Reintroducing Dogs that got off to a bad start.

[Leigha]

On July 13th, 2008 my then boyfriend and I bought our first house and adopted two male dachshunds. Both of the boys are fixed and were raised in a house together, so we got them as a package deal. They're wonderful dogs and have been a great addition to our family. This past Valentine's Day my boyfriend proposed and we got engaged. The next day we had got to PetSmart for something and there was a beagle rescue there and we ended up bringing home a baby beagle.

While we love Bruiser the beagle very much we were not overly responsible in the way that he was adopted--we got him when he was only 6 weeks old and when we brought him home we just put him on the floor and stupidly figured that because he was so little our dogs would "mentor" him in becoming a good dog so we didn't do the whole introduction thing properly.

About 90% of the time our dogs get along (cuddled up on the couch or out in the yard, whatever) but the other 10% of the time it's like world war 3 in our house. One of the doxie's will instigate a fight or Bruiser will completely overreact (according to the behaviorist we had come out to work with us he's a level 3 resource guarder). We're working on his resource guarding issues and his bit inhibition and in the 7 months we've had him we've done puppy class, neutering, we're currently increasing his exercise and setting strong boundaries and he's absolutely better since then. He used to be a terror 90% of the time and sweet 10%.

So after all of the reading you've had to do here's my question--we're getting ready to go on vacation. The dachshunds are staying at our house and a friend is going to take care of them and Bruiser is going to stay with my mom. We'll be gone for a week and Bruiser will actually be gone from this afternoon to probably Wednesday the 18th. Since we didn't properly introduce them in the beginning is it too late for us to reintroduce them properly now? If not, how do I make this work?

[Nettle]

Sounds to me as if you haven't got a great deal more work to do.

Re: resource guarding - the way we tackle this on this Board is to arrange the dogs' lives so that they never feel the need to guard.

This means feeding separately or under supervision, never leaving toys/bones/whatever out for dogs to choose to guard from each other or take from each other, and each dog having a 'safe space' where it can go if it needs to chill out away from the others.

If you are more specific about when war kicks off, we can be more specific about how to handle matters.

Does your Mom have other dogs? Has Beagle been to Mom's before?

Beagle may well be stressed when he returns home, which may take the form of peeing in the house, accelerated resource guarding (remember you too are a resource) vocalising, being destructive, until he realises home is here again. If he can have a nightstop at Mom's, with you there too, before the holiday, it will help him adjust. Otherwise he has no knowledge that he is ever going back to you, and you have no way of telling him.

A week before you go, put a t shirt or towel in your bed and sleep with it/on it so it really smells of you, and leave it with Beagle at Mom's as a comforter. Consider preparing him by giving Bach Rescue Remedy a couple of days before you leave and also all through his stay and for a few days after he returns home until he re-adjusts. Leave Mom a list of all his commands and what you do and do not allow, so that he will feel more secure. Tell Mom that spoiling and indulging him will make him feel LESS secure. Get a DAP diffuser for Mom to have and use it at home when he gets back.

Remember he is still very much a baby, so he cannot act like a grown-up dog.

[Nettle]

Just re-read your post and realised this is all very last-minute and you haven't been able to prepare him at all Still it may help someone else in a similar position.

Keep in touch here and we can at least do some damage limitation on the resource guarding on his return, and maybe it will help Mom if he is very stressed while with her.

[Leigha]

We don't leave their toys down anymore, that caused some issues so we picked them all up unless we're playing with them at that specific moment. However, I have become something that Bruiser guards. I was sitting on the floor playing with Bru and Kole (the younger of the doxies) and Lu (the older doxie) walked up and Bruiser went after him. I've gotten pretty good about predicting when the "fits" are going to happen so I'm getting better at heading them off, but they still happen. We also feed the two dachshunds in separate corners of the kitchen and Bruiser eats from a Kong toy in the living room and that goes pretty well. Dinner time used to be stressful for us, but it's gotten much much better lately.

