I recently posted about how I was having some groundwork problem with my 2.5-3 year old husky/Aussie. With the help of a few DVDs and some great advice, things are going well. We're keeping the apartment cleaner to reduce temptation, the dog is by my side at all times, and is learning that she cannot make the rules and is doing much better with being rewarded and less confused.

This weekend our roommate D told us he was moving out and he packed his bags by Tuesday. We had a new roommate lined up, a guy who loves dogs and understands the importance of pack leadership and training (THANKFULLY!) and loves my dog. He moved his things in yesterday.

Including his 5 year old purebred Siberian husky.

I feel a bit overwhelmed. My dog is crate trained and her crate is in the quietest area of the breakfast nook next to the kitchen, very low traffic. We had no time to do formal introductions between the dogs - he had to move that day or he was out of a house. From what he said and I've seen, his dog listens to him but "can be a bitch" - not sure what he meant. She doesn't like to have her bum sniffed by other dogs. Told me "the only fights that I've ever had happen with her is when a dog tried to sniff her butt."
Great.

We introduced them outside in a completely different area of the complex about 2 blocks away and it went well, although his dog growled at Diaz for - well - sniffing her rear. He corrected her and it went smoothly.. they ignore each other. I wish we had more time to do these outside meetings.. In the house, I've kept Diaz crated most of the day while I am at work but he does not have a crate for his dog. He is buying one, but for now she has roam of the apartment while he is at work and everyone else is sleeping. My door and all doors are closed, but his dog has free access to Diaz's crate (not IN it, but can walk right up to it). I want to stop this ASAP.

This morning there was a scuffle over food - I'm feeding Diaz in her crate, but now I moved her bowl to my closet or floor of my room until he has a crate as well because I leave mine open for Diaz to go into at will and his dog goes in and eats her food before she gets to it. His dog is not allowed in there because my dog sleeps on the floor in my room (otherwise she'd be crated over 12 hours a day, not fair) . This morning his dog snuck in (i had stepped into the hallway outside of my door) and started to eat Diaz's food.. Diaz snapped at her and I stepped in and gave verbal correction and they stopped, I pulled his dog from my room and closed the door. All it took was a second and she was on the food - not good.
I don't want to correct his dog. But now I'm dealing with finding a way to keep my dog from following his dog's example and NOT being upset at his dog "getting away with" things she can't as I establish her groundwork.

My new roommate agreed that after work today we're going to talk and find the best solution for a) keeping stress on HIS dog as minimal as possible since she JUST moved into this new strange apartment with new people, b) us both crating the dogs while we're out, c) feeding in-crate or in our rooms, d) how we want to handle both dogs at the same time, etc.

Does anyone have suggestions or links? I read Ed's articles, I may buy a DVD, but any experience or things to look out for? I've never lived with two dogs for an extended period before, especially where we did not have the means to do proper slow introductions.

This is already stressful for both dogs having such a big environment change, on top of me re-introducing groundwork with my dog and his dog (so far) having free roam of the house. The reason he does not currently have a crate is when his dog lived at his mother's house, she kept it crated almost all day and night, and tied the dog on a chain in the yard a couple hours a day to "let it out" because she didn't like the dog and he was going through school. He didn't want crates = bad experience, but is definitely getting a new one to reintroduce it so there isn't chaos. Hopefully we can come to a conclusion on how we'll establish pack leadership together as I don't want to "train" his dog and he doesn't want to "train" mine.

What do you think would be a good way for he and I to work things out that's in the best interest of the dogs? I'm happy he is willing to help and cooperate, he loves his dog and we don't want this to end badly for either animal.

I did a search on the forums but the results were not specific.

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Before details are gone into (which is going to be time-consuming, because your new roommate is breaking all the dog-intro rules):

He needs a crate NOW. Until he has one, his dog has to be confined or on lead with him on the other end.... or whatever it takes to keep his dog 100% from attacking your dog, eating (or trying to eat) your dog's food, etc.

You probably need a gate on your room.

This should have ALL been worked out before you ever allowed him to move in! But you probably realize this now.

One of your jobs is to protect your dog.

All the above is JMO.

But here's "official" advice:

http://leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm

Note that there is also a podcast and a free eBook. I would print it out and hand it to him, as well as listening to the podcast yourself. :> Today.

QUOTE: she kept it crated almost all day and night, and tied the dog on a chain in the yard a couple hours a day to "let it out" because she didn't like the dog and he was going through school. He didn't want crates = bad experience, END

A swing in the other direction to "make up for" things like this is not good for anyone, including the dog.

JMO.

 Quote: connie sutherland

QUOTE: she kept it crated almost all day and night, and tied the dog on a chain in the yard a couple hours a day to "let it out" because she didn't like the dog and he was going through school. He didn't want crates = bad experience, END

A swing in the other direction to "make up for" things like this is not good for anyone, including the dog.

JMO.

I asked him about it, because when he said he gave his crate away and explained that situation to me, I asked what difference letting her roam the entire house made. He said not much - she still ignored everyone as if she weren't there a lot of the time and did her own thing. At least now he agreed to buy a new crate and use it with her, the first thing I asked is if she was crate-trained and if he could get one because I do NOT want issues with his dog having free roam while my dog (the "higher rank?" of the two) was stuck in a crate watching his go into -her- territory. It's a mess waiting to happen in my eyes.

I'm not as qualified as many of the people on this board but I wanted to share my experience with multiple dogs.

