New husky, some problems

[jnetser]

Hi,

This is my first post. I just adopted a husky yesterday afternoon. A 3 year old female from a husky rescue. I have two boys (10 year old Newfy mix and 3 year old shepard /greyhound mix??). This is my first husky. She is super sweet and affectionate to the humans but I am having some issues with the pack. I brought my 2 to meet her at the rescue and they pretty much ignored each other which I was told was a good reaction. Now that we are home, she still wants nothing to do with them. If they try and sniff her she growls (she didn't do this at the shelter). This is especially bad if she is next to me. She doesn't want them near her if she is near me . The growls sound pretty bad and she bares her teeth if they don't heed the initial growl. It hasn't escalated beyond that yet because they don't challenge her. I don't know if she doesn't really mean it or if they know not to cross her. I was really hoping she would be playful with my younger boy who has energy to burn. Does she just need more time with them? Has anyone else experienced similar when introducing new dogs? Did I pick the wrong dog? They are fine on walks and can even lay in the same vicinity, but she won't allow them to stick their noses in her space. She has some food aggression issues too

Thanks

Julie

[marcos]

Hello and welcome to the pack.. glad to have you...

well her growl is a warning to the other dogs. she doesn't want to make friends... the nose from your males is a sign of interest. they want to know her, but she doesn't want to know them.. and No you didn't pick the wrong dog. I would suggest correcting her when she growls with a firm touch, if she is worse with them around you than she is partial to you.. You should show her that they are not going to do any harm to her. Remember when you bring a new dog home, they are entering your space, not the other way around... she is unsure about the area, so most likely nervous. She just needs some leadership.. and i wouldn't pet her and tell her "oh its ok baby" when she is growling. then you are promoting bad behavior. and walking them with her is good.. try and walk with a partner and take the two males in front and the female behind and try and see if she will smell them. and bout her food aggression problem.. you cant be afraid.. you need to stay calm.. the more afraid you are of the situation the worse the situation will get.. I don't know if you watch Cesar Millan but in Season 5, Episode 6 with Hyda & Vada, He does a great demonstration of how to control food aggression. But in this episode he is dealing with a wolf hybrid. I believe the episode is called Born to be wild. I tried to find it but i couldn't.

Hope this helps.

[KSNS]

Above advice is sound but also keep in mind because ur dog is the same one day it does not mean its same the next day dogs live in the now not in the past so to speak when situations arise you have to maintain leadership ur the pack leader none of the dogs. so ur sibe is fine with u not the other dogs their reaction will also be based on how you come accros if you get nervous because of what has happend the dog will act accordingly, to break habbits u need to change reactions.

As to food does ur sibe get aggressive with u as well (protective) or just the other dogs..??

[Sarah]

Hi Julie and welcome to the pack. Great advice, given already

She will be warey of her new surroundings, did the rescue give you any indications as to what background she came from? Did she have to fight for food or anything?

With the food aggression - place her food down and make her wait until you say it's ok to go eat - this shows YOU control the food :0

Well done on rehoming her

[Andy]

Hey, Julie.

Welcome to our pack.

Don't worry too much. When you introduce a new dog into the home ALL the dogs go through a period of adjustment.

Growling at the other dogs when she is near you. . .She is simply protecting YOU. You are HER pack leader and she doesn't KNOW or TRUST your other dogs yet.

Food aggression is common even amongst pack mates who have grown up together from puppies. Simply feed her apart from the others until she has integrated with the rest of your pack.

As Sarah says YOU control the food.

Do not worry it takes several days or weeks for some dogs to "feel at home".

OK the next bit is not intended to scare you, just making you aware of something that may happen, and if it does it is quite normal.

Do not assume though that she will simply slot into place at the bottom of the pecking order

And whilst they are sorting out the new hierarchy of the pack it can get quite tense.

Sometimes this does escalate into aggression. This can and does look like they really are fighting, however. . .

It rarely goes beyond a lot of noise and open mouths and tussling as they try to force the other into a submissive position.

Either gripping the throat or the back of the neck.

We used to foster dogs for a few weeks until they could be properly re-homed. Once we introduced a Chihuahua when we already had a Pomeranian, and they were a whirlwind of tooth an nail and fur for 24 hours. . the next morning they had sorted out who was boss and were best of friends.

I hope everything works out for you, well done for taking this lovely dog into your home.

Best of luck.

