Looking for advice urgently - Page 1

Hiya, looking for some advice urgently, I have 2 huskys a 6 month old male and a 5 month old female 4 days ago I rehomed a 16 month old German shepherd, he is a lovely dog, not been mistreated as such but been a bit neglected, he was kept in a small area with access to a very small garden, hasn't been walked or brushed properly for months.

we done the normal introductions with my huskys, everything was fine, no aggression was shown by any of the dogs, we brought him home, everything was good, he is constantly mounting my female, she tells him off and he runs a mile...he has had a few  disagreements with my male husky, he just lays there and doesn't fight back, he constantly licks my female on the mouth and face, sometimes he does it with Keizer, my male husky but now he has taken to walking past him and growling for no reason at all, we had another incident this morning, now he has marked keizers face, we pulled blaze off Keizer and told him to lay down and stay which he done immediately....he knew he had done wrong, he is very obedient.


i understand its a pack thing and he obviously wants to be alpha, I have been told to let them sort it put but I am scared he is going to hurt Keizer and n turn he is gonna be terrified of other dogs now...the huskys can play fight as they do and he will just run after them, he is not an aggressive dog he is fantastic with us and the children although I don't leave the children and dogs together at any time, he is very obedient and knows when he has done wrong....question is what are we doing wrong and how long should I leave it before we have to rethink about keeping him. 

Just to say neither of the dogs have been done and blaze is getting booked into vets to be done shortly.

One.......get the female spayed for the future, otherwise you will have fights if you don't know how to handle it, especially when your male Husky is older.  Two, why bring another, older male into the picture if you don't have the experience to handle it? I have numerous un-neutered males here, they live together, ultimately under my "order", but below that, under the oldest male, Max.  However I have the experience to handle it.  Do you walk the three together? For starters I would do that.   I also would not be allowing dominant behavior from the "pups" over a young adult dog.  What kind of "disagrements" has he had with your male Husky?  The Shepherd is constantly licking the mouths of the other dogs? Are his ears back when he does this? Sounds like a submissive gesture in one sense, often times you see it from submissive dogs, or in other cases from the younger dogs towards older pack members as a submissive gesture.  Each one of mine as I have raised them, would do that to Max, I verbally told them to knock it off (the one who was licking), and eventually over time they quit doing it completely.  I had a little trouble understanding your post, the Shepherd is growling? Or the male Husky? There is a reason for it, there always is.

You mentioned the Shepherd runs after them when they play fight? What does he do when he gets to them?

talk about a houseful of adolescent hormones. 

I don't usually advocate neutering, heck...I've got 3 intact adult males in my home.  But in your case I think it is very wise to get the oldest one fixed now and then get the huskies fixed when they are around 12 months old (by which time they'll have reached their adult height and the loss of sex hormones will not adversely affect their growth plates) 

Do not let them sort it out.  You and the other humans in your household are the leaders, not the dogs.  It is your job to keep the dogs in order and to let them know what position each dog has.   Never permit the dogs to disrespect each other, and don't wait for a dog to get upset and make their own corrections.   Some situations do call for allowing a dog to make it's point with another, but all three of your dogs are young "children" who do not have the wisdom or experience of any kind of leadership over other dogs.    Your oldest is just now transitioning from a child to an adult, he is confused about whether to act like a child or to assert his feelings of adulthood.  If you do not assert your leadership and guidance then he will feel the lack of it and try to fill that role himself.  You may (or may not?) have have given him clear boundaries about his relationship with the humans of the family, but he doesn't have clear boundaries about what his relationship is with the two husky puppies.    The good thing that keizer has going for him is that he is naturally a follower, not leader, and he wants to be told what to do.  
When you talk about it being a "pack thing"  you forget that you are a very important part of that pack too.  It is you who is supposed to be "alpha" and it is your job as the leader to control the pack and maintain it's harmony, not the job of the dogs.   

Do not allow all three together for roughhousing, because of the current big difference in maturity it is just plain not safe for the husky pups.  There are other ways of allowing all 3 to be together and "play" as a pack.  Going on walks with all 3 is one good idea (using backpacks so each dog has a "purposeful job" is a good idea, even if there is no weight for the younger pups)  or doing obedience exercizes with all 3, make them work as a team.  If you want to continue to allow the 2 huskies to roughhouse with each other, do not let the shepherd be present during those times, he is too big, too old to be playing with them like that at this time.  

When they are loose in the house, make sure each one has it's own bed/cot...especially the older male,  train them to stay on their own beds and not to bother each other, you can give them bones or something to chew on so they have something to do.  The point of this is so that all three learn to be comfortable with relaxing in each other's presence without any kind of competition, vying for rank or bullying, it helps build trust.  

Thanks guys, this is all helpful, I have had more than 3 dogs before, mostly shepherds and I have managed them all fine, myself and my partner are experienced shepherd owners.

I rehomed blaze because we lost our older shepherd more than a month ago, and we wanted another one, we were looking at a puppy but decided to rehomed an older one, blaze has not been mistreated but certainly been neglected, he was scared of every household noise you could think of, hadn't been walked or brushed for months he was kept in a small area with access to a small garden  he was extremely nervous, he is getting better now, he is a lovely dog and on dealing with shepherds for many years can safely say he is not an aggressive dog at all. 

As you both say he needs to know his boundaries, he is very obedient and will do as I say and stop doing something I will not allow him to do as soon as I say it, he most definitely knows when he has done wrong, as with the huskys, should I stop him licking meeshka s face ( female husky)?  

The mounting has become less now, and he is not growling as much to Keizer (male husky) he did last night Keizer was lying in blazes bed and blaze started growling at him and then went up and had a go at him, he never bit him, he never does he just pins him down and growls at him, it's just the noise that the huskys make when then this happens that makes it sound worse I think, I wasn't in the room at the time when it started I had only left for a few mins, when I heard it I came running back in and  told him off and he knew it wasn't acceptable,but by this time it had stopped and he was laying down again, they all have there own beds so maybe I should make sure they all lie in there own beds, at the moment they will lie in whoevers bed. I do walk them together and they are great on walks, blaze will constantly come back and sniff at each of the huskys, then he'll go off again.

It's still early days as its only been a week tomorrow since we had him, and he has made progress since then.

When the huskys play he just runs about after them he doesn't get involved and seems quite happy to let them get on with it, but I will do as you suggested and keep him away when they are playing together as huskys play really rough and I did think that this may well start a fight. 

As for toys, I have taken them away just now so as not to create any friction, is this the right thing to do, should I introduce them gradually?