"New" 2 year old

[BFoster]

I posted last week that we were taking delivery of a two year that we rescued from Animal Control. After another week at our vet due to pneumonia, we finally brought him home to continue his recovery. We also have a one year old female Beagle.

Can anyone clue me in on how aggressive I should expect this "puppy" to be? Animal Control claims him to be two years old, but both my vet and I think he may be as young as eighteen months.

We have no history on this dog at all and he clearly has some issues. I can tell that he has been hit (he flinches) and when the beagle starts to play with toys, he becomes dominant.

He had a negative reaction to my wife doing Taebo and barked and lunged at a weight bar she was using.

Right now, it appears that he may be playing, but becuase of our lack of history, we are trying to be very cautious with him.

Suggestions????

[harleychik66]

I would recommend having a behaviourist come in and assess the situation. They will be able to help you work on areas that your are having problems in.

Some of what you are experiencing could be lack of socialization and training. Some of his behaviors could be from past experience or poor breeding.

[AngelBunny]

Welcome to RDN!

I too think having your boy assessed by a professional is a good idea.

So too would be reading thru the postings in Rescue. You'll likely find many discussions in that forum very useful in transitioning your new dog to his new home.

[BFoster]

Thank you both for your responses. I don't think I would have ever thought to have a behaviouralsit some in to evaluate him. I think I will look into that. I am sure that there would be some good ones in our area (West Palm Beach).

Last night was our second night with Yota and I think part of his behavior is his protective instincts. He does not have the boundries he needs, but I don't think he has malicious intent.

He will get between the Beagle and I to prevent me from petting her. He also responds very quickly to contact between my wife and I or between us and the kids. It seems like this is his attempt to protect us. The goal would be to teach him that he doesn't need to protect us from each other.

Like I said, last night was our second night with him, so patience is needed too.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by BFoster

...Last night was our second night with Yota and I think part of his behavior is his protective instincts. He does not have the boundries he needs,...He will get between the Beagle and I to prevent me from petting her. He also responds very quickly to contact between my wife and I or between us and the kids. It seems like this is his attempt to protect us. The goal would be to teach him that he doesn't need to protect us from each other...

His getting between you and your other dog or you and your wife or you and your children or any combination of the above is not an instinct to protect so much as it a desire to keep something Yota regards as his to himself.

He's claiming ownership in other words.

This is something that must be nipped in the bud because a dog owns nothing in the house.

Is Yota dragging an old leash or line around 24/7 that's been attached to his collar? This gives you a safe way to control him w/o reaching for his collar. (This is one of the tips discussed in the Rescue forum.)

On our site, my rescue group has a listing of behaviorists and trainers with whom adopters of our dogs have worked with and liked. Perhaps rescue operating in your area offers a similar service.

I encourage you to contact a behaviorist asap, then find a trainer and get into class.

[zorro13]

BFoster: This is interesting behavior coming from a dog that has been with you for only 2 days. First, I wouldn't give him free rein of the house nor such freedom with your beagle. A crate is a good way to let a dog safely get used to his new surroundings and not have so much control over the entire household. I also wouldn't let him interact with the beagle and the beagle's toys just yet, maybe put up a baby gate where they can both see each other yet have their own security with toys. I would also crate while the wife does Taebo and let him observe without intervening. Since you kind of missed some behavior cues from him, I would keep him leashed to you instead of letting him drag a leash, it may be too early in the game that if you need to pick that up too quickly, not knowing his history, his response to being startled---well I think it best to keep safety in the forefront for now while you are waiting on an evaluation. It could be nothing, but I feel it's safer to always err on the side of caution.

Give him time to adjust to everything and the best way to do that is to control his movement within the house and interactions with others. Always give praise and a treat for good positive behavior. An obedience class sometime soon should be in the works as well.

Keep us updated on his progress and welcome to the forums!!

[BFoster]

I placed a few calls yesterday to different behaviorist; so that process is underway.

We put a short three foot leash on his collar for that purpose. I thought that was a great tip.

Yesterday was better. It seems that he is learning some of his boundries. Obviously, the previous owners did not create the same boundries that we have in our home, so retraining him is of high priority. We have enrolled in classes so we can learn together.

[BFoster]

We are letting him drag a leash around, but I appreciate the idea of keeping him leashed to me.

We had our first visitor since his arrival last night. He responded well to the knock at the door, but I had him on a 1' training lead at the time so he couldn't over react. I allowed him to come to the front door, but not interact with our visitor until he could see that he a welcomed visitor. After a proper introduction, he did fine. I did notice that he would always stay between the visitor and my daughter; ofter leaning against my daughter. He didn't show any signs of aggression towards our guest.

I spoke with my wife this morning while she was doing her Taebo. She put up a gate to allow Yota to watch without interacting. She said he was pawing at the gate, but hasn't made any real attempts at getting to her.

We also have not allowed the Beagle (Polly) and Yota to be together unsupervised. We allow them to play together in the back yard and they seem to be getting to know each other. She runs, he chases. Last night he caught her, attempted to pin her down. She yelped and he backed off immediately.