[Sid_Wolf]

Welcome to the pack

when we 1st moved in with our mates and their 2 greyhound we had a lot of growling ans snarling from the 2 greyhounds, kira was a young hyper puppy and she'd just walked into their house. Have you taken them on a nice walk together?? we found that this helped. Everything was fine after about a week, though they will still growl if she gets too close when their sleeping lol

good luck, oh and we need pics

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

welcome to the pack sum great advice given already - we introduced a new puppy into our pack just under 3 weeks ago at 1st Bings and Blaze were not keen at all - they were fine when they met they were fine on the walk they were fine when we brought them all in2 the house but after a while Skyla wudnt leave Blaze alone she wanted 2 play ALL the time - Blaze has growled at her a few times - her and Bings have even had a few tiffs (teeth bared - growling - snapping at each other but not actually making any contact) her and Blaze are fine now - hes still not keen on her playing with him sumtimes - he likes his space - but then he will just either go in the garden or hide in my room to get away from her - Bings is still not keen on her but he is getting better - it took him well over a month (maybe 2?) to get used to Blaze

give them time correct her when she growls let her no that its unacceptable behaviour and ur pack will calm down in no time also if u do have a few tiffs/fights so long as they dont look like they are gonna fight to the death - let them sort it out - they will need 2 establish their new pack order and find out who is alpha

oh and we need pics up ov all ur pack

[jnetser]

Wow, you guys are great.

All your comments make me feel a little better about the growling at the other dogs. I probably need to give that more time. A couple of times I think she has wanted to play with one of them but won't let herself.

The food thing still bothers me. I woud think the rescue should have known about that. She is really crazy when you go to put her food bowl down. She will happily sit if asked to before I put it down, then the heat seeking missle behavior starts. This morning I fed her out of my hand with the bowl out of reach in the other hand and she was fine with that. She will go for the other dogs' bowls when she is done. I seem to be able to keep her out of them with a firm no and some strong body language. She did get into one of them and I had to pull her out and it was not pretty. I made sure my hand was totally behind her neck.

Keath: I think she would get aggressive with me if she was eating if I put my hand down to try to take the bowl. It might not be the full fledged response seen with the other dogs. I don't want to try it.

On a positive note, night before last she took 2 hours to settle into her crate. Last nite only about 2 minutes.

She also dug her first tiny hole in the yard.

Now she sitting by me on the couch trying to lick my face.

When I figure out how to post pics (I'm techno challenged) I will post in the introduction section. I think she is beautiful

Julie (Gracie, Tuff and Angus)

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Skyla will go for blazes food when shes done aswell (bings usually finished up quickly but blaze takes ages) but Blaze will tell her off and wont let her near his food she has now learnt she can try and whinge for it but she doesnt go near his bowl just sits near him watching lol

check out this links on how 2 upload and post pictures

[Mazz]

Welcome to the Pack. Great advice, just give it time, and keep your confidence level high, so your new pack member senses you are the boss.

[Sarah]

See - you noticing improvements already She should settle fairly well in her crate - as for the garden, erm huskies don't dig honest i'm sure that hole will be the first of many lol

Can't wait to see the pics

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Hey Julie,

Welcome to our family! Sounds like your totally on the right track with her and already seeing improvements! With the food thing..do all your dogs have crates? If so and they all see their crates as their safe place I would think feeding all in their crates.. this will not only re-enforce their crates as a good thing but also stop anyone from getting at anyone elses food and stop any probs! once dogs know their safe to eat without anyone taking anything from them they calm down alot!

Good luck and pictures please!!

[StormFi]

Welcome to the family, Julie!

I would say that the three of em just need to get their hieracy in the pack sorted and after that they will be the best friends.

As said above, showing teeth, growling and stong body language is the part of that, nothing to worry about in that. And wrestling too if they dont get hierarcy sorted with growling and body language.

As from what you wrote sounds like none of the dogs are really agressive, they just need time to get to know each other and get their hierarcy sorted.

For food agression, I would say that im pretty protective of my bowl too, but do know my limits. If my owners are taking/touching my bowl I can sometimes show my teeth and growl "what the hell you are messing with my food" but thats all. Im not allowed to flip my bowl or spread food on carpet/floor and I do know it. But hey, trying to get the good meat parts and leave potatoes/veggies.

For flipping the bolw or growling over it when owners are touching it tend to loose my bowl of food Just for minute or so, but anyway. They do control my food and I know it isnt smart to piss my owners

Crate... never liked to be in one, it is oki for transporting, and even as a safe place in home. Inside house crate should never be closed tho if you ask me. How would you feel spending ½ of your day in 2*1m cell?

[marcos]

Above advice is sound but also keep in mind because ur dog is the same one day it does not mean its same the next day dogs live in the now not in the past so to speak when situations arise you have to maintain leadership ur the pack leader none of the dogs. so ur sibe is fine with u not the other dogs their reaction will also be based on how you come accros if you get nervous because of what has happend the dog will act accordingly, to break habbits u need to change reactions.

As to food does ur sibe get aggressive with u as well (protective) or just the other dogs..??

added to rep.. great advice.