I just feel so bad for Busta, I know he has been though so much and then some. He is still not settling down at all. He seems depressed, and scared and just wants to hide when too much is going on and has never played since he has come home. I just gave him a bath and he went hide behind the chair and would no longer come to me. Normally a bath will pep them up at least some, well he no longer wanted anything to do with me for a while. Then 30 minutes later he is attacking Molly because she is too close to me. The lightest movements will startle him like he is scared to death. I am beginning to think that he was being abused. I thought he would be showing some signs by now but still nothing yet. He is easily set off by Molly, he does not want to play with her and snaps at her. At any time he and Molly are next to me he attacks Molly and when Molly crys he wants to attack her more. This is starting to concern me. I tried to keep Molly in her crate all day and give him some alone time and still nothing. I can't get him to relax. I was told that he loves to play with tennis balls so I tried that and he acts as if he has never seen that before and just ignores me. He never gets excited about anything either. I have only seen him wag his tail in a happy way three times and it was usually when I had been gone for hours and just got home.

I don't know what to do for him. I am sure he needs more time, we have had a lot go on over the past few days but I feel so bad for him.

I know he is not use to being around kids and can understand his jumpiness around Kasey so that I expect to take longer. But from what I know of his history, this is so not the same dog. I am trying to make him happy and so far I don't think I have done that.

I had Sassie for many many years and she was an only dog because she had to be, I am sadly starting to see the same thing in Busta but I can not return him to my niece.

What do I do? How do I get him to settle in? I am hoping over time he will except Molly and Kasey.

Poor Busta  He's had a rough time.. and everything is all new to him. It is WAY too soon to say how he will do once he has time to adapt to his new home. Some of the fosters I've had were like this.. totally lost and depressed. They do come around with time. Lizzy one of my fosters that had never been around other dogs (and did NOT like them) grew to love and enjoy my blind JRT.... but it took about 3 months before they were good buddies... and loved playing ball together.

I'm behind on the story, I just realized that the new dog was the rattie you rescued from your niece.  Most likely he WAS abused, sounds like it, and that will take time to get past....maybe weeks, months.  He sounds like a sad, lost litte guy - I'm so glad you got him. 

Neutering will be a good thing, obviously.  I agree with Morgan, too, about not keeping Molly in the crate too much as it looks like Busta is in control (at least to the 2 dogs it does). 

Will he walk on a leash?  Sometimes long walks with help you and the dog bond AND get him a little tired.  Other than that all I know is that it takes a long time for some of them.  Skipper took several months before he realized he was home to stay and stopped flinching whenever we raised a hand or arm around him.  He still screams if grabbed quickly - he yelps, it's embarrassing if we're in public. 

Have  you posted about this in Training?  Nora will have some ideas I'm sure.

Thanks for all the advice, I am going to do whatever I have to in order to make this work. He really is a very good dog so if we can work this out he will be perfect. He is very obedient, can't ask for a better leash dog either which was very surprising. He does get long walks and really enjoys them.

Tracey, thanks so much for your words, kind of gives a whole new perspective on things. I definitely have to get "Dog Whisperer" to deal with this. Sounds like it could really help. I have never dealt with an abused dog before. I assume that having a high energetic 2.5 year old does not help either but I can't get rid of him.

Time is on our side for everyone. Thankfully I do not work and can be home all the time.

About the crating of Molly, well it is not done intentionally just because of Busta. That is just how I trained her before Busta came into the picture. She is not fully potty trained so she does spend time in her crate during the day. I take her out for potty, play and walks but when she can not be watched I put her back in her crate and she sleeps. She loves her crate and never cries because to her this is normal.

Busta on the other hand is not crate trained and eventually I would want him to be. I am having a hard time crate training him with the issues he has and maybe I am going at that all wrong because I am not forcing it on him. I did not see any point in stressing him out even more.

I guess I should have put this in Training, it kind of didn't start out that way but has now turned into a training thread. If this could be moved that would be great.