Dominance Between Dogs - Page 1

Two days ago, two houses down a church found a dog in their back yard, turns out he was a Husky. Very friendly, very affectionate towards people. Well mannered. He didn't have a microchip and didn't have a tag and was skinny so assume he had been on his own for a while. We decided to take him home. We walked him with both of our dogs so they might get used to each other, and I have taken him out for walks in the morning so he might not be as high energy. They were fine for a while. Both of my dogs that were here first are very well behaved, they walk well on leash and listen when I tell them to do something. However, this new dog we've brought in as well behaved as he is, does try to mount our female, though she is spayed they'll have a fit of wrestling to see who comes out on top, she can take care of herself, but as soon as my 5 month old boy comes out he will agress towards him, growl and has even urinated on him in the house. Do you think that neutering will help this, ( in the mean time we'll have to wait until he gains some more weight until we can ) and if we did, would my 5 month old's fear still direct some agression his way because it is "weak". He doesn't try to challenge him, and now will not even go outside to relieve himself so I have to keep the husky on a leash in the house or on a cord while they're both outside or just take him out front to relieve himself.
Has any one any information or help on this area?

You brought home a husky, and your having problems.
I wonder why.

No good deed ever goes unpunished it is said.

Your life will never be the same, nor will the lives of your first two dogs.

And no, I do not think neutering will help.

Find a different home for the dog is my best advice.

Huskies are a challenge, but neutering may help a lot and should be done as soon as possible. I've seen dramatic behavior changes for the better shortly after neutering.

You should go visit LukasGS and assess the situation in person.

Two Moons I have a pack of Huskies, I have no issues with them or with them being with other dogs...and it wasn't this way in the beginning.,  With Huskies you HAVE to be the leader type. With that said, just because you have Huskies does not mean you will have problems. You just have to understand the breed, and know good leadership.  If I bring another dog into my pack, I bring it in on leash, I MAKE them give me and the other dog space. They are allowed to greet when I say they are. I control them and correct when they act stupid. This dog learns to trust me, and seeing that mine aren't out of control the dog does fine. Trust and respect should be done with the human before throwing it to the dogs.  You can have these dogs co-existing together, it will just take A LOT of work. Possibly more than you want to deal with.

The new dog you brought in -lifted his leg and pissed on your GSD pup...

What do you think he thinks of him? If somebody bigger than you came up to you on the street, pulled the member out and pissed on your jeans spraying all over - what do you think his message to you is?

And what do you think the GSD pup thinks of the new dog now that he tasted some dribbled piss on his coat?

You need a lot to learn about dogs, their behaviours, their social structure and pack order, as well as pack leadership, social interaction and a lot of other things I can't even touch here...

Best of luck to you.

Hey Kelli!

Okay, for everyone here, here is some more information that may or may not help you understand better. 

1:  This husky isn't the reason that Lukas, her gs, is so timid.  He has had some bad experiences with dogs that has made him very wary around strange dogs, as in, he acts like a baby.  She's not only asking about how to get her gs to be more bold w/ the husky, she's asking how to get lukas to just be more bold and not a scaredy cat.
2:  This husky  doesn't have a bad attitude.  He is just rather dominant like a lot of dogs are, including german shepherds.  He's very playful and the only time he has been remotely aggresive, is to Lukas and it isn't all of the time.
3:  In regards to Kelli needing to be dominent and asserting the leading role of pack leader, she does that really well.  Her gs and her female dog both recognize her as "alpha" and I think the husky does as well.  I really think the husky is trying to be second in command when there really shouldn't be one. 
4:  Also, please take into consideration that she would very much like to keep this husky, and if she can't, she doesn't want someone else having a lot of dominence problems with him either.  She is on a time limit because she doesn't live alone and she actually knows quite a bit about gs, huskies, and pack order, etc., but she is still learning, just like everyone else.
Therefore, she would love advice on how to help.  Snarky and rude comments do not.  Two Moons, why don't you come assess the situation in person?  You seem very knowledgable on some other posts.

Thank You,
Haley
 
P.S.-  Kelli, I really, REALLY hope this works out.  If it doesn't, we'll make it work in the future.....hmmmm, that could give me/other people a nice birthday/christmas gift idea.  OH!  and gotten anything back from ceasar yet?

Sure, I have a lot to learn but that's why I'm asking for help and knowledge, not smart ass remarks that are no use to me. I'm pretty aware that what happened was a negative thing, but I wasn't even here when it happened, so I can only assume someone did not have him under control and I wasn't here to correct it or even prevent it.. I'm willing to put in the work, I've got the time and as far as I can tell, I'm determined. I'm not used to it and it's only been two days. I know it will take some time, adjusting, and commitment.  At this point, I've had the husky on the leash at all times when in the house or when around Lukas and letting Lukas get close without allowing him to react. So there is imporvement from that. Currently they're all sleeping in a triangle. The thing is, he's so very well behaved. He doesn't jump on anyone. He doesn't mouth, He doesn't pull <i>terribly</i> once I've corrected him. He isn't food aggressive or possesive of things as far as I know except for maybe Sophie. He doesn't even go after my cat, which really surprised me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let my guard down. I've been taking them on walks together as often as I can. I dont doubt that they can't get along, after all, they have to and it wouldn't be tollerated if they were to be pulling sleds together like they should be.

It's not like Irresponsibly let him run all over my back yard together first, for starters, I introduced them outside of the home and that was fine, I feed all my dogs separate so there was no possesiveness. They had even already seen each other through the gates two doors down.

 

And Haley you're right, I would like to boost his confidence, and he has approached him and even slept next to him, which made me proud, both of them on the side of me by the computer. Though dogs dont fight for second place. I guess I just started something out wrong, but I'm willing to start over from the beginning.

 

A lot more information to this now, and no one was being snarky?

Possibly a lot of work, possibly more than you want to deal with?

Anythings possible.

Go in person and assess the situation, my point exactly.   
Thats about the only way for someone to give really sound advice when it comes to some of these situations.
I hate to say do this or try that just from the original post, too many make arm chair diagnoses when one size does not fit all.

I know that at this point at my home bringing in a stray dog other than a puppy would present a lot of problems to work out.
But if someone has the time and patience, and a feel for it.................. Great!   Go for it!!

What do you know about this Husky?
Age?
Possible issues from its original owner?
What has it experienced during its time on the streets?
Health?   What could it be bringing into your evironment?

And the 5 month old, I assume GSD?  What about its problems?
Will this help to over come them or add to them?

Space, territory, interaction, supervision.
Theres a lot to take in.

If I were stuck in your situation I would keep the Husky quarantined until I had a clean bill of health and time to observe the temperament of the dog. 

Then if things looked ok I would have to keep the males separated until I had time to work on the 5 month olds problems.

After that, the dogs could be socialized together under controlled conditions and much supervision.

If you want details per problem add much more information and ask these questions separately.

Send  me some gas money , I could use a road trip.....:)

And chill, nothing ever gets figured out when your up in the air over something you might have misunderstood.

Moons.

P.S.
Neutering is one of those things that is not a given, one size does not fit all.