HELP! having problems with the new dog.

hey everyone.....

Just recently, my cousin moved to the US (we're from canada) and she left her 9 month old female shar pei with my family until she gets settled in. I own a 12 year old male Golden Retriever. Now both dogs are always, what seems to be, fighting each other. The majority of the aggression is coming from the new dog. It's only been like 2 days since we got her, but both dogs are staying on different floors in my house, away from each other. Is there any way to get them to socialize and stop being aggressive toward each other?

You can try to muzzle both of the dogs while they are meeting so they can't bite each other. A friend of mine had the same problem and he put a muzzle on both of the dogs. They couldn't bite each other and ended up calming down but all dogs are different.

this is just what i've heard mentioned when reading in other threads (i think Renee was saying this...) but i think that whenever a new dog is brought into your home, they always try and establish their position in the pecking order, and i think that's why the newcomer is more agressive than your dog. something you can do to prevent this is doing everything for your dog first. feed him first, pet him first, greet him first, so he knows that he's still first and that he's not being replaced by this new dog, and that should hopefully also teach the newcomer where he stands as well... does that make sense? i know when my aunt got a new dog, she has a 5 year old and they made sure that patrick was the one who feed the dog, etc so that eddie (the dog) understood where exactly he stood. it's worked well for them and whenever my aunt takes him for walks w/ patrick, eddie will pull more when she's holding the leash, but if she hands it to patrick and says to eddie, 'look who's holding the leash now', he stops pulling.

maybe since this doesn't appear to be a long-term situation and the agression is really serious, then keeping them seperated could be a good idea to avoid conflict. just a thought!

good luck!!

This may sound strange..but my neighbor swears by it....put shaving cream/lotion on your hands, then rub on both dogs noses. They will then think they have the same 'scent' and the introduction will go smoother. Who knows.........may help.