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A little background: three weeks ago we adopted Chase, a possible toy poodle from our local humane society. He was a case of owner surrender, and came to us underweight and shaved-down due to extreme matts. His prior owner said he lived happily with one other dog in the home.
We already had our two year old mini poo, Teddy. Teddy is a happy-go-lucky little soul, good with people and other dogs, adores seeing his dog friends as part of his walks every day. Teddy has been curious and shown interest in Chase from the beginning (tried to initiate play with Chase several times) but Chase has shown zero interest in Teddy beyond a first cursory sniff. Any subsequent contact from Teddy has brought growls and snaps from Chase. Since Chase was just post-surgery and recovering from all the changes in general, we have not been too worried.
The past three or four days Chase has started to come out of his shell a little more and appears to be feeling much better, though now Teddy also has contracted the cough. (Both dogs are on antibiotics.) Chase continues to mostly ignore Teddy but if Teddy gets too close he will growl at him. The past two days there are have been two scary fights, the triggers were different each time and happened under supervision. Since Teddy has ten pounds on Chase, I am very concerned. I'm also worried because I saw Chase run away after the altercations but Teddy continued to go after him further :afraid: and it only stopped when I grabbed Teddy.
I've watched Teddy during interactions with other dogs and I've never seen him like this. I've always thought of him as getting along well with other dogs. When he was puppy we regularly took care of a female yorkie in our home that was just a couple of months older and they played constantly.
My sister is a dog behaviorist and I have been on the phone with her both days. She will be staying with us for a week starting next week so I know we will get some good observation and help. I think I am writing just for some moral support. My sis continues to remind me that generally it is not one-sided and there likely much going on that I am missing. We are all feeling sad... has this happened to other folks here? Stories to share?
We already had our two year old mini poo, Teddy. Teddy is a happy-go-lucky little soul, good with people and other dogs, adores seeing his dog friends as part of his walks every day. Teddy has been curious and shown interest in Chase from the beginning (tried to initiate play with Chase several times) but Chase has shown zero interest in Teddy beyond a first cursory sniff. Any subsequent contact from Teddy has brought growls and snaps from Chase. Since Chase was just post-surgery and recovering from all the changes in general, we have not been too worried.
The past three or four days Chase has started to come out of his shell a little more and appears to be feeling much better, though now Teddy also has contracted the cough. (Both dogs are on antibiotics.) Chase continues to mostly ignore Teddy but if Teddy gets too close he will growl at him. The past two days there are have been two scary fights, the triggers were different each time and happened under supervision. Since Teddy has ten pounds on Chase, I am very concerned. I'm also worried because I saw Chase run away after the altercations but Teddy continued to go after him further :afraid: and it only stopped when I grabbed Teddy.
I've watched Teddy during interactions with other dogs and I've never seen him like this. I've always thought of him as getting along well with other dogs. When he was puppy we regularly took care of a female yorkie in our home that was just a couple of months older and they played constantly.
My sister is a dog behaviorist and I have been on the phone with her both days. She will be staying with us for a week starting next week so I know we will get some good observation and help. I think I am writing just for some moral support. My sis continues to remind me that generally it is not one-sided and there likely much going on that I am missing. We are all feeling sad... has this happened to other folks here? Stories to share?