Thankfully I don't have a typical beagle that barks and moans and howls (the other boys do that quite enough). Most of the wars we have start off when Bruiser wants to play and Lu, his favorite playmate, doesn't want to or if they get too close to me when I've got food or treats or am cooking, or if they're playing and it gets a little overwhelming for Bruiser. He's a very reactive dog.

I was just kind of hoping that maybe since we didn't do a good job of the introductions to begin with if when I brought him home we could maybe have a "redo" and do a proper introduction to help solve some of our issues.

[mspat]

[/quote]was just kind of hoping that maybe since we didn't do a good job of the introductions to begin with if when I brought him home we could maybe have a "redo" and do a proper introduction to help solve some of our issues.

I don't think it would hurt. You would want to begin the introduction in a neutral territory. Perhaps have your mom bring the Beagle and you bring the doxies to a park. Begin by walking past one another a few times and then have your mom follow you before you walk together. When you bring them all home, since the doxies have been vacationing at home, seperate the beagle (as in another room) for everything, feeding, sleeping, etc. If you can begin to seperate them with a gate, so they can see & smell each other. I'd see how that goes before I would let them interact and keep a leash on them while you do that. Perhaps leave the leash on all of them inside for awhile as well.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[mspat]

was just kind of hoping that maybe since we didn't do a good job of the introductions to begin with if when I brought him home we could maybe have a "redo" and do a proper introduction to help solve some of our issues

I don't think it would hurt. You would want to begin the introduction in a neutral territory. Perhaps have your mom bring the Beagle and you bring the doxies to a park. Begin by walking past one another a few times and then have your mom follow you before you walk together. When you bring them all home, since the doxies have been vacationing at home, seperate the beagle (as in another room) for everything, feeding, sleeping, etc. If you can begin to seperate them with a gate, so they can see & smell each other. I'd see how that goes before I would let them interact and keep a leash on them while you do that. Perhaps leave the leash on all of them inside for awhile as well.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[Mattie]

He is 7 months old, he is a teenage hooligan which is normal for dogs as it is for humans, doesn't mean we have to accept this behaviour.

A few questions:

What is a level 3 resource guarder? More and more I am seeing behaviourists putting their own words on things which nobody else knows about.

What are the strong boundaries you have put in place?

Several times I have had dogs in the vets for a week, I have never had to reintroduce these dogs into my pack, they walk in, all dogs have a sniff at him and he them, then everything is back to normal. I do watch closely in case anything looks like it is going to develop but it never has.

I have found that resource guarding is one of the easy problems to solve with dogs although I have heard of many trainers/behaviourists who have managed to get a good deal of money out of the owners for this.

[Leigha]

Bruiser will guard a toy if another dog is simply walking by it--now this depends completely on which toy it is. Some toys are just there and he could really care less about them, others are much more high value toys to him. He also does something like this at the dog park where he'll turn something like a pine cone into this high value thing to him--but generally in this case he doesn't get upset unless a dog is trying to take it from him (he's gotten much better about that).

Bruiser follows the NILIF program: he doesn't go outside or come inside any door or gate unless he follows a command, usually he has to sit. Before he gets his food Kong he runs through all of his commands at least once. Throughout the day we run him through his commands to receive food treats which are just pieces of his kibble. We play tug to work on bite inhibition and if his teeth touch us whether on purpose or accident we stop the game. None of our dogs are allowed in the kitchen at all when I'm cooking, and Bruiser especially has gotten pretty good at laying on the far side of the refrigerator during cooking time. None of the dogs sleep on the bed. The only thing that I'm weak on, and it's for selfish reasons, is the couch. I let our dogs sit on the couch and cuddle with us.

