Need help ASAP w new senior dog?

Question

I adopted a 14 year old dog today, small cute 15 pound lil thing, and I have two dogs at home: Ozzy the 85 pound Golden and Felix the 30 pound terrier. They were all hanging out fine until I have the new lad, Frank, a toy. He became so possessive and weird, and wouldn't let me pick him up. I could tell my other dogs were scared. Did I do something wrong? Can I fix it? Or is this normal? Or should I give the dog back?

Answer 1

Does the agency you adopted him from have a trainer on staff? THEY would be the one to talk to. If not, find a trainer yourself and discuss it with them.



There are a number of possibilities - he was possessive over the toy, he didn't like being picked up, you startled him, etc. Only a professional can evaluate and determine course of action. A lot of dogs do not like to "share" their toys, food, treats, etc for any number of reasons.



If it's possession aggression then it CAN be a problem, particularly if there are children or other pets in the home. It's not something you just wait to see if it goes away, because a dog that is aggressive like that CAN and WILL bite. And even if the other dogs respect him and avoid his things, you never know if that behavior might transfer to something else - like YOU. Not uncommon for a dog who is possessive of toys/food to be possessive of it's person/people.

Answer 2

its resource guarding. The dogs will work out the pecking order amongst themselves, just keep an eye out that they are not injuring eachother. Its still early. It takes more time for the new dog to settle in.



some dogs just grow horns when they get something they really like. If its the senior that you meant did it, just don't try to touch him when hes got a toy or bone hes really interested in... leave him to whatever he likes doing with it. Call him to you so he leaves the toy and comes to you. Not a problem then. We have a senior like this, hes always been like this. We just don't approach and poke at him when hes got something like that. If we call him he'll leave the toy and come to use and then theres no aggression.. that's when we sneak and take it away from him.. ITs just something some dogs do. Make sure any children in the home do not try to take "resources" away from him when he has them or better yet, just remove all his toys when children or guests visit so all he has to interact with when guest are over, is the guests.



hes so old, if its not a safety issue as you have small children in the home who may try to play with him when hes resource guarding, just leave him to enjoy his toys when he has them.

Answer 3

Some dogs are just like that with toys. He's lived a long life and may have been mistreated or something bad happen with something being taken from him. I'm a dog groomer and a pet care specialist. If he starts to attack your other dogs you can ask a trainer what to do, if you can't handle it then you can always bring him back.

Answer 4

The little dog feels very vulnerable in this situation. Introduce them slowly. Make sure the little guy always has a way to get away from the larger dog. Don't confine them together until they get to know each other. The little guy is probably stressed out because he is in a strange environment and he is old.

Answer 5

Constant supervision, separate/contain when you can't, immediate correction when caught in the act, and if it doesn't work out re-home the newcomer. There are no guarantees that any two dogs will ever get along nor can you force them to do so.

Answer 6

Many dogs become possessive of toys. You may have to supervise toys with three dogs around, at least until they all sort out who's boss and so on. And maybe Frank just doesn't like being picked up, or if you picked him up when he was in the middle of defending his toy then that was a mistake.