2nd OES
Thanks Jess |
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| Hi Jessica,
Shaggy and I used to be under contract with the Humane Education Society to provide the public with info about dog behavior. Here's a bit of trivia you may find helpful in making a decision. Dogs like people live under a code of law. The code states that no adult dog attack a puppy, however they may discipline them. Sadly most people don't understand that an adult has to discipline the puppy and establish their dominance and most people interfere. Another code of law is Male dogs will not attack female dogs. Two male dogs may fight, same with two females but generally not as often. It is rare however for a male dog to attack a female dog, but as I've mentioned like people dogs will sometimes "break the rule". You may have heard of stories about huge dogs running away from little ones. This is usually because the little dogs are "puppy-like" and yet act aggressively...confusing the bigger dog so that they often will run to avoid the confrontation. It is important to remember however that like people ...dogs also break their "code of law". So it's not a hard and fast rule but usually 95% of the time it works out well. When bringing home a new pup in the house it's very important to let your dog establish it's dominance and it's okay for your dog to growl and even nip the pup if it becomes annoying. Don't interfere and instead pay lots of attention to your dog. If the attack is vicious however, then there is a problem. Someone once related this to me and it makes sense. Your hubby comes home with a new wife cause he loved you so much. Ha Ha! You can see why jelousy arises with the dog that was in the home first. I have introduced many dogs into my home and try to first get them to meet on neutral territory. Once they have met, then you can bring the dog/puppy home. You may have noticed too that neuturing and spaying also comes into play as to who will be the dominate dog. Neutured dogs are usually the last on the heirachy for dominance. Other dogs can tell from their urine as to their status..believe it or not. Also next time you are out in the park...check all the dogs tails...you can learn lots of info about dogs this way. An upright tail..(I know hard to tell with OES) shows the dog is dominant when meeting another dog...one that tucks under shows the dog is being submissive. Both dogs may start out with upright tails and one will often tuck their tail under to give the dominance to the other dog. If both continue to have their tails in the upright position ....neither wants to back down and there may be a fight. If the dogs want to play the tails wag ...and one dog usually gets into the "play chase postion" then they take turns chasing each other and crouching down. Anyway fun to watch dog behavior if you are aware of the signs. If I could give one suggestion would be to perhaps get a male puppy. Since you already have a female ...and they usually are accepting of both males and females you shouldn't have too much problem. If however your dog was male then I would suggest only adding a female puppy. Best of luck to you whatever you decide to do. Oh last thing...lol...I already had a grown Female (Shaggy) when I brought home "Big Dog" from the pound. Although he outweighed her by about 50 pounds and was older...she remained the dominant dog. You never can tell. |
| Wonderful reply, I agree completely with Marianne's suggestions and advice. I have almost always had multiple sheepies in various gender combinations, and I regularly have sheepie foster rescue dogs temporarily for training and boot camp.
With multiple sheepies, my experience was that the females were more often the alpha dog. My current two, a male and female, are the exception, but probably because my female is deaf she tends to be somewhat submissive to begin with. In a situation with an adult female in place, I would try to add a male puppy for all the reasons Marianne stated -- although other combinations could be successful, it can take a lot of effort. Gosh, I wish our humane society had an indivual like Marianne under contract! |
| Awww thanks for the nice compliment! I have read many of your post and I also have to comment that you always give informative answers and "know your stuff", always a pleasure to read!
Thanks again! |
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