I just got a second dog. my first dog is about 10 months old and the new one is about 4 months.
I’ve done a lot of reading about what to expect and what to do to help.
amrottclub.org/dog2.htm
co.san-bernardino.ca.us/acc/ … onddog.pdf
carepets.org/pdf/b42nddog.pdf
Here are a couple of links to get anyone started who is thinking about bringing a second dog into their home.
One problem that I am having thus far is in feeding them.
I feed them separately in different areas of the house.
My first dog was used to taking his time eating his food and would often leave food in his bowl for hours before finishing.
The new puppy (like most puppies) want’s to eat everything in one sitting and will then run into the other room and eat my older dogs food as well.
Any advice on what to do about this?
hi loboto,
this used to happen with my dogs too. it took many stern “NO’s” until she finally learned. it took some time, but with your supervision and training they will learn eventually.
now she never goes near his food.
i think it’s common if you adopt dogs that were neglected and food is an issue for them. but they are smart and will listen to you if you are persistant in the “no” command. if you can’t always be around then you should put the food up and let them eat only when you can supervise. oh, and it might help to serve their food in different types of containers so they know which bowl is theirs and which is not.
have patience and it will work out.
i don’t have any other tips because the above worked for me.
jm
I used to have three Akitas (actually, at a high point we had nine). At first I fed them in separate parts of the yard, but that was kind of like trying to give each dog a dog toy and expecting them to realize whose was whose. Anyway, after a few bites, one dog would meander over and take over another’s bowl, setting off a triangular chain reaction that would continue for a while. It was mildly amusing until one of the dogs decided she wasn’t moving. There was blood everywhere. After that, I fed them in separate rooms with the doors closed – and if they didn’t finish, I put the bowl up until later. Problem solved.
You could merge this with the “Where can I find a Vietnamese restaurant” thread. Problem solved!
HG
Chopin is the older dog. Lucy is the younger.
It’s really funny watching the two in action.
i.e. There is a bone on the floor. Chopin picks it up and walks over to Lucy and stands above her showing her that it is his. Lucy tried to get it to no avail. Chopin lies down and starts chewing it and spaces out. Lucy grabbs it and then lies down and starts chewing it and Chopin has a crap look on his face but does nothing about it.
Maybe this is boring to read about but it’s makes me howl with laughter.
Chopin has changed a lot in the past few days. He is a lot more mature and listens to me more than before.
Just one problem though. Lucy has sharp little teeth and when they fight, she bites Chopins neck and there are several cuts. Everytime I see it I give them hell but it is still happening. Do you think putting a muzzle on Lucy when I am not home would help?
I have four dogs, all previously strays, and all female. Needless to say, it was been interesting trying to convince them to get along. The oldest is just over a year old and the others are around 9 or 10 months old. From what I have read, the best theory on dog behaviour seems to be that dogs, much like wolves, will interact as a pack. Therefore, there has to be a leader at the head of the pack and a hierarchy that the other less dominant dogs fall into. When dogs meet for the first time, they immediately size up the other dog and try to establish who is dominant and who is submissive. But the important thing is that they see you as the leader. A good way to establish that is too make sure you always eat before they do. It sounds kind of crazy but when a pack of wolves eat in the wild, there’s always a specific order in which they eat. This lets the dogs know exactly where they stand and they feel less anxious if they know when their turn is. With my dogs, I always try to eat something, anything, before I feed them, just to make sure that they know I stand higher than them in our “pack.” Then I feed the oldest one, who is the biggest and the most dominant. Then I’ll wait for about a minute and feed the next, and then so on with the other two. At first, I had to put leashes on all of them and physically keep them from trying to eat one another’s food. Then they gradually learned the order and just waited their turn. The key was to be consistant even after they started to show improvement.
