Need help Please! Resuced Yorkie meets Older Yorkie

[LMY]

Here is my story and I hope someone has positive advice, as it has been one tough year!

We lost our male yorkie Junior a month ago. He was almost 9 and died from surgery complications. We have another yorkie Bella she is 8. Junior was around for Bella's entire life. They were the best of friends and losing Junior the grief she was displaying was significant. It was world crushing for me and clearly for her too.

Now Bella is not the most friendly girl. She is grumpy, fat, and lazy. But Junior and her never had a problem. They had playful moments but otherwise were really just the best cuddle buddies.

I was devestated over losing Junior. I wanted to do something in his honor. The things I missed the most were his energetic personality, his kisses and his cuddles ..oh and he was my velcro puppy...so the house seemed empty.

I thought resucing a yorkie would be better for us than a puppy. I wanted to give a less fortunate Yorkie an opporutnity to see the world is not all bad.

2 days ago we resuced a 3 year old Male Oliver from the humane society. The inital meet when fine and he had bella running circles she got more of a workout than I have seen out of her in forever.

However, yesterday they each got a bone and Oliver took his and then came back got hers and took hers..when Bella tried to get a bone he attacked her..this one was mild and I put the bone away.

Then last night we were eating dinner and both were looking at me seekign handouts. I didn't do anything and next thing I know Oliver attacked her again. Now I cannot honestly tell you that he is instigating this or if it is her. Bella does not have a welcoming personality. He tries to sniff her and she literally sits down so he can't smell her. She takes a mean stance and acts like a b for him to even look at her. So I don' tknow that he is just jumping on her or if it is due to her stance to him.

My question, seek for advice and experiences is ..is this normal? I wanted her to have a new best friend and never even thought there would be a tiff. I guess I was dillusional and expected rainbows and unicorns. What I do know about the rescue guy is he was surrendered because he would not liter train (crazy nuts!) he has had a broken leg from being hit by a car and I am guessing he was overall just not treated well. With that in mind, he is a happy little guy. Energetic and is great with my 3 year old. Loves to cuddle and seems happy with his new home.

I am scared to death of the sound of those 2 scuffles. I am sick to my stomach that these two will not work it out. I lost my dear Junior a month ago and I am already attached to Oliver. My heart cannot bear that we won't be able to make these two live in the same home.

Is there a normal period of adjustments were a fight is normal? Does anyone know how long this lasts? How heated is normal? I called a behavioral specialist but he said I need to give this 3 weeks to a month before it would make sense for him to come observe the rescued guy. I'm scared and want to set them up to succeed looking for any input that can help me through this.

Thank you in advance.

[My lil friend]

I am not a trainer and hopfully a member that is will be able to help more. However I do know that it is not unusual for a rescue to have food/toy agressions. If it were me,,I would make sure that each baby had their treat/bone or dinner in separate ends of the room,with me in the middle. He may be used to having to get all he can while he can and she is not used to having to protect her food. We have 5 dogs ranging in age 13yrs to 2yrs. I have one male that thinks he should finish his food and go help others. If it is the oldest,she will go after him,just for looking at her bowl. If it is the baby she just gives a low growl,letting me know what he is up to. I or someone else is always present when food is given. When treats are given,I sometimes have to put the male in the expen that stays up in my kitchen,just so he and everyone else can enjoy their treat in peace. Im sure that there are some training techniques that you can use and hopfully someone that does more training will come along soon.

[brezofleur]

I'm also not a trainer but Zeus would go over and eat Ody's food after he was done when we rescued him (he still does it) so I have to separate them. Ody now eats in the bathtub because it's hard for Zeus to jump into it.

Maybe you could try feeding them separately and see if that helps?

[LMY]

I fed them separately last night and they both ate. The fight that scared me happened because I was eating not them. I guess my worry is these two will just break out in random fights and hurt each other. My older yorkie is quite the diva and I keep catching her showing her teeth. I am just praying this is an adjustment period and these two will become best buds. We rescued Oliver because she seemed as sad as we were over losing Junior. Clearly no one will ever be Junior, but hoping she warms up to Oliver he is a cute little guy. I don't have a ton of experience. Oliver is my 3rd yorkie and 3rd dog of my life.

I appreciate your words and thoughts. This is a great site. I have read so much (as Oliver is also not potty trained) so much help from others ...so wonderful!

[neersyorkies]

Hello my dear, first of all I'm deeply sorry for loosing your Baby. I think your little girl is still not over the death of her Buddy Junior and then all the sudden Oliver shows up out of nowhere (that's how she sees it) and is all happy to be there. She mite think that Oliver intrudes into her home and life ....that she shared with Junior and it was nice and quiet.
I think it was a great move to get Oliver to help you all heal.
I'm no expert but I have 8 Yorkies and 1 Chihuahua and sometimes 2 of my girls get into a fight over God only knows what but then they get over it. I'm pretty sure that with time these 2 also will work out there problems and become best of friends....but it will take TIME
Good luck with your babies.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Your rescue may be a resource guarder or just new and trying to establish his position in his new pack. Likely the two will work it out over time though some never do but this is kind of to be expected when bringing a new dog into home. I would keep them separated when toys, chewies, food and intense play or a lot of loving is going on for the time being while working with the new dog as outlined below. You might just ask the other dog to leave or take it out of the room, let it outside and out of hearing range if possible while the other dog is playing with toys, eating or having loving sessions and getting attention from you for a while as things settle down.

Here are some more things you might consider to see if they might work for your situation. Start the Nothing In Life Is Free program(Google the term for several sites with info on how to do it) and a good obedience training program with the newbie, to slowly teach him that you are his new pack leader and that learning to do what you say and respect you as the authority figure in the pack is the only thing that is going to make him the happiest. Training a dog, the bonding and trust that is formed during nothing but positive reinforcement of carrying out commands, can help to settle a dog, give him work to do, keep his brain busy learning and challenge him to learn impulse control - something he'll need to live well with his pack mate.

Lots of exercise, long, productive walks after a good sniffing session up the block so he can "read the news" of visiting critters outside and some interactive toys can also help to take the nerves and insecurity from a dog who is trying to fit into a new pack. Later, after your newbie has some impulse control and respects you as his sole pack leader, you can teach him the "Leave it" command and use that whenever he is showing unwanted interest in something he shouldn't - such as his new pack mate or a piece of food that got dropped and both dogs are going for it, likely producing a fight.

Then, after he's learned the "Leave it", you can give him that command when he is resource guarding, toss meat treats across the room from what he's guarding and when he relinquishes his trophy and runs for the treat, give him a second treat for "Good Leave It". Kind of bait and switch that will teach him that every time he gives way on something he wants when you give that command, he gets two great treats and lots of praise. Keep all training fun, upbeat, loving, gentle & free of discipline and just use the word "uh oh" when he doesn't respond or doesn't get his trick right during training. Later when he knows better, has learned "Leave It" and knows that command well enough to do it even when he doesn't want to 99% of the time, the 1% he doesn't, say "No" and walk up and shoo him away from what he is guarding. Place him in another room with the door closed and leave him there around 15 minutes, no matter how he screams and barks. That will eventually teach him that disobeying and hearing a "No" will get him quickly removed from the area of family gathering and activity and leave him all alone for a time. Then, when you have to resort to "No", he'll start to back off that 1% before you have to isolate him.

A good behaviorist is probably best but if you wanted to try some of the above things first, it might be worth a try.