I'm not worrying that I'm going to HAVE to reintroduce the dogs, I was hoping that it would kind of give us a "fresh start" so the dogs could have kind of a clean slate. Most of the problems we have in our house tend to be between Lu and Bruiser which might be some kind of hierarchy struggle they're having since prior to Bruiser getting bigger Lu was the top dog and now Bruiser's here. Bruiser walks up and does what we call a chest bump or a hip check--he'll walk straight up to one of the dachshunds and push them back with his chest. He does that especially if he's already inside and we let the doxies in after him. And when he's hip checking them he'll just simply walk by them kind of close and sway his hips into them so it bumps them. It's kind of funny to watch because he's so much taller than them it usually goes right over them.

We can absolutely deal with Bruiser's antics, it's just when it turns to violence with our dachshunds. Lujack is a rickety old boy at 13, and Kole isn't such a young one at 7. Now even though Lu is 13 he's far more active than Kole is, but he doesn't always want to play with Bruiser, and if he's had enough and bares his teeth or snaps the air at Bruiser, Bruiser freaks out and starts doing his snarly barking fighting stance. Generally our fights are the normal dog fight where they're just kind of yelling really close to each other's faces, but aren't really trying to kill each other. But we have had a few where they were locked together and we've had to pry them apart. Thankfully though the dogs have never been hurt although I almost always have some sort of bruise or puncture mark on my arm or hands. All of the obnoxious stuff like jumping or chewing undies and whatever I know how to work on, but it's the violent stuff that I'm at a loss for.

[Mattie]

Bruiser will guard a toy if another dog is simply walking by it--now this depends completely on which toy it is. Some toys are just there and he could really care less about them, others are much more high value toys to him. He also does something like this at the dog park where he'll turn something like a pine cone into this high value thing to him--but generally in this case he doesn't get upset unless a dog is trying to take it from him (he's gotten much better about that).

This is normal behaviour for a teenage hooligan, think about human male teenagers and how possessive they are with possessions even when they have been brought up not to be, it seems to be something that they go through. Having got a dog that was very possessive with things and would threaten me when he had them, they best way to get something off a dog like this is to do a swop with something else. What you swop with depends on the dog but it must be something that is a higher reward to him. Many people think this is giving in to the dog, it isn't because they don't think like we do. My dog that was like this will now give up anything as soon as I ask. My shoes are his favourite things to guard.

Bruiser follows the NILIF program: he doesn't go outside or come inside any door or gate unless he follows a command, usually he has to sit. Before he gets his food Kong he runs through all of his commands at least once. Throughout the day we run him through his commands to receive food treats which are just pieces of his kibble.

I don't like NILIF, most people take it too far and it then does more harm than good. Would you like to work for everything? Get no treats etc. I wouldn't, I and my dogs enjoy unexpected treats. Kibble is a very poor reward, would you work for just your food? I wouldn't I want more than just food when I work.

What NILIF does is teach the owner how to be consistant with their dogs, dogs do need good manners, all my dogs will either sit or do a good stand on command which I expect when I am preparing and putting down their food. Several of my dogs can't sit. Barging through doors or gates is bad mannered and dogs need to be taught not to do this but they don't have to run through commands first.

We play tug to work on bite inhibition and if his teeth touch us whether on purpose or accident we stop the game.

A good thing to teach a dog.

None of our dogs are allowed in the kitchen at all when I'm cooking, and Bruiser especially has gotten pretty good at laying on the far side of the refrigerator during cooking time.

Another good safety behaviour to teach dogs but they can also be kept out with a gate or closed door, this is up to what the owner wants.

None of the dogs sleep on the bed. The only thing that I'm weak on, and it's for selfish reasons, is the couch. I let our dogs sit on the couch and cuddle with us.

