Bringing in a new dog...totally un-guitar related.

[MandyMarie]

Guys, I rescued an eight-month-old Basset Hound while I was in my homestate of Missouri earlier this week. We have a nine-year-old female Basset that is fairly dog aggressive but I figured we would just be fostering him until we found him a good permanent home...well, I should have known better because I've fallen completely in love with the little guy. And...I wanna keep him.

Any tips on how to get my older Basset to love him as much as I do? She does really good at times...but then she'll growl and snap at him without warning. He's a huge boy but he's being very passive and he's a super sweet mild mannered little guy. She's just old and set in her ways and jealous, I'm sure.

Any tips would be much appreciated...if it can't work out, I know I'll find a good home for him (ANYTHING would be better than the home he had before)... but he's such a great boy and my husband and I both love him so much already! I really hope I can get her to warm up to him...thanks so much for any stories or tips!

[ole AZ]

Well, I'm no dog trainer, and don't have any solid advice, but I can say that my parents have four dogs including one agressive mut, and with time the mut always comes around. Start slow. I hope it all works out for you though...I sure love bassets!

[araT]

Had a similar problem with our second cat when we got it, so I've read a lot about this, but I'm not sure how possible/relevant/effective it is with dogs.

We were told to put the new one in a room, let them play under the door, after a day or so put a toy under the door that they could play with each other with, and after 3 to 5 days have "supervised visits", where they meet each other face-to-face, preferably with 2 plates of food as mealtimes are good for bonding as long as they don't need to compete for food.. make the "supervised visits" longer and longer and within 10 days you should have them running around together.

In the case of dogs, maybe you could alternate who gets locked away so that both have fair running around time.

Best of luck to you, try googling around a bit for "bringing a second dog home" and the like, I found a wealth of knowledge when I went through it 2 years ago.

[moonshiner]

If you have cable, last weeks 'It's Me Or The Dog' discussed this very topic.. I find the show kind of amusing and Victory is kind of sexy in the dominatrix sort of way.. Especially when she wears the leather get-up in the british episodes.. But.. I digress..

Personally, having had many dogs, I view "dog aggression" as lack of socialization if it is true "dog aggression".. It might just be a one time dominance thing.. but.. who knows.. not my dog so I can't say..

What I can tell you, from experience not from education, is that you can be a bully about it and take the dominant approach and correct your dog in a dominant way gesturing that the new dog is a member of your pack and should be treated as such.. Your you can do it the educationally constructive way by association of the new member means good things (treats, rewards, belly rubs... yadda yadda)..

What ever you do, I would not leave them both together unattended until you trust that nothing will happen...

Good luck..

[pengipete]

The simplest thing is to give it time.

I wouldn't worry at all about which one is dominant - male/female and young/old or large/small don't apply to domesticated dogs when it comes to sorting out their place in the pack.

The one thing that does often help is to walk them together on leads so because that lets them see that you are the real pack leader. Once they accept that neither of them has worry about being boss then they be more relaxed - being pack leader is a resonsibility rather than a privilidge and dog are far less stressed the more removed from that role you make or let them feel.

[Post Toastie]

I had a similiar situation with my 8 year old Shepard mix and a new Lab we got that was 1 year old.Just let them mix and it will work out but when you give dog treats call both dogs over and have them sit and give the oldest dog the treat first.The old dog was there first and needs to feel it is not getting pushed aside.Also giving them treats together makes them feel like a team that gets a reward for being good together.

[TheGoodTexan]

Mandy - we've got to see some pictures! We love those hounds of course. My wife is standing here next to me and reminded me of what we did when we brought our second bassett (adopted one year old) into the house with Roscoe (he was 3 at the time).

After several hours of them fighting and bickering, we had go to bed and get some sleep, and counldn't figure out what to do with them for the night. We didn't have a fenced in yard at the time, only an underground "dog fence" and the new guy wasn't trained on it yet. We were afraid to leave them out around the house, unsupervised while we slept...

...so my wife devised a brilliant scheme...

We put both dogs in the kennel...which was just barley big enough for one of them...and shut the door.

Sounds strange, I know. But it worked like a charm. They only had enough room to lay down and sleep. They couldn't even turn around. They were forced to lay down and sleep next to each other.

