We have had the puppy, Loot, for almost a year. We've had Jenny for about 3 years, and the husband has had Forrest since before I met him (about 6 years).
Obviously, there's going to be some commotion bringing a new dog into the mix. But it wasn't until recently that the older two dogs have lashed out at the puppy. The most recent event happened this morning...
I fed the dogs (in separate bowls about 5 feet away from each other in the kitchen) early this morning as usual. The puppy always finishes first and runs around to see if anyone else has any left. This morning, he ran to Forrest, who was still eating, and Forrest growled at him to let him know that wasn't okay.
I thought everything was fine, so I let them outside. I heard a little barking, but they always bark at the neighbor's dog, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. Well, it wasn't until after about 10 minutes that they were back inside that we noticed little Loot had a bite/nip/scratch/something near his eye. Since it was cut open, we decided to run him to the vet, just in case, and it turns out he's being put under and stitched up.
I feel like such a bad mom :(
Has anyone else been through this with dogs? I'm thinking the puppy is growing up and trying to find his place in the house, and the older two dogs are trying to show him who's boss. Or could it be more than that? Any advice outside from other dog owners?
Still waiting at the vet for them to finish with Loot. I'm sure everything will be fine, but please send positive thoughts his way.
12 comments:
Hi! I'm so sorry to hear about your little puppy, luckily he's young so he will bounce back, as younger dogs are resilient. Anyways, we have a one year old doberman and a seven year old dachshund. When we brought home the Doberman for the first time, our dachshund had some serious food aggression. The puppy would just flop around and not even try to eat the dachshund's food, just stand near it and it would cause the dachshund to go after the poor doberman. I looked up several ways on the internet to break this poor habit, but what I have realized worked the best, for us, was feeding both dogs right next to each other. It took about 3 days before the aggression was gone. Good luck! And positive thoughts for your little guy!
It took time but our three monsters learned to get along. There was some humping along the way (establishing dominance?) but there was some food agression and some rough fights when my latest was a puppy. Over time it worked itself out. You're not a bad mom! ;) The dogs just kind of have to get it out to figure out their place in the pack. I feel like after this incident, things might already be better.
Yikes sending you positive thoughts! Honestly, your best bet might be to feed loot in a separate room from the other two. And not let him into the room, until the other two finish.
I hope Loot is ok and recovers quickly! I wouldn't be ok with my dogs sending their siblings to the vet, but I do know that they need to establish pack order (like wolves) among each other. I'd draw the line at stitches though!
My best advice is to keep an eye on them to make sure they're not hurting each other, but other than that, let 'em duke it out.
Ugh..bad feeling I know. We have three dogs and feeding time can be an event. We have learned that we can feed two together..but our sweet beagle eats separate from them and they are not allowed to all "hang" again until the other two are completely finished and bowls removed...has saved alot of headaches since we separated them. Hope Loot gets better quick!!
It's just dogs being dogs. Our puppy is approaching the year mark and we've noticed that he is challenging his place in the "pack" a bit which is leading to some incidents like you describe above. We did have to take the pup to the vet one day for some staples after they got into it (it wasn't bad, he just got a little dog claw on a soft and vulnerable part of his foreleg).
We've actually moved to feeding the dogs out of their kong toys exclusively. It makes them work for their food a little harder and also allows them to go to their separate safe spots to eat.
Other than that, the professional advice we've gotten is to continue to be "strong pack leaders" so both dogs know who is REALLY in charge.
Good Luck!
Awww. We just have Knox, but my parents dog Willie bit Knox when he was just a pup. They have to learn their place and maybe it was just an accident. Hope things get better!
We just brought home our dogs sister from the same litter, but she is having a seriously difficult time sharing her toys, bones, and food area. I've noticed recently little scabs/bite marks on our new pups ankles where her sister (our first dog) has been "playing" with her. What the heck! They cuddle, then go into agreesion mode. I'm not sure what to do at this point..
Poor Looter!!! Love those puppies.
Aw sad. It def takes them time and what has helped me is teaching the youngsters to respect the pack order. Tally had to learn to wait while cholula got tthings first because it's the harder to teach an old dog how to deal w new things and its great for puppies to develop self-control. Good luck!
I have 4 dogs (I know your pain!). Three of them (golden retriever, bichon, and yorkie) can eat together. The beagle has to eat outside by himself. He pulls out those big eyes and we feel bad but he will eat everyones food. It is the best solution we have found. Snacks can be hard too...just have to be extra aware and act accordingly.
All of these are good suggestions. We feed our dogs small portions twice a day. Every time they eat, they act ravenous like they haven't eaten in DAYS! And no, they don't have worms either.
Now that the puppy is getting to be bigger and closer to the same size at the other two, he feels like he can assert himself and try and challenge for dominance. I would say he just needs to get his butt kicked a little bit by the others so he learns his place in the pecking order. He'll get it!
But if it doesn't stop with the food, feed them in separate rooms.
Here's hoping Loot has a quick recovery!
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