Hi Everyone:

I'm new to the forum and have been really enjoying reading it.  This is my first question:  Has anyone brought home a new puppy and had any problems with their older dog?  I have Mikey who is five years old and brought Alice home when she was 6 weeks old.  Alice is 5 mos. old now and Mikey tolerates her but sometimes he sounds like he's really agitated with her.  She's being crated for now and Mikey has the run of the house.  He's really done well and never hurt her, but you would never know when you hear him growl at her.  It's usually over new toys or rawhide chewies.  I guess this is normal but just wanted your views on it. 

Mikey will let her lie on the sofa but doesn't want her to touch him when she lies down.  She acts so sad when he rejects her.  I wonder if they will ever become friends???

Thanks for your input!

Welcome to the forum, Vickie.  This is a great place.  I have two ratties myself.  Button, my 3 year old, doesn't have a mean bone in her body.  She was 100% accepting of Zipper once she sniffed her over the first day real good.  Zipper, my rescue that was a stray, was the one possessive of the toys, food and our affection.   Not the other way around as usual, and as in your case with Mikey.

Re toy hoarding we just took them up for a couple of months until she settled in.  Button didn't miss them as she now had a "live" toy to play with!    Zipper didn't know what toys were, really, she just had to take them away from that other dog! 

Re: Food aggression  the first two weeks I fed Zipper and Button in the crates.  Then we progressed to outside the crate but 4-5 feet apart and restraining Zipper from jumping in and helping Button eat her dinner!  Now they eat 2-3' apart but I still stay at the ready to keep Zipper from helping Button finish.  Dumb Button would let her have both bowls of food If I didn't intercede!  She's sooooo sweet.

RE: Affection hoarding we just corrected Zipper when she growled at Button (Button, never growled back.  I don't think I've ever heard her growl EVER!).  We gave Zipper a firm "NO" and removed ourselves from the chair so she knew we didn't approve of the behavior.  We also made sure whenever we showed affection to one, we showed affection to the other, simultaneously whenever possible.  A pet for a pet; a hug for a hug; a treat for a treat; a pick-me-up for a pick-me-up.  Equal treatment of both dogs at all times.

In other words, as Tracey said, we tried to eliminate the "triggers" that made Zipper show her "dark side" developed from having been a stray that had to fight off other stray dogs, more than once, over food, or merely for self-defense.  Her aggressive behaviors eventually subsided once she began to trust Button & understand Button had no aggression.

I consider my girls to be best buddies now.  I no longer feel Zipper would ever hurt Button.  Try some of these techniques with your two and maybe they will work out their differences. 

Ditto on above and welcome to the forum.

When we got Katie (almost two years ago), we had a 12 year old Lab and a 3 yr old Lab.  The 12 yr old let Katie know that she did not want to be bothered and we never had any problems.  (We lost the Lab a year ago at age 13 to cancer).  Dixie (the now 5 yr old) and Katie play together and have fun, but there are some occasional problems.  Dixie is a chow hound and we would have food fights -- thing is, Katie won't back off - so after trying lots of different things to stop this food aggression problem, I just ended up feeding them in separate rooms.  They will share toys okay, but bone treats, etc. I supervise.  Katie usually takes hers to a separate area on her own.  So, food is the biggest issue we have.

We also have had some issues with attention -- from both dogs.  Katie went through a spell of growlng (thus causing a fight) if she was sitting with me and Dixie approached.  I use a prong collar in training and so put that on her and corrected her when she did this.  Then, Dixie went through the same thing a few months later.  I scolded and corrected Dixie and the issue seems to have resolved.

It's funny, but these issues didn't really service until after we lost Bonnie, our old Lab.  I think Bonnie was the "alpha" and kept order in the pack.  When she died, I think Katie and Dixie had to work out the pecking order.

Good luck and please posts pictures of both pups.  Only one may be a Rattie (?), but the other is related to a Rattie!

Thank you guys so  much!  Mikey is the rattie pictured and he is the 5yr old so he has an "only child syndrome".  Alice is a tuxedo rattie.  I don't have a good picture of her yet but she is sooo sweet.  She has a white patch on her chest shaped like a heart!  Mikey does OK with her but I watch him closely when he starts getting grumpy.  I also make sure he gets plenty of attention because I don't want to hurt his feelings.  I love them both very much and will post pictures of both when I get a good one.  I think he will be fine, it's just going to take a little while longer.  The breeder told us that he would be the one that ended up raising her and he does give her signals when she does something wrong or gets too rough. 

Alice is a coated terrier.  Her dad and both of her siblings are AHT's.  Mikey is purebred rat.  Thanks again!

Welcome to the site!!  Looking forward to lots of pics- we LOVE pics!

I am in a similar situation as Jan and Tracey.  We originally had an older lab mix, until my BF decided he wanted his own dog.  Then we got a younger shephard mix, and six months later, added Rowdy to the pack.  Now, Rowdy was a shelter dog and he is about the same age as Schatzi, so they are totally best friends now.  (They do EVERYTHING together- even go to the vet and stay in the same kennel while there!)  But Sam is much more cranky.  She's older and just not up to playing.  We feed all three dogs in seperate areas (Schatzi and Rowdy across the kitchen from each other and Sam in the living room.  They only get treats they can finish in limited time, unless they will be physically seperated.  Schatzi is our bully and wil horde all the treats if she can.  (Fortunately for us, she is also the slowest chewer, so she is always the last one done.)

WE had our moments of growling at first with all the dogs, but we always stopped the growling and they've pretty much worked out the social structure on their own.  Now we only have the playful growling between Schatz and Rowdy- which is awfully aggressive sounding on it's own.  Sometimes you'd swear they are outright fighting!