn't bother our original dog at all.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how this behaviour could be changed/helped? To teach our new one that this isn't ok.

1) I don't know many things about dogs, however I do know things about Romania, since is my homeland. How did you obtained that dog, I ask this because in 2015 the parliament adopted a law that say all street dogs should be euthanized and now you don't see any stray dog on street. That means that the dog you adopted was recently thrown on streets by his owners and he was lucky you adopted it in time before it being collected and killed. He couldn't been born on street, so either someone owned him and decided to throw him, or someone's female dog gave birth to some puppies that the owner didn't want so they left them on streets and somehow managed to survive until you adopted it.

2) If romanian dogs resemble romanian people then you dog will be very difficile to work with

 

[bogdanfloares]

.

 

[BigBlackDog]

So I read the original post, then the replies, then went back and read the OP. Wow! What a disconnect!

These dogs have no problem with each other, so OP can totally disregard all the gates and separation advice IMHO.

The puppy is exhibiting jealousy, which is totally normal. Tell him to knock it off and NEVER give him any satisfaction at all for that behavior, and continue petting your original dog. When you're done, call the puppy over and show him some affection.

If you're consistent with that, your problem will be solved. And again, no gates, no separation, no leash control needed. Just stop tolerating and/or rewarding the jealousy!

 

[Khecha Wacipi]

So I read the original post, then the replies, then went back and read the OP. Wow! What a disconnect!

These dogs have no problem with each other, so OP can totally disregard all the gates and separation advice IMHO.

The puppy is exhibiting jealousy, which is totally normal. Tell him to knock it off and NEVER give him any satisfaction at all for that behavior, and continue petting your original dog. When you're done, call the puppy over and show him some affection.

If you're consistent with that, your problem will be solved. And again, no gates, no separation, no leash control needed. Just stop tolerating and/or rewarding the jealousy!

I suggested keeping them separated when they couldn't be supervised and monitoring interaction carefully because it would not be right to allow the puppy to harass and nip at the older dog - it is not fair to the older dog, who deserves respect and protection from bad behavior on the part of the new one. This would be easiest to accomplish if the new dog were on a leash.

To say the two dogs have no problem with each other doesn't seem quite accurate. I doubt that the older dog appreciates the young one nipping at him, even if he is mellow about it. And a very mellow dog can reach the end of their patience and attack the young one who keeps harassing him.

I do believe in doing as little interference as possible but equally I believe in protecting the elder from being badgered by the new dog.

 

[Toedtoes]

For me, using a leash to keep the new dog from "going over and snapping at" the other dog is just to make it easier to redirect him from that behavior.

Also, as mentioned, it gives the older dog a break without him always having to move away.

But I agree that this appears to be a simple case of jealousy and not a major concern. The suggestions are simply providing options for the OP as they find the behavior unacceptable (or at the least annoying).

 

[Jack Naylor]

These dogs have no problem with each other, so OP can totally disregard all the gates and separation advice IMHO.

By way of explanation, I didn't mean to imply that this is a requiment; in our case it's merely a convenience. Most of the the time we spend training our own and other dogs is spent doing "don't eat the cats" stuff. When son came home from college, we had recently lost our 2 dogs, his dog was selective aggressive with other dogs and strongly aggressive with cats. We installed a swing gate between the at entrance to what we call the "cat level", it's the 3rd of 5 levels. Huckleberry was confined on one side, cats could do what they want. In 1st few days, there were incidents with safety absolutely insured the gate, each interrupted with an "Eh !". Once or twice I had to grab the short leash on his harness and pull away. Over the ensuing days, things got quieter and after about 7 days they were quietly observing each other thru the gate afyter which he was rewarded. By 10 days the cats were jumping over the gate and coming downstairs. Date was left open for a year till Old Dog arrived.

Basically a rinse and repeat situation with Old Dog but it only took 4 days before the cats came down and gate was left open. On the second day however, when coming in with dog leashed, cat was there, my head was turned closing the door and she lunged. caught me off guard and I was pulled forward 2 steps. Then came new dog .. new dog was chill to cats but she's had some occasional housebreaking issues so left it closed. We have our swinging gates in place all the time, mostly left in the open position. Dogs have full access to the house but there are times we don't want old dog up there as old dog / young cat sound like Clydesdales at night running back and forth over my head. We had an incident on XMas eve, son and his dog arrived, Huck and old dog were so excited he didn't notice me sitting on stairs holding new dog leashed, Huck was lashed too. Son let them close to sniff ..all was well for 30 seconds and then Huck lunged, I as pulled down a step (sweatpants on polished wood), and my son was also caught unawares and dogs had at it for a few seconds. Cut to the chase, all was fine 5 minutes later but it was a scare

So, in short, we use the gates 1) cause they are there and they are convenient, 2) we get visits by local shelter staff with new dogs so "Intros" are a regular thing and 3) our dogs are powerful and it's difficult to maintain constant vigilance as we were reminded Xmas Eve. Not saying OP needs to take such steps, just that here, easy, already in place and it works. I agree,if you can maintain absolute control of the dog, even when distracted, leashes will be a more readily available and perfectly safe. Leash anxiety, reactivity, aggression can affect that 1st meeting dynamic but with full leash control, no risk involved. As long OP's dogs don't have a huge size difference,should be no issues. I do agree that, when dogs are not supervised by Hoomans, that the dogs be physically separated and better that they still be able to see and approach either. Also vigilance is key .... bad things do happen. Do a web search on "dog attacked / killed new puppy", and you'll find many news stories or person's posted experiences where someone's attention was diverted for a few seconds or minutes and the outcome was not good, and not just inexperienced owners.