She Hates Him

Picked up puppy yesterday and my Rottie x GSD seemed ok if a little wary of him to start with.
Then yesterday evening she just snapped and now is very aggresive towards him whenever she sees him she will take herself over to him to have a go.
We was very careful he didn't terrorise her and gave her extra attention. But she hates him. Its not just telling off and putting in place, its I want to kill you so we have had to seperate them completely which is making life very difficult and my daughter is distraught.
Any ideas please as big girl seems to hate him more every minute and is getting very tense and stressed.
Will this work? Any ideas?

How old is your older dog? What breed is your puppy?

Its must be a very difficult situation. be patient, give time for her to adjust to the new edition. I hope they will become close very soon.

If you can have someone to help. I could only suggest spending a lot of time doing all the things that she enjoys while someone is holding the puppy in the background, treats, playing, grooming, going for a walk with someone holding the puppy walking along side you. Bring him a little closer when she begins to be less upset distressed. This is hopefully trying to associate the new edition with a happy experience.

Good Luck

D xxx

My girl is 15 months old and is fine with my 18 month old JRT but he was here first.
She does suffer with fear aggression usually toward Border Collies unless a dog has a go at her first she is otherwise very friendly.
She is a big powerful dog and attempts to get her relaxed around BC's using very friendly ones has not worked. She is also fear aggresive with traffic and again attempts to work through that have failed and she is in fact now worse.
For the safety of the pup we either have to shut her or the pup away which is not nice for either of them.
She is far worse towards pup this morning and when its put in another room she is pacing, frothing at the mouth and growling and attacking the door if she hears it or it comes near the door.
I can't trust her near it she could do it serious damage or even kill him.
Will she come round do you think or is the risk to great.

Same thing happened with us.......we're seeing a behaviourist in just over a weeks time.

It has got better, she doesn't want to kill them anymore! But by fussing the pup you are unfortunately re-enforcing the dog's desire to bully the pup as it wants to be sure that it is still top dog. To a certain degree you need to reassure your old dog....which may seem harsh, but it is a step towards them living together hamoniously.

Thats just it we have made sure the big girl feels special and she is praised for every good move and getting lots of extra cuddles etc. The pup sleeps a lot at the moment so we try to give as little attention as possible. But she won't even tolerate it asleep this morning.
She is very unhappy with the whole situation. Worried what is going to happen when the pup really wants to play and stops sleeping so much as it grows.

i am sorry to hear you have a problem it is always hard as we just want them to get on have fun together. I am not sure what to say but maybe putting a stair gate up with pup one side and the other dog the other so they can see each other but not get to each other might help. It will show that the pup is staying. Maybe if the older stays away and does not shows signs of aggression give a treat.

sorry if not much help hope it works out for you all.

I'm so sorry to hear this, Charlie was a bit rought when the girls came in as puppies, but not this much.

I did improve vastly when he realised they were here to stay and not just a 'stranger'. Hope it works out for you, just keep a very close eye and be on your guard.

Good luck xx

When we got our first pup, our boys hated him for the first fortnight. They were growling whenever he approached and nipping him etc. He was quite a confident little guy and so wasn't really put off. We were really worried and almost gave up, actually we gave it one more weekend and siad if things didn't improve, that was it. Thankfully they did improve drastically, perhaps we chilled out because we'd made a decision, the dogs may have picked up on our anxiety and rise in stress levels and then responded when we chilled out. We were concerned as our son was just turning 4 at the time...
Anyway, we did everything you are doing and fed our dogs in close proximity to the pup (the pup was in it's crate so that made it easier...) The pup was never left alone with them...that continued until he was about 5 or 6 months and they were all living harmoniously together and he was big enough to deal with anything should anything happen(not that it did as it was sorted by then).

All I can say is give it time and try to relax as your dog may be picking up on your nerves and anxiety.
If your dog already has fear related aggression issues though, you may have to consider how long you let the situation go on for. It's still only early days, but perhaps by putting a time limit on it, it may help you all??? Just an idea.

Try to make your dog associate the pup with good things and don't tell her off for the aggression, try to ignore it, call her away at the most.

Good luck, I hope this sorts itself out for you...

Problem is its not a growl or a nip we are talking about. We just tried again my daughter holding pup in her arms and big girl sniffed then immeadiatly went rigid, hackles up and snarling all within a split second.
If pup was on the floor she would kill it.
Put pup in its crate and because it come to the edge whining she attacked the crate.
She can undo the crate doors as occasionally if I put my JRT in there when I go out (he is a chewer of wires) she opens the door and lets him out, have watched her do it.
So cannot even leave pup in the crate safely for her to see in case she gets him out.

Have to say after the first day of the aggression I was at my wits end and ready to give up. Thinking back I was also more worried about it than I seem now, 3 years on!!!!!

Only you can know as you know your dogs best but I was worried sick at the outset. Don't try and force it too much, your dog will pick up on your anxiety. Do you have a stair gate??? Could one of you sit behind that with the pup and the other stay with your dog on the other side??? Many dogs really don't have a clue how to respond to puppys...they give off weird signals....
Ultimately it's your house and your dogs..you know them best...good luck!!!