New Dog on the Block

Yeah once again there is another dog in my midst this one I manged to pawn off on my roommate ;) In any case his name is Gibs, he is a 6 year old intact male Airedale Terrier. I didn't want another dog in the house especially another male especially another terrier intact male... Two same sex terriers is a big no no and usually they can be at each others throats. 95% of the time they will be fine but... one day they wont agree... In any case he is also toy possessive and his first night he tried to get Doodles (cant blame him Doodles upsets me most of the time). First thing first when ever introducing a new dog take them both on a walk it helps establish cooperation. Dogs are hardwired for it so getting them to want to get along isn't hard at all. After a 30 min walk we entered the house on leash and went about our own business in a calm manner. Gibs was very nervous sense this was his first time away from his old owners. He was a bit jumpy and that always sets Kaz off. He likes to take advantage of dogs and poke and see if he really is on the bottom of the pack... Yes Kaz you really are on the bottom... Let me say this real fast if you want your dogs to be equal you are in for a horrible surprise, they are not. Dogs always always have a pecking order. You don't need to enforce it necessarily just realize it and don't try to make dogs play fair. If you don't you are asking for the dominant dog to try to fight the submissive dog back or to let the submissive dog think he needs to fight for a higher position. I have seen it before over and over... dont do this to your dogs usually they pick a position with little or no tussle involved. Remember they are creatures of cooperation. So far Gibs has done a good job of fitting in and finding his place, on top, as the oldest, calmest, most dominant male. Now we work on his other problems...
Till then
~Happy Tails~