My husband and I got a dalmatian in November of 2004 when she was a puppy. My husband refuses to back up my obedience training and lets her get on the furniture, lick his plate, etc. Yesterday we discovered that his son has to get rid of his Boxer born last year on March 4th, so less than a year old. We agreed to take him in. THe problem is that our female dalmatian is do agressive. I bought a crate for the boxer, she has never been in one and if I bought one for her to my husband would say I am being mean. He has been crying and howling since I out him in the crate (the boxer not my husband :} I took him out of it on a dominant collar leash and walked around while my dalamtian was lashed to a table leg with her leash and she growled at him like she was going to tear him apart, i corrected her and she laid down. I decided to put him back in the crate for awhile and let her loose to approach the crate and get used to having him in the house. Then I put a muzzle on her and took him out of the crate with the same dominant collar and leash. SHe still growled at him when he tried to approach her. He starts crying when she growls at him and looks behind him for an escape route. After reading this website on how to do this process, I thought I could handle it but now I feel like I'm in over my head. Actually it's quiet right now, they are both sleeping, he in the crate and she on the opposite side of the room. Any advice?

 Quote: Shell Chamberlin

Any advice?

Keep reading, and get your husband to start reading too.

Before you can even think about introducing these dogs, to include sniffing through crates, you have a lot to learn about pack structure- both yourself and your husband.

Does he want a happy dog, or a dog that gets treated like a human- because you can't have both.

A crate is "mean" to one dog but not the other?


There is no way that I would introduce a new dog into the house without a crate for every dog.

First a little more info:
What is the Boxer's history that made you use the DD collar?

When you say the the Dalmatian is DA, do you mean based on this or based on prior history?

You read this? http://leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm

You did not follow it. That "intro" was not good.

Have you seen any of the Pack Structure material on LB?

Also, I would not let these dogs near each other for quite some time. Gradually work up to letting them meet through the crate, etc. The puppy will most likely go through some major stress as well. With new home and aggressive dog. Take your time, but it can be handled. Just do whatever you can to prevent the older dog from attacking the puppy. If not, you may have 2 dog aggressive dogs.

I second getting your husband to read the info.

The dalmatian has been aggressive to other dogs that have been in the yard, or that my stepson has brought to the house.

I did read something else on Wikihow. I think I read too many different ideas and now I am confused.

I want a happy dog, mu husband humanizes them.

I think ultimately, both you and your husband want the best for both of these dogs, you're just conflicted on how to go about it.

It's probably stating the obvious here, but WikiHow isn't a dog-specific site, and frankly, there is nothing that stops people from posting foolish, or downright dangerous advice about dogs on those sorts of sites.

Leerburg, however, is a repository of proven dog training techniques. Ed and Cindy have proven experience and expertise to back up all of their recommendations, and they do not permit dangerous advice to be given on their forum. Additionally, moderators will always step in when they feel poor advice is being given.

The first step in getting all of these problems resolved is establishing and enforcing a healthy pack structure, with the humans at the top where they belong.
Dogs don't want to be leaders. It's stressful. I'm getting from you that you fully understand that.

Ultimately, your husband has to be on-board or nothing you try is going to work, and you'll have two very unhappy, unhealthy dogs.

You can try printing some of the articles for him, or perhaps letting him watch some of the streaming video and listen to the podcasts. Whatever medium works best for him.

Buying the Pack Structure DVD and watching it together as a family may go a long way towards everyone finding common ground.
In the meantime, there is an interesting (and compelling) free video here: http://leerburg.com/308.htm

Ditto.

For right now, please take away from all this that the dogs are not ready for an intro.

And that you need a second crate.

It's not fair to either one to have one terrorized in an already new situation and the other having "her" pack disrupted by an interloper while she is tied to the furniture.

This can and should be a slow, gradual, calm thing, with zero hurry. They have all their lives for this introduction, and you will all be so glad if you do it right.

OK, so I go get another crate. Do I put them near each other, out of sight of each other, or what?? How long should one dog be made to stay in their crate while the other gets to be out? And should the one in the crate be kept from seeing the one that is roaming free in the house?

To many questions left unanswered Shell.
Why the dd collar for the Boxer?
Why no crate for the Dal?
Why is the Boxer so shy?
Why is the Dal so spoiled?
Why isn't the husband in a crate?

Nah, I wouldn't put him in a crate (maybe I was just joking), but if he isn't going to get on board with the pack issues, then he should get out of the way and stay out of it. Meaning, do not undermine what you NEED to accomplish. If he doesn't want to take the responsiblity, then you have to. And just tell him, 'do not allow the dog to do this, that, or the other, period'.
Say he wants to play with the dog, tell him straight, the dog must do this or that to engage the behavior, nothing is free......'There is no free lunch'.......For the Dal.

I wish you luck, a Dal thats queen of the world, a Boxer that doesn't know what to think, and a mate living in gaga land.
I'm not sure where I'd start.
Perhaps with 'Don't Shoot The Dog!' by Karen Pryor.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

I want to clarify that I was no using a prong collar, just a simple leash that was the same as what Cesar Milan uses.