Question:
help!!!!!!! i have a 2 year old chow/britanny mix we adopted at 7 weeks old from the humane society. "joey" was the first born child to my husband and i. that is until last week, after lots of discussion, research and time, we brought "pippen" home, he is an 9 wk old yellow lab. we are now seeing food aggression with joey, also with water, they are begining to play with each other little by little this week, but we still havent been able to bring seperate toys in. pippen is CHEWING like crazy and i want him to have chew toys but he can only have them in his crate, HELP ME any suggestions would be great. ps support and words of encourgagement are also apprectiated.
thanks
RossGirl


Answer:
Unfortunately, that is very common is dogs and sometimes the problem can't be solved. Even if you buy them the exact same toy, they will still want the other's. It sounds like the adjustment is going okay for you...the food and water aggression is normal as well. However, once they get more comfortable with each other, that should go away. Welcome to the forum! We'd love to see pictures of your dogs.


Answer:
Also make sure you continue to give the older dog plenty of attention so that he does not feel jealous. Reward him verbally with lots of praise when he is good with the puppy. If the pup is going to lie down on the floor and eat something forbidden anyway, you might as well "pop" him into his crate with a chew toy he CAN chew. Good luck


Answer:
I agree with CTChin about giving the older dog LOTS of attention to avoid jealously. Also, try to reward the older dog in the puppy's presence so that Joey will associate Pippin with good things like food
How is the food and water aggression going? They will usually sort out their hierarchy amongst themselves with the more dominant dog eating first. With my two girls, even though they have been together all their lives, Keesha will usually eat first before Ally.
With Pippin being the younger dog, Joey might take his toys away so I think that giving him chew toys in his crate is the solution for now. Once they both settle down and figure out the hierarchy, they will be able to share toys. Keesha and Ally constantly switch toys, I give them the exact same chewtoys and they still want each others, they usually settle down with one toy each after they figure out who wants what.
Please keep us updated on their progress!


Answer:
hey everyone,
thanks for the wonderful advice from the last couple of days. things are a little better right now ( at least the two are PLAYING with each other unbelieveable anyway, i am going to try giving water to both of them at the same time ( from different bowls) this week. i have a break from school and have a lot of time to spend with them right now. hopefully it helps.
thanks again for the great advice.
keep you posted.


Answer:
That's great news, I'm glad they are playing with each other!


Answer:
hey guys,
sorry i havent been around lately, ( busy with school) anyway, things are getting much better in the house, joey and pippin are playing really well, we fenced our backyard in, so they have lots of room to run around and wear themselves out.
i was wondering if it is too soon to try and give them water at the same time at the same place ( different bowls of course) they are starting to accept each other but i just wonder if it will throw joey back into jealousy, let me know what you think.


Answer:
Welcome back.
I would take things slow with the water/food issue. It is prefectly normal for Joey to act possesive over his water bowl. I would start out with two bowls far away from each other...say, 10 feet. Once they are comfortable with that and Joey isn't being aggressive, start moving them closer. Eventually you should be able to have their bowls close together and hopefully in the end they can share a bowl.


Answer:
Good to see you back, RossGirl
I agree with Candice, give them two seperate bowls apart from each other and see how they react. With two dogs, you might want to give them two water bowls anyway. I have two dogs and they get along really well (mother/daughter) and I still give them two water bowls instead of one, just in case they both need water at the same time. They don't often drink at the same time, but occasionally they do.
And try to give attention to Joey before Pippin, that might help to curb jealousy (if there is any).


Answer:
Rocky and Jack still fight over the exact toys. I will buy the same thing and they want what each other have. There sisters so I think it's different though. But I agree, special treats and cuddle's for your older dog might help. Im glad things are getting better though. I know it's a challange. What was hard to watch was when Rocky and Jack were puppies and they were play fighting. My vet said to let them work it out unless they are REALLY fighting. Well they worked it out on there own.