I have 5 dogs sleeping on my bed with me, the only reason Merlin doesn't is because there isn't any room, he is a Greyhound. My dogs sleep on the furniture and Merlin being a Greyhound takes over the sofa. None of this had done any of my dogs any harm, they will get off as soon as I ask, if they don't that priviledge is taken away for a short while, minutes not hours or days. I love the closeness of my dogs and with 2 of them I can also be woken up if they have a problem during the night. As long as your dogs will get off as soon as you ask, let them on the furniture and beds if you want, when you want, it won't do them any harm because they are not trying to take you over. You already have firm, consistant boundaries in place and that is all they need.

I'm not worrying that I'm going to HAVE to reintroduce the dogs, I was hoping that it would kind of give us a "fresh start" so the dogs could have kind of a clean slate. Most of the problems we have in our house tend to be between Lu and Bruiser which might be some kind of hierarchy struggle they're having since prior to Bruiser getting bigger Lu was the top dog and now Bruiser's here. Bruiser walks up and does what we call a chest bump or a hip check--he'll walk straight up to one of the dachshunds and push them back with his chest. He does that especially if he's already inside and we let the doxies in after him. And when he's hip checking them he'll just simply walk by them kind of close and sway his hips into them so it bumps them. It's kind of funny to watch because he's so much taller than them it usually goes right over them.

This made me laugh, it is normal teenage hooligan behaviour, like all teenagers he is pushing the boundaries to see how far he can go. Unfortunately he is bigger and stronger than the other 2 dogs. You know when he is going to do this, you can pick up is body language before he does it, step in and don't let him, distract him if you can so his mind goes off it, if not, just stop him. Once he is through the teenage hooligan stage, this will stop.

We can absolutely deal with Bruiser's antics, it's just when it turns to violence with our dachshunds. Lujack is a rickety old boy at 13, and Kole isn't such a young one at 7. Now even though Lu is 13 he's far more active than Kole is, but he doesn't always want to play with Bruiser, and if he's had enough and bares his teeth or snaps the air at Bruiser, Bruiser freaks out and starts doing his snarly barking fighting stance.

Again it is up to you to stop this from happening, I have a 17 year old who is only 10ins high, my next dog in height is a Staffy, I also have a JRT/Whippet, Collie/Lab, Greyhound/GSD and a Greyhound, all could kill Gracie if they jumped on her. I have to watch my younsters all the time to protect Gracie, that isn't as bad as it sounds, it becomes second nature to watch my dogs to make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't and it will be come second nature to you as well. You will find as you get more used to it you will pick up other signals which you won't be seeing now and you will be picking up and stopping the behaviour without thinking about it.

You should also be watching for the signs that Kole is had enough before he reacts and step in to stop Bruiser from getting Kole to this stage. You are allowing Bruiser to do this, he needs to learn not to and only you can do that, Kole and Lujack are not big enough and depend on you to do this for them.

Generally our fights are the normal dog fight where they're just kind of yelling really close to each other's faces, but aren't really trying to kill each other. But we have had a few where they were locked together and we've had to pry them apart. Thankfully though the dogs have never been hurt although I almost always have some sort of bruise or puncture mark on my arm or hands. All of the obnoxious stuff like jumping or chewing undies and whatever I know how to work on, but it's the violent stuff that I'm at a loss for.

There are some good threads on here about dogs body language, they will be worth reading to help you understand and read your dogs. You need to be able to do this to protect your 2 little 'uns and teach Bruiser how to behave.

Yes this can be a new start, change the house rules for Bruiser, don't allow him to go too far with the other dogs, watch him, learn what he is saying and take action before he does anything. If you start this as soon as he comes back it will be easier for you and him. Forget about following the NILIF so much, some of it will fit in nicely to your lifestyle, ditch what doesn't, it could be cause more problems and it is possible why Bruiser is the way he is. I have know dogs go into deep depression with NILIF and others really do become hooligans in the effort of trying to cope with it.

It is your house, if you want your dog to do something then let them, if you don't then don't let them. I find often a look or the way I stand will stop one of my dogs from doing something they shouldn't and that is how it should be, I don't need to me more assertive.

Good luck and please keep us up to date.