New Puppy + Jealousy Issues

[B.Seabrooks]

So we recently bought a new sibe bitch. She is currently 8 weeks old and learning quickly with us but the issue isn't with her, it's with our 3 year old male.

Let me first explain how we came upon our Pharaoh because his history might have a lot to do with his issues.

I'm not sure what breeder he came from as we acquired him from a neighbor who lost his job and was no longer able to care for pharaoh properly and his wife who the sibe was originally for had a stroke and rarely leaves the house let alone interacted with the sibe.

He was an inside dog for about 8 months of his life and his owner's pretty much tossed him outside and never so much as played with him. The put him on a line and pretty much left him there for 2 years without much interaction aside from feeding him and watering him. Suddenly when he was about 1 1/2 -2 years they bought a rottie. The rottie was an inside dog for a short time but he still got all of the attention. The owner took him out for walks, took him for ride, took him everywhere, played with him, interacted with him, all within pharaoh's view.

Suddenly pharaoh's place has been taken by this new puppy. We also think that he might have been abused a bit and my husband actually saw the owner kick him once.

He never wanted who was then known as "Max" he would call him derogatory names and tease him.

Pharaoh even had a rut run around the area he was tied to because he was never played with.

So now we have had pharaoh a good 4 months and he has gone from a near psychopathic dog to being a very tame well behaved Husky.

The issue I feel we have is now that we have the new puppy he's worried again about being replaced as with his past owner. We always ALWAYS pet him first when we come home, we make sure he eats first, and gets everything first pretty much. We try to make sure he is even pet first by complete strangers to keep an order of dominance, but it doesn't seem to ease his mind. He still shuns her in every way, if she lays down to sleep with him he'll immediately move, he won't eat on a bone if she has so much as sniffed at it.

Is there something we're doing wrong or is this normal for sibes? I just don't want him to continue thinking he's going to be replaced.

[Sarah]

aww poor thing

First off - good on your for taking him on! It can't have been easy rehabilitating him into your home!

I honestly don't think he will feel like he's going to be relplaced. This is how a human would feel, but with a dog, it's different. Keep playing with them both together but make sure he has his own time out space if he feels he needs it

What's he like when you take him out and he socialises with other dogs?

[B.Seabrooks]

aww poor thing

First off - good on your for taking him on! It can't have been easy rehabilitating him into your home!

I honestly don't think he will feel like he's going to be relplaced. This is how a human would feel, but with a dog, it's different. Keep playing with them both together but make sure he has his own time out space if he feels he needs it

What's he like when you take him out and he socialises with other dogs?

he's great with other dogs as long as they don't try to assert their dominance. The only other dogs we've has issues with without assertion of dominance are other huskies. We took him with us when we went to visit the breeders of our pup and as soon as he saw the dam of the litter he started going off. We tried letting them interact but neither of them would have it, they just kept snapping at each other. I'm guessing on the dam's part it was her protecting her litter even though they were inside the house and for him, I just don't know. He doesn't like other males either.

If he needs some time alone we put him outside, he has a long runner going between two trees and a 20' line that attaches to the runner so he has a ton of space to run around or just relax on the porch if he wants. We go outside and interact with him without the female around so he's aware we still feel he's the dominant of the two.

[Bec]

Personally, I wouldn't be giving him all the attention, resources etc first.

The only thing this is teaching him is that it is his right to be lavished with attention, and that when people come over he gets attention first. When I come home I tend to ignore the dogs, I greet all the people first, and only pay attention to the dogs when they are quiet and behaving themselves. I guarantee you letting him have everything first is not going to make much difference to your pack order, pack order between lower members is fluid and can change depending on the time of day.

My dogs work for all the resources they want, I don't play to any perceived pack order, the first dog to comply with my command gets the reward/resource first. This teaches them that compliance with me, the leader, is what gets them what they want.

