Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am no stranger to the arctic breeds. About 12 years ago, I had both Mals and Sammies, however; I have never had a husky before. I was actually looking for another Mal when we came across an add for a Husky. He is a beautiful husky that was up for adoption. His background put me and my husband in tears, so we enquired about him. We were VERY honest about the pets that we have. We have a male and female Shih-tzu and an African Grey parrot. The lady at the rescue told us that he got along very well with other dogs and went as far as to get him with a small poodle for a day and sent us photos of him with the poodle. She stated that he was non-aggressive and there should be no problem there. She told us that he was not food aggressive at all as well. We went three and a half hours to get this wonderful boy and brought him home. He is WONDERFUL with us. There is not an aggressive bone in his body towards us at all. In fact, we have had him now for just a week and he is in our hearts so much, we just do not know what to do.
Here arethe problems. He IS VERY food aggressive towards our other dogs. In fact, I was just MAKING the food for them without it being on the floor for them today and he attacked my male. THEN, when there was no food at all around, he attacked my male twice again. There was not a reason in the world, other than the male walked into the room. He has not bitten him . My male Shih-tzu does not take it. He fights back, but it is at a point where I have to pull the Husky off the Shih-tzu. I am so afraid about this.
Is this just for hierarchy or should I take the Husky back to the rescue?
I am in total termoil about this. The husky is neutered and the male Shih-tzu is intact about to be neautered. We were going to do that anyway.
Please help with any advise that you have. I wanted to give this poor boy a forever home. We are so upset about this. I am literally in tears trying to get this message out to you all.

Thank you SOOOOOOOO musc for anything that you may be able to help with!

Okay one thing you don't mention is the introduction process. Bringing a strange dog into a house with established dogs can be a very trying time. It is also best to use a wire crate when the introduction process starts. Keeping the new dog in the crate gives everyone a chance to see one another and smell one another while keeping everyone safe. It would be best to crate tbe new dog for at least two weeks or more and especially when you aren't there to supervise. During this procedure it would be best to keep all toys and food up and out of sight. You should also feed the new dog in the crate and then after a period of time you can try bringing the food out and feeding him on the outside. If the Sibe is anything like my Shiba Inu's they will want to be dominate. Having the male Shih-Tzu neutered will in time help the situation as he is probably seen as a threat to the Sibe while they sort out the pack issue. Keep in mind that even though you plan to neuter the Tzu it will take at least a month or more for the testosterone levels to drop so there still may be some skirmishs. From what you have posted it doesn't seem like there is anything major wrong except for the introduction. If you don't have a wire crate try and purchase one if you can. If you can't you can try gating the Husky in a seperate room, feeding him there and letting him have the run of the house only when you are there to supervise. Remember there is going to be a pack dominance issue, for now your Tzu's should come first. Greet, feed and pet the Tzu's first and the Husky last. They will eventually work it out. I have three Shiba Inu's and from you describe... is much the same I had gone through introducing each one into the household. One piece of advice my rescue contact had given me that stuck with me was to... "keep a bottle of peroxide handy... they will work it out"
Anyway for you it has only been a week. Keep in mind the Sibe is in new and strange surroundings and it will take time for him to become acclimated to his new surroundings. Good Luck and please keep us posted as to any progress made. Oh and one last thing, for those times when you do supervise when letting the Sibe have the run of the house... keep his leash attached to his collar... it can be used both as a training tool and also so you don't get bit untangling a couple of dogs. Again... Good Luck!
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Bob

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Two males getting along together in the same house can be difficult. It's not impossible though. It takes work though and lots of it.

First- there's a book called- "Feeling Outnumbered"- buy it and do the exercises in it.

Second- sometimes the dog that is reacting isn't really the instigator of the fight in the first place. The intact male shih tsu may very well be the cause of the skuffles and the husky is getting the blame because he's bigger and noisier. The fact that teeth have not been used kind of suggests this scenario. You'd be surprized how much "trash talk" can go on between two dogs being silent.

