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Location: East Midlands, UK
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,775
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Originally Posted by
peterh505
Hey guys, does anyone have advice on what I should do to try and get my new terrier (got him yesterday, he's mostly Jack Russell I'd say) to get along better with my bulldog? They're both just over a year old, and they got along fine at the Humane Society and get along fine when I take them both on walks, but when they're at home, the Terrier (named Harley by the workers, and I might keep it) snarls and growls every time he sees my bulldog Tank. Tank isn't usually reacting, and they haven't actually fought, but Harley sometimes starts approaching him while snarling and growling and it looks like he's gonna attack him. Tank is mostly just kind of ignoring him, as is a submissive, well-mannered dog.
I like Harley, he's cute and is nice to people, but this will not fly if it continues so I'm trying to figure out how to get him to relax. Most of the advice I've found says to keep them separated for a while, but that's not practical to do for me, due to the layout of my house, without keeping one outside and it's over 100 degrees in New Mexico right now. I got a water bottle and have sprayed either of them when they growl or snarl (mostly Harley, since he's doing a majority of it) but it isn't stopping the behavior. Does anyone have any other advice on what I might do?
Thanks so much!
Peter
Also, here's Tank if anyone wants to see him (I'm a proud papa
) ... I don't have any pictures uploaded of Harley yet
https://www.'another site'.com/tank.horan "another site" replace that with "Faecbook"..err but spelled right
Peter: when I clicked on your link, my (extremely sophisticated) protection software warned me not to proceed any further, so I didn't!
My advice re Tank and the JRT is that it is early days ... Tank is a bulldog, and you would be tempted to think that OK, he'll be boss, but probably not so. JRT's can be very dominant (that is not a popular word on this forum, so apologies to everyone who don't like the word), and you may well have just such a terrier. Tank obviously can squish him like a fly, but despite his breeding and size may well be a gentle, laid-back type of boy. My advice would be just allow them to settle, get used to each other, sort out their pecking order etc. etc. On a much larger scale, we had a very similar "problem" with our 2 boys, Tai and Ben. Tai was the resident rescue dog, had been with us for 2 or 3 years, when we rescued Ben. Tai is a registered utonagan, basically an Alaskan Malamute cross, Ben is an unregistered utonagan. Tai was about 7 or 8 when we took on Ben, Ben was about 5. Ben had had a very rough like of abuse and neglect. We have now had Ben for 2 years, and the 2 boys are inseparable. However, over the last 2 years they have had several extremely severe fights, during which injuries have been sustained requiring veterinary treatment. But we have pretty much allowed them to sort out who is boss between the 2 of them - each weighing in at 45 kilos apiece. It is Tai, and Ben has knuckled down now and they are like brothers. I am not saying that this will necessarily be the case with Tank and the JRT, but it could well be if you allow them to sort things out between them. You need to keep the faith, remembering that dogs will often fight seemingly to the death, but it is like a ballet, they duck and weave, all the time making the most ghastly noise but no actual damage is done, it is all sound and fury signifying nothing. The temptation to step in and separate is huge, but this can be a big mistake, and it all happens so quickly that it could even end in disaster. Us humans do not have the quickness of eye to be able to gauge whether things are OK or not.
The way I look at it is that you do not have much to lose. it's make or break for the little guy, but I would put money on Tank not wanting to seriously hurt him. It could well be that the JRT ends up boss - like my daughter's diminutive chihuahua, Gucci, who bosses Tai and Ben around like there's no tomorrow - 3 kilos against 45!!
Are they both castrated? Is one neutered one not? Or both neutered?