Hi everyone! You do not know me but I feel as though I know some of you from reading so long!
I have a zoo! 1 male husky, 1 female great prynesse, one rottie/shepard mix (belongs to my daughter who is unable to care for him right now) and a brand new Saint puppy, 12 weeks old. I also have an african grey who talks up a blue streak and a parakeet who was one of 12 I inheritated (sp?) when my mom passed away a few years ago. Include 6 cats who are rescues and you have a clear picture of my household.
My husky, Meko, is a 5 year old neutered male. He is a sweetheart! Loves everything mommy brings home without any aggression at all. My 2 year old pry is the same way, she has been spayed as well.
The rottie mix does get along well with my two, but I have noticed an increase in agression between him and Meko. Hollister is 5 months old and unneutered. He is scheduled to have that done in a couple of months as my darling daughter let his shots "slide" and we need to get him caught back up. Any ideas on how to handle the increasing aggression between the two males until then? I let them out in the pen together and they seem to do fine for the first 15 minutes, then the rumbling starts between them so I bring them inside. If it continues inside I crate BOTH of them until they settle down. Am I doing the right thing here or should I just butt out unless they really get fighting?
My Saint, a little girl we named cinderella, rella for short, is a sweetheart. Met the parents and they were big teddy bears, very friendly. She is great with the grandkids, very gentle and allows them to hug and kiss her everyday. I have seen no aggression from her toward any of us and she did very well at the park today on a leash. She has only been here two days. Today is the first day she allowed the other dogs near her without growling and nipping at them so I have had them kinda seperated with gates, they could see each other and sniff so she was better with them. She is fine with all of them so long as we are in the fencing....thi s is two acres of land we had fenced for the dogs to stay safe, fence is 6 ft tall. The minute we come back insde she climbs under my chair and will growl if they come near her, but she is no longer nipping at them. I have tried giving her and the others treats at the same time from my chair hoping she would realize everybody is allowed around my chair and around me. She is very timid of anything new as well. I took her to my daughters today and my (other) daughters dog started barking as she was happy to see gramma, but I had called ahead and asked my daughter to tie Dakota out so she could not approach us as we got out. Dakota was no danger at all to Rella, but Rella attempted to cimb under the van to get away. I waited it out while keeping her leash short and when she relaxed a bit I moved closer to the house which took us further from Dakota. She was very skittish the whole time we were there(about 20 minutes) even after Dakota settled down.
Other than forcing her to face things she seems afraid of, what is the best way to get her used to different things? I don;t want to terrorize the little punkin without intending to, but I also do not want an unsocialized dog in another three months!
Any and all ideas on how to handle these two issues would be appreciated! Thanks!