Re: Behavior with another pet (dog)

In Reply to: Behavior with another pet (dog)
Posted by:  John Shirron
Posted on:  October 29, 2001 at 11:48:51

: I have a short-haired 2yr old female. Darcy has been great. We have a fenced in backyard (40 yds) and squirrels and birds). Our vet told us to get another pet for Darcy to play with when she was about 8 mos. We got what seems to be a mix b/n terrier and boxer female. They got along great, until my wife got pregnant. Mattie then seemed to try to exert dominance over Darcy. Darcy would have none of it. They have gotten into several scraps. Big ones. No blood though. We've tried so many things. Our vet tried several as well. Now that we have a baby in the house, Darcy's (and Mattie's) world got smaller. We can't have them growling (which is what they do) all the time around our baby. So....they have become outside dogs. We have made adjustments (heated dog house, etc.) They can't come in without Darcy growling at Mattie and Mattie towering over Darcy. If they are alone, they love each other. They sleep indoors at night and snuggle. What is up? It seems that when we are around, they growl and fight, when we aren't, they are fine. Darcy sits by the glass door and whines a lot. It's breaking my heart. I don't want to have to give them up. Help......

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Hi John,

I am sorry that your vet gave you this idea to get another dog to keep your terrier company. As you can see all you have really done is double up the problems you are having.

Same sex aggression (and it doesn't matter if a different breed is involved) is very well documented in this breed. If you were to have two dogs you should have chose an opposite sex. And even that doesn't come with guarantees.

If you have not spayed these dogs I would highly suggest doing so and it may lessen any aggression they have towards each other. The addition of the baby has seemed to upset the "pack dynamics" in your household.

It is extremely important to get your dogs adjusted to the new addition before the baby arrives and that will lessen the "trauma" of a new "pack member."

You need to watch how these two dogs interact and make sure that whoever has established themselves as "alpha" is treated that way. The alpha should always be the first to get attention and be the first for everything including doling out food, treats and toys. By not doing this you are doing a disservice to the other dog that is not alpha. By treating them equally you have set up conditions for a constant battle over the alpha position.

Of course this is just between the two dogs. You, yourself have to establish your dominance over both of them. The best way to do this is to enroll your dogs in obedience school and work with them everyday. It only takes 15 minutes a day broken into 5 minute sessions to help you maintain order and discipline among the dogs.

I am also going to recommend a book for you to buy and that is "Child-Proofing Your Dog" by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson. It can be found in paperback and will give you some great advice about having your dogs able to go back to living inside your home and behaving around your baby.

This situation you have right now is especially hard on Darcy because JRTs absolutely love their people. This is a high maintenance breed because the must have interaction with their humans.

Please see about getting these dogs spayed if you haven't done so already. You might also want to consider allowing one in during the day and alternating days between them. Remember too what I said about alpha positions and think about how you are or are not helping to reinforce this pecking order.

And above all get some obedience work with these dogs and read the book about raising these dogs with your new baby.