Introducing two females--is risk worth taking? - Page 1

I first have a large female GSD, about 25.25 inches tall. 5 years old.

Then I have two puppys about 7.5 months ago, from day of birth.

The little girl is small, now only 23 inches tall, but rather feisty. The boy is now about 25 inches even. I think likely the female will not grow much more, may be another 0.5 inches at the most. (The were both on restrictive diet and have not been overfed since very young, hence they might grow a bit more even at 7.5 months old)

Now I have the two pups together on one side and the older female on the other side separated by a chain link fence.

The larger older female is very tame, but the little girl is very feisty especially at meal time. I am a bit surprised.

The big female has only on a few occasions reacted.

Do you think it is worthwhile to try to introduce the two females? The big female and the boy get along very well.

The reason for not introducing is that one can never be sure enough to leave them unattended, may be.

The reason for introducing is that this is hope. The large female is tame and the feisty one is small. Order can be established and a pack can be formed. The small one is so young that she may accept her role.

Any opinion?

I would have introduced the puppies to the adult female much, much earlier, say at 10 weeks or so. I would have monitored to make sure the adult was not viscious and/or too over bearing. Typically an older female will tolerate young puppies and even teach them a thing or two about manors.

I let my puppies run with my neutral adult females as a process their upbringing. Always monitored, never with toys to fight over. I usually let them out together and start walking and watch closely. I correct over zellous puppies, as part of the socialization process. After the walk, the pups are put up and I play with my female.

At 7.5 months, the puppies are very close to their first heat, so introducing them is much more unpredictabe.

Has the older female shown any aggression to the younger?

Females are not automatically aggressive to each other. And most of the problems I see start cropping up around the time the younger GSD hits 2 years.

Here's a picture of 6 GSDs and 1 JRT--all females--out for a walk. There's another JRT on this walk, but he's not in the picture--he was next to me when I snapped the picture.



Christine

 

I agree with BlackthornGSD. I've imported several older bitches, young dogs and pups. Only 1 female was every truly aggressive towards other dogs. All of our dogs live together, play together, walk together and train separately. 

It just depends.  Depends on You and the control you have over at least one of the dogs, depends on the dogs themselves and depends on how much work you're willing to put in and your ability to handle any issues that should arise.  I've shared the story before, but I had an older female that hated all other dogs.  It was crazy.  If I put her in a sit and went and greeted a dog, then she'd tolerate it, but would never engage in any normal dog stuff with any other dogs.  If a strange dog just came up to us, she wanted to kill it.  I brought home a female puppy, they were great until about 2 had one big altercation, blood was drawn and feelings were definitely hurt on both sides.  

I make them deal with each other, I pulled them apart, have very good voice control and once separated downed on, and set the other right next to and touching the other and made them lay there for about 10 minutes.  then called them to me one at a time and pet them and then we went inside.  For almost 2 weeks they  both avoided each other.  when I was petting one and the other was called, they both faced the opposite direction.  If they walked into the room and saw the other, they both looked down and away.  The older one because she knew I'd kick her ass if she decided to do anything and the younger because she realized her place was not where she thought it was.  each day they warmed a little and by 2 weeks they were ready to interact again and I was ready for anything.  Nothing happened.  They carried on like the best friends they were before.  Never another issue.  This was the only dog she ever played with.

Fast forward and today I again have 2 females, closer in age.  The day they were introduced was when A tornado was sighted 5 miles north of us heading towards town and the one was just a dog in for training and being kept in a kennel.  So I brought her in to go to the basement figuring I'd rather deal with the dogs together than trying to find one swept away in a tornado.  Well I invited a tornado into my house :)  3 seconds into bringing her in, it was on.  They really didn't like each other :)  They seem to get along with every other dog they've ever met and play very well with other dogs.  Males and females, but each other?? yeah right.  Anyway this dog in training ended up staying for good.  It took 2 years and a lot of work, a lot.  Going out to play with each at the same time, one in a down on one side of the yard while I threw a ball for the other dog on the other side of the yard, then down that dog and go over and throw it for the 2nd dog.  Did that day after day and slowly brought the distance between them smaller and smaller until they were going out and coming back to the same spot at the same time.  They finally realized they could exist together and things could be ok.  There were a lot of near misses and one or two where things escalated very quickly and I was lucky I was expecting and ready for it.  They're ok today, can do everything together.  Or I should say can do everything in the prescence of each other.  They don't play and those things, but they can tolerate each other very well.  But it was work, and lots of it.  

Many other people I know have females close in age, some live in the house together just fine, some are separated by kennels, fences and walls at all times.  It just depends.

For sure--you just have to read the dogs. I have some females who are always separate from each other but who are OK with others. So, I tend to have two different groups, rotating the dogs who don't get along so they are not loose together.

Christine