I have a 2.5 yr old male GSD that is dog aggressive. He normally displays dog aggressive behaviour whenever he sees another dog, wherever we are. He even attacked a pitbull once, when he escaped from our yard. I recently bought a chihuahau female puppy for my little daughter. It is my intention to separate the dogs. The GSD will stay outside and the puppy inside. I have read Ed's article about introducing a new dog so I decided to give it a try. I put the puppy inside her kennel and let the GSD smell her. At first he showed some interest and sniffed a little, but afterwards he seemed to ignore her. I was completely astonished by the behaviour of the GSD.

Today I held the GSD on the leash and instructed my daughter to put the puppy down outside to walk, again the GSD stayed calm, relaxed on the leash, looked at her for a moment and looked away. What happened here? Could the size or gender have made a difference?


P.S. I will still keep the dogs separated

no expert, but could it be that he sees the puppy now as part of your pack (and as a puppy, perhaps not a rank threat)?

one of my dogs is dog aggressive, and while i don't have the same size difference issue you have, she's fine w/my male, who i had first. she knows she's above him in rank, but i did slow introductions and it worked, so maybe that's what's going on w/your guy.

Maybe he thinks the puppy is a rat? No, joke! Thanks, your answer seems logical to me...

LOL! who knows, maybe your big guy will surprise you and be okay with the little guy....though i can understand your nervousness about the size difference!

I have one dog that is dog aggressive (fear aggression) who gets along fine with my two other dogs but I took my time with introductions and never gave him an ounce of tolerance for any misbehavior.

Even so, my dogs are within 15 lbs of each other and I will still not leave the house without separating them. I just don't want to take that risk.

A chihuahua is such a tiny fragile dog, though. It could be over in one bite. Even though mine get along, there is that occassional snark (that does not escalate) - I have never so much as had broken skin between my three, but I am not sure how such a small dog could handle the roughness of the larger GSD.

my big dogs have no idea what small dogs are, they have never been around those teeny tiny things like a Chi enough to really establish they are dogs.
But they dont see them as prey either,
We had a friend stay recently and she brought her little chi with her, who is a spoiled rotten monster of a thing that snaps and snarls and pees...I wanted to bite it.

All three of my dogs, even the 10 month old husky, were really confused by the little thing and would watch her, try to gently sniff and then when the Chi would snarl they would jump back and look at me like WTF.

If any larger Female full grown dog was to pee and snarl at Nico in her house she would not hesitate to let it know who was boss, I cant generally have other full grown bitches around her unless I know they are not dominant, or are very socially aware.
She wont start anything but if pushed will push back.

I can only assume they didnt equate it with being a "real" dog, but knew it wasnt a kitty which was even more confusing and could smell it wasnt a rodent or bird.

I am amazed at how well my Chi's get along with my big dogs, or vice-versa. Chi's have a "do not touch, I am a bad-ass" aura about them. But...unlike a Jack Russel/dog with a death wish...they know when they are out-classed and they will be submissive if they have to. I think they are so odd that most big dogs just don't bother with them. Maybe, even though they are adults, they are riding on the puppy free pass thing that dogs seem to respect.
I always watch very closely with new introductions and I don't let the big dogs get pushy and I don't let the Chi's get too snappy. My biggest concern is the paw of friendship which could do some serious damage if it connected. But it doesn't take too long before a big puppy/dog learns that Chi's are not good playmates and they look elsewhere for their entertainment.

This Chi puppy isn't snappy at all, at first she was even a little afraid, but she is a happy go lucky female of 9 weeks. You know what is even stranger? The previous owner sold the GSD because he had bought a rottenweiler pup and the GSD displayed dog aggressive behaviour towards the rott pup....

The previous owner had a different situation than you do now. Even if he/she set everything up the same way for the rottie pup that you have for the Chi, the situation itself would invariably present entirley different variables for the dogs to interpret; because the human factor has changed. The fact that the Chi pup is only 9 weeks and it sounds like the first intros were very neutral then your GSD may not have seen the need to act aggressive in the first place. No dog is named Ted Bundy (well ok there probably is) but my point is that dogs don't act like psychos for no reason, there's always a trigger.

Most puppies that I have worked with can get away with murder when interacting with most adult dogs; even dogs that are typically aggressive toward other adults. I've also seen the opposite, but not nearly as much. Take advantage of your puppy's youth and try to keep the interactions very neutral; no jumping, playing, or hyperactive greetings (by the Chi pup) that may "set off" your GSD. Start building your pack now.

The average age for a dog to start their hormonal adult development is around 17 weeks. At this time in their lives the hormone levels skyrocket to degrees that would put an adult to shame LOL. At this stage most people will observe temperament and/or behavioral changes in their dogs too. I'd recommend that you keep this general timeline in mind, because as your puppy's brain and body change, so can the dynamic of the relationship between your two dogs. Things that may not have mattered before, to your GSD, might start to. There may very well be relapse in behavior as now there are two adult or nearly-adult dogs essentially establishing a new relationship. However, if your structure within the household is good then this new relationship should be a snap for all three of you.

Thanks to you all, ladies and gentleman for the info. I must say that I am pleasantly suprised with the fact that there are other Chi owners here.
I will try to keep the meetings between my GSD and my Chi to a minimum, because my Chi is afraid of the GSD.