I don't think he's worried about being replaced; that's a human emotion. You also have to keep in mind that puppies can be tiring for older dogs, not every dog appreciates the way a baby pup plays and sometimes they need a break from them. I don't encourage my dogs to share bones, I don't leave bones around - if the dogs are finished eating I pick the bone up and throw it away.

Apart from moving away from her when she lies near him and not touching bones that she has had, is there anything else he is doing? How does he interact with her, is he rough, does he dominate her, or does he ignore her completely? Does he engage her in play? etc

[Bec]

Also - I wouldn't leave them together unsupervised just yet.

[Arooroomom]

I agree with Bec about not automatically giving him all the attention first, if anything i think this could actually be making it worse or creating a new problem. And dogs don't hold grudges or other silly emotions people do.

When Mishka came home to us Mickey pretty much ignored her. He'd growl at her if she was all over him too much and generally paid no more attention to her than he would a chair. 2 months in, he's definitely getting to like her a lot more. They play very often now and he doesn't mind her wrestling with him anymore. Some dogs just need time to adjust.

I'm assuming you just brought her home? Give him time to adjust to having a new dog in the house, especially a puppy. If he's just ignoring her, i wouldn't worry.

[B.Seabrooks]

Personally, I wouldn't be giving him all the attention, resources etc first.

The only thing this is teaching him is that it is his right to be lavished with attention, and that when people come over he gets attention first. When I come home I tend to ignore the dogs, I greet all the people first, and only pay attention to the dogs when they are quiet and behaving themselves. I guarantee you letting him have everything first is not going to make much difference to your pack order, pack order between lower members is fluid and can change depending on the time of day.

My dogs work for all the resources they want, I don't play to any perceived pack order, the first dog to comply with my command gets the reward/resource first. This teaches them that compliance with me, the leader, is what gets them what they want.

I don't think he's worried about being replaced; that's a human emotion. You also have to keep in mind that puppies can be tiring for older dogs, not every dog appreciates the way a baby pup plays and sometimes they need a break from them. I don't encourage my dogs to share bones, I don't leave bones around - if the dogs are finished eating I pick the bone up and throw it away.

Apart from moving away from her when she lies near him and not touching bones that she has had, is there anything else he is doing? How does he interact with her, is he rough, does he dominate her, or does he ignore her completely? Does he engage her in play? etc

He does play with her a little bit, but he can be too much for her at times and he does tend to play a great deal rougher than she can tolerate right now. If he gets too wild we just get his attention and he calms right down.

We have already left them alone, first for a few minutes while we stepped outside to do yard work, then we just kept expanding the time. They've had 4 hours to themselves and when we came back she was asleep by the front door and he was on the couch (we allow him up) Also him being on the couch since it's much higher than she can climb helps him get away from her.

I do ignore them when we come in until everything has settled down. Nobody except the baby pays any attention to them when we come home immediately. Usually when it comes time for attention giving they have both calmed down. He tends to be the calmer of the two.

[Bec]

Personally I think leaving a baby puppy with an adult dog, who is not entirely comfortable with her, is a bit dangerous - even if purely for the fact that, like you said, he plays a great deal rougher than she can cope with at the moment.

Without supervising them together you have no idea if he plays too roughly with her or if he needs to have a break from her.

I would prefer to wait until she was bigger. Eight weeks is far too tiny to be running with an adult male Sibe.

[B.Seabrooks]

Personally I think leaving a baby puppy with an adult dog, who is not entirely comfortable with her, is a bit dangerous - even if purely for the fact that, like you said, he plays a great deal rougher than she can cope with at the moment.

Without supervising them together you have no idea if he plays too roughly with her or if he needs to have a break from her.

I would prefer to wait until she was bigger. Eight weeks is far too tiny to be running with an adult male Sibe.

they seem to be doing fine, but once classes start the longest we'll be out of the house is 2-3 hours at a time

[Bec]

You just said that;

he does tend to play a great deal rougher than she can tolerate right now. If he gets too wild we just get his attention and he calms right down.

