I have two labs and a jack russel mix, Buster ( male lab)is 3 and has a bad hip, Baby my jack russel (female) is 4 and our new addition is Slim who is a 3 year old male lab. Buster and Baby and I have never had any problems. Slim has cused a riff in the pack. I was bitten by a chow as a small child, I love animals, but I know they can sense my nervousness. When I pet Buster, and Slim comes by to get his ,they fight, they fight at feeding time. They immeditly break up when I scold them. I have treated Slim as the dominate dog, feeding first, Petting first etc... When I sit on my porch and they come around I get nervous. I do not want to not pet either. Buster and BAby go off with out Slim, how long will it take to establish the "New Pack Order and what can I do to help me calm down. Slim has been with us for 4 days now. The fighting is less, but it only seems to happen when Im around. They do not fight around my wife or children. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

These dogs need to be separated and Slim needs a chance to acclimate and get settled and learn what the rules and boundaries are with you as a leader.

Trying to bring a new dog in and then just tossing them into the pack is not the best thing to do.

Thanks for the info

I honestly wouldnt' mix these guys as a pack. Your JRT has a serious risk of death or serious injury and there is no reason these dogs have to mix as a group. My first thought is to seperate them and keep them seperated for everyone's safety.

Benji, I hope you will consider this DVD: about establishing pack structure and also search for the many, many FREE articles, podcasts, etc. that Ed has published on this site, on this subject.

I was "introduced" years ago to "integrating multiple dogs in a house" by "basically throwing them together." I'm lucky on some level - I probably experiences less than 100 stitches and zero dog deaths in the process.

I'm so glad to be smarter now. It takes a LOT of work to establish several dogs living "free" with you.

We are fortunate to have 4 that can live together - but even after several years for some of them, it still requires WORK and daily MANAGEMENT on the part of me and Gary. But we love our four legged family, so it's worth the effort, and also the (managed) risks we take.

Please educate yourself, especially for the benefit of your smallest and/or most vulnerable dog(s). I have worked on that for my Beagle, who lives in relative peace with 2 GSD's and a mid sized mutt. But we always have to watch everything. The pack family is just as dynamic as a human family of this size (or smaller, or larger) would be.

Beth

Excellent suggestion on the Pack Structure DVD Beth....

Here are a few more as well:

DVD:
Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs

E-BOOKS:
Groundwork to Establishing Pack Structure with an Adult Dog

Preventing Dog Bites in Children and Babies

Introducing Dogs into homes with other Dogs

Dealing with the Dominant Dog'

I should have added these earlier and I apologize for not doing so.

What city do you live in Benji? I'm lucky enough to have a local trainer who specializes in this sort of thing.

I do not see why a Jack Russel cannot be part of the pack? I have a 5 pound dog that is part of a 80 pound plus 70 pound dog pack. The seventy pound is a pup even.

I agree that it takes time and just throwing them together is stressful on everyone.

Jack Russels are tough. Unless the labs are really out of control, which it sounds more like your issue, I am sure it is going to be fine.

It has only been a week. Theses things take mnths to settle into a routine.

Good luck.

I don't suggest mixing toys or small terriers with larger dogs simply because there are too many things that can go horribly wrong. A dog can misidentify a smaller dog as a prey item, a very soft blow to a larger dog in play can be life endangering to a small dog, and a minor scuffle that a larger dog can endure will kill, maim, or severely alter the temperment of a small dog.

While small dogs can be tough, may act very brave, and may be able to run with the big dogs, how tough do they really need to be for me to realize the risk is not worth the bad results? For the same reason I wouldn't allow my 60lb labrador to play with a horse I would never allow my 4-8 lb papillons to play with my lab. It's a bad consiquence waiting to happen and frankly I value my toy dogs too much to risk recklessly endangering their lives.

I should add if you search Ed's site there will be a section for people who have written him letters of tragedies that have happened when adding dogs to their homes. Almost exclusively the dead dog that has resulted has been either elderly or a small dog. I don't think that this is a coincidence but rather a preventable tragedy.

I have always had 2-3-4 dogs at a time and have always let them run together. I've also had 6 different breeds of terriers over the years. Kerrys, Norwich, Borders, Pitts, Bull terriers, JRT.
My present situation is two intact male, working line GSDs and one nutted (late) male JRT.
The JRT is about 12 yrs old now and I no longer let him run with the GSDs unless I'm present. He still thinks he can piss higher, further and longer then any dog on the planet. Trouble is, he's a nutty little bassid and ran the pack with a heavy hand. When the older of my GSDs hit 2yrs old (go figure) he got tired of the psycho little bassid pushing him around. I made my first trip to the emergency vets in years.
I know the JRT is now afraid of the GSD but his only response to pressure is aggression.
I've always taken a lot of pride in my leadership in pack structure but this JRT's low stress threshold has, for the first time made me aware of how poor temperment can affect a pack. I selected the JRT because I had hunted with both his parents and all four of his grandparents. He was a great hunting dog in his day but temperment was always lacking. Temperment had ALWAYS been number 1 priority before this.
They still all run together when I'm with them. Absolutely no problems. I just know the JRT would be fodder for the older GSD if left alone.