First off I'd like to say it seems that you're trying to do things right and I commend you for that:-).

My husband and I adopted our Lab-mix Loki from a shelter at about 10months old. While I was not aquainted with this site at that time fortunately we did a lot of things right (crate training, keeping him near us when out of the crate, having him sit before food, and crating him when we were gone). When he was about a year old we bought Cito, our Ibizan hound and they've been together ever since. We tend to follow the "no dog is alpha" rule. We have pretty strict rules in the house and both dogs follow them pretty well.

This past summer we had a friend staying with us until she was deployed. Along with her was Hershey, her large, slightly crazy chocolate lab. While this friend is a wonderful person and loves her dog she does not set ground rules with him and when she does make a correction she tends to be inconsistant.

We had to inform her that a crate was mandatory, he wasn't allowed on the furniture, he wasn't allowed upstairs to the bedrooms, and he wasn't allowed near our dogs food. We struggled a bit because she was resistant to some of our rules. Basically we explained that we were protecting all the dogs and that as owners it is our FIRST responsibility to think of our dogs and that these are simply the rules. I know it's a little different than your situation but if you and your roommate plus two large dogs are living together an agreement has to be reached both for the safety and peace of the dogs and for you and your roommate. I would do as Ms. Sutherland suggested and hand him that printed Ebook to read. I would also make it clear that your dog is your priority and her health and peaceful existance is your responsibility.

I don't mean to sound harsh but at this juncture your dogs mental and physical health rests squarely in your hands:-). Take that responsibility seriously and don't worry overmuch about hurting the rommies feelings. If he loves dogs and understands the importance of the pack concept he'll get it:-).

QUOTE: I don't mean to sound harsh but at this juncture your dogs mental and physical health rests squarely in your hands:-). Take that responsibility seriously and don't worry overmuch about hurting the rommies feelings. END

Exactly! You can even explain that, if you are so inclined: "I want us to be cordial and friendly roommates, but way beyond that is my JOB and my RESPONSIBILITY to ensure my dog's freedom from fear and from anxiety about his food and his space."

Thank you everyone.
I don't care if my roommate gets his feelings hurt, he loves his dog as much as I want the best for mine, he already laid ground rules for her like, "Guys, I ask that you not feed her ANY people food. No scraps. Trash. Nothing." and things like that. Made me happy to hear!
I don't feel like anyone sounds harsh - we're responsible for the care and lives of our animals, how could negligence even be tolerated?

 Quote:

We struggled a bit because she was resistant to some of our rules. Basically we explained that we were protecting all the dogs and that as owners it is our FIRST responsibility to think of our dogs and that these are simply the rules. I know it's a little different than your situation but if you and your roommate plus two large dogs are living together an agreement has to be reached both for the safety and peace of the dogs and for you and your roommate. I would do as Ms. Sutherland suggested and hand him that printed Ebook to read. I would also make it clear that your dog is your priority and her health and peaceful existance is your responsibility.

May I ask what rules she balked at? One girl I live with just doesn't seem to "get" that when I say "don't give my dog commands" it means just that - so stop saying "sit! lay down! come here!" because, well, those are commands. We're working to get her to stop doing it, sometimes it's reflex (when dog walks in, to go "here Diaz") but it's getting better.
I definitely have a printout of the eBook from.. lordy, a couple of years ago at least. Got an entire "dog" folder in my filing cabinet!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'll let him know when he's home from work.

It seems to me that a LOT of people have trouble not giving commands. My gut turns over every time someone give Jenga the come command, which is my FORMAL recall. Then people tell me to relax when they see my displeasure.

Anyway, it does sound like you just need to law down some rules...and get him to get that crate! I think some gates might be in order, also. I've used gates when I've had a dog in my home that needed to be separate from my own dogs, works well.

And of course I also advise reading Ed's article on introducing dogs.

Jinn,
We didn't have alot of command issues because we made it very clear to her initially that giving commands was simply unacceptable. We were able to lay out what she could say to the dogs and what she couldn't in a way that seemed to work for her. It may have been easier as well since she was coming to stay in OUR house and was not a paying roommate.

The rules she had the most trouble with were related to containing her dog, cleaning up after him (he had a major tendency for expressing his anal glands against our couch pillows) , and accepting that we did NOT want him wandering around the house uncrated while we were all gone at work OR while she was unable to supervise him. She viewed the crate as unfair since she didn't exercise him much.

She also didn't understand why she had to keep him contained when our dogs were eating. She had the perception that dogs should all get along *wry smile*. She got it the day Hershey got into the kitchen while our boys were eating and almost got his nose bitten off for trying to swipe a chicken thigh! Fortunately we were able to intervene and used it as an opportunity to clearly explain how important it was to us for our dogs to feel protected in a situation where they felt their resources were being threatened.

To reitorate, she's a lovely person and very well meaning, just didn't understand all our "boundaries and limitations" when she just wanted Hershey to be her "snooky" ;-)

Just a thought here....why doesn't he keep his dog in his room until he gets a crate? I know I'll be dealing with some of this same stuff when my brother and his great dane mix come here for breaks while he's in school........my only consolation is that I'm old enough to claim cantankerous rights! I practically raised this dog while my brother and his ex were working 8-5 during his first year.....the hardest part about managing multiple dogs in a household is dealing with the humans. Dogs are pretty quick to catch on but 'old' people are quite trying to teach new 'tricks' to.