So, what you need to do is become an expert in dog language. You need to keep the dogs seperated until you can supervise them and watch for changes in behavior. You'll soon be able to see what's goign on and prevent fights. In my house, I have a zero tolerance rule for fighting. Hard stares and snarks get BOTH dogs put in crates for time outs. I control interactions. I also look for triggers- food is a HUGE trigger for most dogs (even just the smell). At first, my dogs were crated for their meals and no bones or toys could be left out when dogs were out. Now, I can feed my dogs in front of each other, but I do supervise and watch body language. I also pick up bowls when dogs are done. The bowls do not belong to them- they belong to me.

You can make this work, but you have to be a stronger leader and you have to set rules and guidelines. You don't have to be mean about it. Just be consistent and don't set your dogs up to fail. It's not fair to them.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Trouble starter.
I take my male huskies (one mix) to 2 dog parks, one allows dogs not fixed, one does not. Both of mine are, Ive noticed that when any unneutered males come into the park not allowing them, every male dog in sight confronts the unfixed male and sets down a boundary, it looks rough when this happens. The fixed males act nervous and frustrated as soon as the unfixed male comes near the fence, inside they approach and threaten the unfixed male as to say "watch yourself, we are watching you".
Usually unfixed males start fights seriously when play is happening, yet fixed males rarely fight seriously among each other. Having a female dog in the picture will only aggrevate this much more, especially if she is unfixed.
The park allowing them to be unfixed has alot of violent encounters among unfixed males, and some with fixed males thrashing unfixed males, as another poster mentioned the unfixed males usually are "crap talking".
This may help when the male is fixed, but it works best when they are 6 months to a year at most.
Seems like the husky is not taking the male shih tzus challenges to his food, or when other factors influence. If the male shih tzu tried to challenge the husky for food once the husky wont soon forget it, he wants the shih tzu to back off and learn his place, not to challenge him for dominance. Your shih tzu is trying to take "top dog" position, you need to take that position and set boundaries for them all.
Im going to ask, do your little shih tzus have the right to lounge on furniture because they are small and the husky doesnt? If so the shih tzu thinks he is above the husky because he is allowed more priveliges, therefore in a language you dont understand hes talking crap.

Thank you all for your advice! There are some things that you have mentioned that has been tried, and I agree with the fact that my husband and I have to be the head "dog" here and have done that as well. We have not been mean at all, but have been consistent and stood higher than the other two and made them mind. The question about letting the little ones lounge on the furniture and not the husky was a great question. The answer is unfortunatley yes. They get up there to get away from the husky. My husband and I will get down on the floor with the husky and show him one on one attention when this happens. Not all the time though. I guess it is just something that we are used to with the little ones lounging around. Most of the time they liked being on the floor better. Especially the male.

Things have gotten worse. We truly have tried about everything and it just gets worse everyday. I realize that if the husky wanted to truly harm the little one, he could have. He does roll the little male and I am afraid of a broken bone or something. I watch with an eagle eye but if I change over laundry they take that chance. It is not just the shih-tzu making the trouble. Sometimes he can just be lying on the floor and the husky will go over to him, growl and roll him. I know that this is a submission thing, but that starts things all over again. We seperate them and make them either go into kennels or sinece the husky is horribly afraid of those, so we put him out for a while. The thing is, the female cannot stand the husky either. He starts with her or the other way around and the fight is on again.

Oh well, we will have to do our very best and see what happens.

Again, thank you all so very much for the replies! Much appreciated.

But I think maybe you should seek help from a behaviorist, seems to me that all 3 need boundaries set, and reinforced. Also someone there in person can see what all of the problems are and let you know what changes you need to make in your routines, and maybe point out other issues you may not realize are actual problems.
I hope this helps, animals are easier to deal with 99% of the time and 99% easier to correct issues with than with people.