| Wow. I have so many things to say, I hardly know where to start.
First, Rottweilers are strong, loyal, protective animals. They love their families and want to spend time with them. The best recipe for creating a frustrated, aggressive, unweildy Rottweiler is to leave him in the yard all the time and, especially, to isolate him from both people and other dogs. In other words, the worst thing you can do for this dog's character is to lock him in a shed away from you and the other dogs.
The more positive experience your dog has with people and other dogs, the better able he will be to respond well to those things. If you don't allow him to interact with your family while he is young, he'll never learn manners and you will be even less likely to let him into the house. If you start now, teaching him things like to go lay down while you eat at the table, you will raise a dog who will be welcomed by many guests.
About his age: Puppies learn new things every week that they are with their mother and siblings. Weeks 5-7 are a very crucial period of socialization that your puppy didn't get. At 5 weeks, puppies are very bold, willing to rush over to anybody and investigate. This is probably what he is doing to your two dogs, which unnerves them. He hasn't learned how to approach cautiously. But from 5 weeks to 7 weeks, he learns to be more cautious. He didn't have that opportunity with his mother and siblings. That's unfortunate, but it could be helped by not just leaving him to his own devices in the yard.
I wouldnt worry that your three dogs aren't best friends right away. Your dogs will get used to the puppy in time and they will develop a relationship that works for them.
Get a crate and use it. A crate will be his private den and home inside your home. It's not cruel; what's cruel is isolating him in a shed in the yard.
I wrote this in another thread, but I'll put it here too: Crates are the best thing ever for most dogs! I have two Rottweilers that I got when they were 1 1/2 years old. Neither had ever been in a crate. But now, if I took away their crates, they'd be so upset! To teach them that their crates were their own space where good things happened:
I fed them in their crates with the door open.
When they were in their crates, they got special chew toys that they didn't get outside their crates.
I made their crates very comfortable.
Dogs love cozy den-like spaces. That's why dogs often lay under a table, under a desk, or in a tight corner. They like to feel safe and sheltered, to know that someone can only approach them from one direction. I leave the crates open most of the time now and my dogs spend the majority of their time in there napping. In fact, Bonnie (my female) won't let any other dog in her crate but Ronan (my male). When a visiting dog gets close to her crate, she rushes over and blocks the door with her body!
In short, a dog should be a member of your family, not a yard ornament. My dogs are extremely well-behaved. To get that, you have to do more than just feed them and provide a yard.  |