Which is what made me concerned that they shouldn't be left unsupervised for hours on end. If you're not there to calm him down when he gets "too wild" he could hurt her quite easily. You have no way of knowing what goes on when you're not there, if you think the risk is worth it when you know he gets too rough for her that's up to you. Just something to think about

[Sasha_Bailey]

We were worried about Bailey when we first brought him home to Sasha (2yrs)

She has received all the attention etc... since she was a pup.

The breeder of Bailey also said not to leave them alone until Bailey was able to defend himself IF play became too rough.

One thing i'm still catious of is the rough play as Bailey's bones are still growing. He is now 6mths old and 20.5kgs he is heavier than Sahsa and slighly taller. I wouldn't be leaving your pup alone just yet.

Maybe you could get them doggy-sat when your back at class??

[Bec]

I agree, SashaBailey.

I kept my youngest separated from the other two when I bought her home, for a good 6-8 weeks. We just portioned off the back deck, so she had access to the deck and inside; whereas the other two where outside with the other half of the deck. They could see each other but that was it.

[Sarah]

Have you considered crate training the pup? Could be an idea?

[Dunc]

Crating would be a good idea if you have to leave them alone for any amount of time I agree with the others at this age theres no way they should be left together sorry

[B.Seabrooks]

Crating would be a good idea if you have to leave them alone for any amount of time I agree with the others at this age theres no way they should be left together sorry

the house we're living in has the porch enclosed as an additional storage room (impossible for her to dig her way out) we could always put her there while we're gone. I just fear her going crazy from being separated from another pack, we already separated her from her brothers and she went a bit stir crazy for a few days.

[Bec]

the house we're living in has the porch enclosed as an additional storage room (impossible for her to dig her way out) we could always put her there while we're gone. I just fear her going crazy from being separated from another pack, we already separated her from her brothers and she went a bit stir crazy for a few days.

Which is actually another good reason to separate them - she needs to get used to being on her own in case you ever need to take them places individually or even just want to do some one on one training. Nothing is harder than having a puppy who has always had the company of another dog/s and doesn't know how to be on their own, even for short periods. Getting her used to being on her own now will be a hell of a lot easier than having to do so when she's older and it's become an ingrained habit and serious problem.

[stacym]

We have a 12 weeks old puppy and ours are not left alone Zak being about 5 and blind is the main reason although Zak likes to play 'husky' and our new addition isn't a husky so we are worried about Zak going to over the top and damaging puppies joints etc> When we have to go out minus dogs Asbo is crated and Zak has run of downstairs it is the same at bedtime. They are together at all times when we are with them and do play but if Zak gets too rough we step in and tell them to calm. I agree with above posts an adult dog should never be left alone with a puppy for the same reasons you shouldn't leave a dog unattended with a child.

Stacy x

[magical Merlin]

Merlin has jellosy issues with other animals if i am near them. Its something that has taken alot of work and patience.

Luckly for me he loves puppies. (he should have been a bitch!) so i have been able to introduce them to him.

The main way i start is there are NO toys/rawhides/other high value items around for merlin to become possessive about and the pup to get in trouble over. I feed all the dogs in seperat courners with seperate bowls so they all know who eats where and meal times are supervised with new dogs in the house so that no one can steal someone elses food.

I will sit on the floor with merlin and the other dog/pup and enitiate play. to start i tend to have one on each side but they move round and eventually learn how to play with eachother. I have to set the boundaries and make sure no one oversteps the line.

As the relationship develops between the dogs im able to introduce toys, then treats and today after having rosie for 2 months i've introduced rawhides and they all did very well with no problems.

My advice would be just go on as normal. Your boy will eventually become intrested. Spend time with both of them by sitting on the floor/bed and letting them get used to eachother with you as the mediator. eventually they should learn how to be around eachother and even if they are not best friends they should tollerate eachother. I would not try to increase Pharios status as being above the pup as this may cause problems later. For now he should be able to tell pup off if its in the wrong but he needs to be an equal to it.