We have a Jack Russell which came from the Dogs Trust 15 months ago aged 2-3 years. He has been lovely except clearly being frightened of larger dogs which can make him aggressive towards them. He has been fine with smaller dogs and puppies.
We introduced him to a five month old terrier puppy at the Dogs Trust a few times and then brought her home on Friday. The puppy was quite jealous of him coming near us during the visits and he eventually got fed up once and had a go which resulted in her on her back crying out and, as he didn't back off, we pulled him away. After that they had a few snaps and growls but nothing major.
We had 24 hours of similar snaps and growls intermingled with a lot of quite boisterous play. She then started to snap at him for coming near me again which escalated into what looked like play again and then became quite nasty resulting in him biting the puppy's face and refusing to let go despite her screeching like a wild animal. I pulled him off and he eventually let go. Her mouth was cut and she ended up hiding in the back of her crate for several hours and being very subdued for the rest of the day. They pretty much ignored each other when she did come out and lay on a bed near us.
This morning he went straight for her again and a fight ensued from which she emerged unscathed and much less traumatised. I did pulled him away by his lead again this time but he wasn't really laying into her. I think it was more noise than anything else.
She is very submissive now but isn't hiding in her crate any more. They seem to have reached an uneasy truce.
We are trying not to interfere or tell either one off and if a human is the reason for jealousy we get straight up and walk away. We are offering lots of reassurance, praise, rewards, walks and toys and putting her in the crate to rest now and then.
Is there anything else we can do to help or that we might be doing to make this worse?
Do dogs which start off like this usually sort things out or are we likely to end up sending her back for her own safety?
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The doghouse
Help please. New puppy and older dog fighting.
9 replies
Timandra · 15/04/2012 10:17
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user1464525199 ·
29/05/2016 13:41
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