There are loads of other ways to keep your dogs in order, such as always going through the door before they do, not letting them sleep up on your bed with you or letting them sleep on the couch even. You also have to be tolerant of the inevitable fights they will get into. If you don’t let them establish who is the dominant one, then they will continue to challenge one another. Of course, if they start to injure themselves then you have to step in and stop it. I’ve actually come home to find the younger dogs with gashes on their muzzles from the oldest one. She didn’t dare do it while I was at home but started doing it whenever I was out. I think it may have been out of jealously since I was spending a lot of time trying to train the younger ones. The problem got so bad that I had to put the oldest in the crate whenever we went out so she couldn’t attack the others. I thought she would hate it but it actually gives her her own space away from the other boogers and she seems much happier in there. That’s one option you could try instead of muzzling the dog when you’re not there. The other thing to keep in mind is that puppies are always a pain in the ass and you have to be really really patient until they get old enough to act like the dogs you want them to be.
Well, good luck!!! You’ll end up learning just as much as they do.
Great post and great advice Bokgwai. Thanks.
I’ve had my 2nd dog for over a month now. She is still pissing all over the house. I take her out 3 times a day. Most of the time she craps outside.
I put newspaper down and when she pisses on the newspaper I clean up that area with Windex (ammonia based) and when she pisses anywhere else I use bleach. I read that bleach will kill the smell where ammonia will actually make the smell stronger/make the dog want to pee there.
As far as esablishing dominance, i’m not too sure who is the dominant dog yet. They don’t get into violent fights but they often wrestle with each other. If I give them 2 bones they will battle over one of them and ignore the other one. My older dog will take the bone in his mouth and walk over to my younger dog and then they will battle for who gets to chew it. My younger dog most often wins.
I’m thinking about locking my little one in the bathroom at night and when I go out. Then when I get home or wake up I can take her outside to go.
Suggestions?
You know what? I had a dog that was exactly the same, and I tried my best to teach her how to do her business outside… tried every trick in every book, but the one I found most helpful was bribing her… like, if she peed outside, I’d give her a cookie (there’s a huge tub of animal cookies at costco for 200 and something bucks). It took a lot of waiting and patience, but she got better… unfortunately, she never got completely over that until we moved into our new place.
You can also:
- limit her water intake at particular times (especially night)
- ensure that she always has access to the ‘bathroom’ area
- if your little one pees inside, point at the problem you have and say something (anything, as long as it’s the same thing each time. I use “shei-ah!”). Then lock her in the bathroom for a short while. If you have a dunce cap, you can put that on her too.
[quote=“gaboman”]You know what? I had a dog that was exactly the same, and I tried my best to teach her how to do her business outside… tried every trick in every book, but the one I found most helpful was bribing her… like, if she peed outside, I’d give her a cookie (there’s a huge tub of animal cookies at costco for 200 and something bucks). It took a lot of waiting and patience, but she got better… unfortunately, she never got completely over that until we moved into our new place.
You can also:
- limit her water intake at particular times (especially night)
- ensure that she always has access to the ‘bathroom’ area
- if your little one pees inside, point at the problem you have and say something (anything, as long as it’s the same thing each time. I use “shei-ah!”). Then lock her in the bathroom for a short while. If you have a dunce cap, you can put that on her too.[/quote]
I accidentally used Gaboman’s bathroom instead of the guest bathroom and he did to me what he describes above. It works. I only ever use the guest bathroom now.
[quote=“Stray Dog”][quote=“gaboman”]You know what? I had a dog that was exactly the same, and I tried my best to teach her how to do her business outside… tried every trick in every book, but the one I found most helpful was bribing her… like, if she peed outside, I’d give her a cookie (there’s a huge tub of animal cookies at costco for 200 and something bucks). It took a lot of waiting and patience, but she got better… unfortunately, she never got completely over that until we moved into our new place.
You can also:
- limit her water intake at particular times (especially night)
- ensure that she always has access to the ‘bathroom’ area
- if your little one pees inside, point at the problem you have and say something (anything, as long as it’s the same thing each time. I use “shei-ah!”). Then lock her in the bathroom for a short while. If you have a dunce cap, you can put that on her too.[/quote]
I accidentally used Gaboman’s bathroom instead of the guest bathroom and he did to me what he describes above. It works. I only ever use the guest bathroom now.[/quote]Dude, I kept telling you, that was the linen closet! LINEN CLOSET!