matzwd
Member
- Nov 14, 2012
- 120
- 6
- Bulldog(s) Names
- Aunt Clara
Before Aunt Clara came to live with us, Zelda was the stingy, alpha princess in our home. Biscuit the chihuahua mutt is an independent guy and couldn't care less about either of the girls, except that they leave him alone, so none of this involves him. So, we knew pretty much immediately after getting Clara that she also was a stingy alpha girl. Zelda mothered her by protecting her and bossing her up to within a couple of months. We've gradually had more and more spats, all of them food related. I usually pick Clara up and hold her for a minute to separate the two and then put her back on the floor after the food has been removed. Well, tonight, there was no food, just toys the girls like to chew. They used to steal them from each other and wrestle a bit, but this was waaayyy different. Clara is definitely the one to go on the attack first. When I picked her up, I could hardly get them apart because they were literally attached to one another skin-teeth. After waiting a minute or two for things to calm down and for the toys to be removed. I set her down. She immediately went after Zelda again, and it started all over, this time even more aggressively. I did get them separated and put Clara in a room with the door closed. No one is bleeding (but Clara was the other night in another spat). However, I'm becoming concerned that these two are going to end up hating each other and not being able to live peacefully together. What do we need to do? They are calm right now and both free to roam, but I do have a leash on Clara just in case.
I've read some other threads regarding this topic, but they seem to be with aggression from the older pooch rather than the newcomer.
They are also loose in the house while we are away from home. Should I maybe be separating them while we are gone, or is this something like skin-kids do to get parents' attention?
I've read some other threads regarding this topic, but they seem to be with aggression from the older pooch rather than the newcomer.
They are also loose in the house while we are away from home. Should I maybe be separating them while we are gone, or is this something like skin-kids do to get parents' attention?