Cardinal

Hi All,

I recently adopted a standard poodle from our animal shelter and he is great except for some issues with our residents small dogs.
We already have a 15 year old maltipoo female who rules the roost and lets any dog know that. And the standard, Kodie, seems to respect that just fine. She made it clear from the beginning that he was to stay away from her food and not bug her.
However Kodie is having problems with our four year old Bichon, Toby. He likes to push him out of the way for attention (which I tell him firmly no and make him move away), and he stiffens up whenever Toby tries to sniff him or touch him. He also likes to try to stand in between Toby and me, which I don't allow but he tries. When they were first introduced Kodie growled a bit when Toby sniffed him but I repremanded him and it stopped. Both males are altered, and Toby the bichon is 100% submissive. He really will never ever start anything. They play the marking game in the yard though.

So, just wondering if anyone has any advice to make this transition smoother. We have only had him a couple days but I want to head off problems before they escalate. And this is our first standard.
Oh, and the stats on Kodie are that he is almost six, has been bounced around from a couple homes, and was found as a stray this last time. Microchip allowed us to trace him to the original person that gave him away. He still has bad ear infections, is about five lbs under weight, and was over all not in great shape.

Any advice would be great!

Megan

Mourningdove

I think the only thing that can help is time around each other. I notice that Donner is very aggressive around a strange dog, but if I give them time together (very supervised), eventually they are buddies. But every dog is so different. Hopefully your dog got lots of socialization and can adjust to all the dogs.

Turned

our trainer and our breeder both told us, a new dog into an environment requires skill and patience. Remember dogs have a pack mentality. That means their is a hiearchy in the pack. Presumably it is your husband, you, they the yorkie and then the Malitpoo (likely she was there first) and then the bischon. Now everyone is trying to rearrange the hierarcy.. and you must let them do it themselves. do not intervene. Even touching or punishing one or the other shows preference from your for hte hierarcy.
The best way to introduce a dog into a new environment is to have them meet in a neutral territory first several times. then bring them into the home together. If you watch carefully, you'll also notice even when they are coming in and out of the house, or being walked, there is always one who has to be up front. "top dog" Leader of the pack. They all work it out just fine. don't get upset if the growl at each other either.
All good blessings.

Turned

sorry, don't know where the yorkie.. came from. I should read my reply before I post.