They both clamed down about 2 or 3 minutes after we put them in, and shut the door, and they slept all night. The next day they were much happier around each other. We did this same thing, with the kennel door shut for about a week, at which point we laid a second pillow outside the kennel, and left the door open. Roscoe slept inside the kennel, and Isaiah (the adopted hound) curled up next to him on the pillow.

Those dogs became best friends after that week.

Sadly, we no longer have them.

[SixStringSlinger]

I say just let them be together and let them figure things out for themselves, while sticking close by just to make sure they don't take it too far.

[MandyMarie]

Thanks so much guys! This has been far more helpful than the "dog expert" advice I keep reading. What I was looking for was real experience and you guys nailed it - thanks soooo much!

She's done really well with him today....so there's hope! It just kills me to see her get so crazy angry with this little guy - for two reasons - 1.) she's been our girl for a long time and I hate it that she's all upset and crazy hahaha and 2.) he's coming from an abused home...he doesn't need some crazy old Basset flying at him like a maniac!

Bruce, you would love this guy! We were told he's between 6 and 8 months but he's HUGE! His paws are as big as my hands haha! I'm looking forward to getting some good photos of him - he's a goofy lookin' thang

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the input!

[MandyMarie]

PS...I forgot how much work a puppy is. Whew!

[jefrs]

He's a young one, so he will still be acting as a puppy. Most older dogs are very protective of puppies (and by inference kids, which is fortunate). But they do have to maintain the pecking order and will discipline the pup. This snapping and snarling and biting (more like a punch with the teeth) sounds very aggressive to us but do remember they are a couple of large carnivores. This is natural and a good thing as it saves us from having to do all the training. Put them together and let them get on with it and try not to interfere too much. If anything, make a bit of a fuss of the older one.

[MandyMarie]

Well, I'm really bummed out about it...honestly I'm kind of embarrassingly bummed out about it *blush*...but things just weren't working out with the new little guy. He's a great guy...but our older dog just wasn't going for it. She laid into him pretty good the other day and we decided to give him to our friend Brian, who's quite possibly the sweetest man on the planet. Now he's around two other Bassets that are friendly and he has a huge yard to play in when he feels like going outside.

Look at this face though...



I can't believe our old girl couldn't love that face!

And when I say she laid into him...she really did. She got him right on the nose, he bled like crazy, I felt horrible and just couldn't take the tension. She loved him when she wanted too...but then wanted to kill him ten seconds later!

When she's gone (and she's old for a Basset so it probably won't be all that long) I'm going to rescue another one...and make sure I socialize him right from the start!

[ROADMAN]

Guess the old girl was set in her ways...nice try Mandy you Rock!..as usual

[TheGoodTexan]

Good on ya Mandy... for trying to help him.

Adopting dogs, and bringing them into the house with another dog(s), is MUCH tougher than you'd think. We've done it 3 times, with varying degrees of success.

The best thing though, is that you were ultimately able to get him into the care of someone who'll love him.

He's a great looking dog.

[MandyMarie]

Thanks so much guys...

He's a great dog and I'm glad he's in a great home...but even though it's selfish, I really miss that guy! Having an eight month old puppy around the house made me realize how lazy my old girl is ;o)

He's a happy camper now - if anything my dog probably got the short end of the stick! Our yard is small and our house is small...his new home has a huge yard and it's a huge house. That boy is in Heaven!

Thanks again guys - I really do appreciate all the tips and stories. Next time hopefully it'll work out a little better.

[Boubou]

The important thing is the little guy found a good home.Fortunately you posted a pic, otherwise this thread would not exist

[MandyMarie]

Hahaha you're right! And just for balance...

Here's a few more of that little guy playing and being a bed hog :









and the set-in-her-ways old girl...who kept biting him on the face. She looks so vicious, huh? ;o) :O) :

[Buckocaster51]

awww...

and I was just about ready to start calling you "Mom."

[TheGoodTexan]

Mandy... those guys are marked up just like Roscoe was. I love it.

Here's the last picture I took of him... the night before...



Damn I miss him.

That picture is so dull in color... taken from my cell phone. His coat was as vibrant as anything. I called him "root beer eyes" sometimes.


We keep talking about getting another one, another bassett... but I'm not sure that we can do it. The only way that I could do it, would be if a brother/sister bassett puppy pair were available for adoption somewhere.