Should I be concerned about this behaviour?

[BenWyatt]

Yesterday we picked up Dog 2 (male 18mths), we already have Dog 1 (female 3 years).

All the dog mixes at the shelter went great and yesterday afternoon they were happily playing and went for a walk together.

Last night however Dog 1 started snarling and growling whenever Dog 2 went near our bed (our stair gate also broke yesterday).

This morning both dogs came up to me and Dog 1 started growling (much less than before though, and only once)

Obviously it’s very early days but does this sound like behaviour that will sort itself out or is there something we (me and DH) can do? It felt very aggressive from Dog1 but she’s always been a softie before.

I am reluctant to give advice on this without seeing the situation but it is common for dogs to take a while to accept each other in the home. I would contact a behaviourist for rl support and correct advice for your situation.

However below is general advice for getting dogs happy in each others company.

I would separate the dogs in the home. Get them together for walks out and about - do not force interaction at all. Parallel walking would be good.

When ddog2 comes into the room (supervised) give Ddog 1 a treat and keep the distance between the dogs. Have DDog 2 on a lead (also treat DDog 2) so best done with two people.

Do not feed together, do not leave together .

It may settle down but it could also escalate so take care to ensure the dogs are not together.

Thanks for your advice @Jouska.

Things have been much calmer since I wrote. They are happily milling around each other. Dog 1 has growled at Dog 2 a couple of times, but nothing more than we'd expected as they settle in.

We will keep them apart overnight, and were planning to keep them apart while we are out of the house anyway. We have already been feeding them separately.

If things don't improve we will speak to a local specialist.