Introducing a New Puppy, Please Help

I currently have a 9 year old Pit Bull (female), and a 1 1/2 year old Husky(female). They both are very friendly, but they play very rough, especially the husky. We just bought a 2 month old T-cup Pomeranian (male)about 2 weeks ago, and i'm scared they are going to hurt him. The Pit bull doesn't seem to want anything to do with him, we put them together and the puppy just tries to hump her, she doesn't like to much and just walks away, she comes up to me and just wants to be petted. The husky on the other hand just wants to play with the puppy, but i'm scared she is just going to pounce on him. We have been keeping the puppy separated from the other dogs for now, the puppy stays in a crate when we are not around. None of the dogs seem to show any aggression toward each other, but i'm scared they will hurt him just playing with him. If anybody has any advice it would be very helpful. Thank You[/b]

 

I'm sorry to be so negative but I really don't think this was a good idea in the first place. Think about it... A teacup pomeranian in a house with a Pitbull and a Husky? These dog breeds are predatory by nature and may mistake your pom for something else. It may not happen today or tomorrow but it can happen because it is in their blood. The rough play is another problem and is difficult to discourage. Another thing is that the pom just may be standing by them one day while they are playing and get hurt cause of its size. Unless you keep these dogs seperated from each other, I think your pom is at risk. There may be people out there that have made a situation like this work, I don't know but I just don't think it is a good idea cause of potential injury to the Pom.

 

Actually, I think you will be okay. Sara, another poster on this board has a couple of Pit Bulls, a new baby Husky, and a 5 lb. chiuaua (sp?). Anyways, you have been doing exactly what you should be doing, keeping him seperated when you are not around. I don't think you should forever keep the t-cup seperated from the others for the simple fact that, they may become jealous, or if they do see him, they won't be used to him and show aggression towards him. He should probably not be allowed to play with the other 2 though. Like Karriesue said, just by standing there, he could get toppled over.

Dogs tend to play aggressively with one another (regardless of breed), so what looks "rough" to us, is just play to dogs. If you had another dog the same soze or close to the pom, that's one thing, but both dogs out weigh him by probably 50-60 lbs. so this is a bad idea. Make sure you are ALWAYS around to supervise if you have the pom on the floor with the other two. Accidents can and do happen, so just take the proper precautions to ensure nothing does happen.

Good luck and have fun with your puppies.

 

I agree with karriesue. Make a point of keeping an eye on everything separate when your not there. Also a big dog roughhousing with a small dog is really hard on a small dogs joints.

 

Hi I'm the Sara Bullylove mentioned but I have to make a couple corrections. The dogs in my household are 2 Pit Bulls and 2 Boerboels (No Husky or Chi.) but that's all good.

I would definately recommend keeping all the dogs separated when you are not there...definately. Secondly it sounds like your female APBT would rather not visit at all with the pom, not just a little but a lot looking to you for re-assurance and looking to you to rescue her from the little tyke (not sure why though). The best thing you can do is take a look at the pecking order and keep it that way... You dont' want your Pom to start challenging your Pit for position in the hierarchy... You'll want to make sure that YOU put the higher dog in higher status with your own dealings (feed that dog first etc...) You can't put them in a heigherarchy but you can keep them from challenging one another by keeping them under control. Training will help you immensly... You need to get to a point where your two bid dogs will stop what they are doing even if they're in a heated arguement. The big dogs need to know that certain things are not allowed with this little dog and will not be tolerated...

Don't let the dogs get in a situation where there'll be a challenge...with toys, food, attention etc... Keep the pom protected by using your training and control over your other dogs...and if you need to...get to some classes to get the control you'll need to have over the big dogs to keep the pom safe from harm or injury.

 

gotta agree with karriesue and puttin. this is NOT a good mix. also, expect problems when the pup is trying to hump the female. if he keeps doing it the female may lose her temper. it is HIGHLY annoying for the female. my dog hates other dogs humping her, she ends up turning around and biting them if they dont quit. i honestly dont know why you made the choice for a teacup dog. first, they are practically defects and should not be bred in the first place. buying them is just supporting these twisted breeders. second, this fear/problem you have will never go away because the dog will always remain small. its not going to grow to 50 cms and grow muscles. im getting hungry just thinking about teacup dogs! \/

 

Hay great news. Glade you got another one I always feel kind of funny about having all the ones I have. We have Our 2 - Pyrs with our little Jack R. and yes we keep and eye on her but she picked up real quick to move out of there way.We made sure to make places for her to hide from the big guys when outside. We do not leave her alone with them when we go out and keep and eye and a ear open for any actions that sound different then usual. She puts them in there place if they get to rough with her. The only time we seem to have trouble is after my male Pyr eats he gets a case of the hots for the female Jack so we just keep them apart for and hour or so. Oh they are both fixed. Have fun with the new one.

2pyrs

 

Humping is a dominant behavior... your pom is trying to assert dominance... NOT a great thing at this age given your situation...but...workable.

 

I disagree about the humping thing. It CAN be a dominant behavior, but it can also be just a form of play.

Here is some info from http://www.wagntrain.com/BodyLanguage.htm:

I haven't been to that page before, but it seems to have some good info (which I have read elsewhere, helping to confirm its value). It has pictures of different body language and ways you can communicate with your dog, including "calming signals" (see "On Talking Terms With Dogs : Calming Signals" by Turid Rugaas).


Jamiya