I'm trying to understand the relationship between our 3 year old dachshund and the 7 month old lab mix we just added to the family in December.
I worry about the two because Penny, the lab mix, is a puppy and I don't think she's always respectful/aware of bad manners and Buddy's (dachshund) warning signals.
She attempted to take a chew bone from him and even with him growling and showing his teeth she still took it, causing a scuffle where he got scratched. Now I limit chews to crate time for them, which is frustrating because Penny wants to chew often and isn't a fan of her crate.
Recently Buddy had something Penny was interested in and when she approached, he growled, she ignored it and Buddy rolled over on his back in submission because it wasn't worth the fight, I guess. I had been thinking of him as the aggressor since he's the one growling/showing teeth/etc but now I'm realizing he's giving "back off" signals which she's ignoring -- so he's not really at fault here.
A couple of days ago my son took something out of the refrigerator and Penny was excited and bouncing around (maybe stepped on Buddy?) and despite being right there I'm not exactly sure who started what but the two of them got into a snappy fight and either Buddy rolled over on his back to be submissive or she pinned him there... but either way she drew blood on his neck. :(
Penny doesn't SEEM to be aggressive/vicious -- she is always loose/ tail wagging/ goofball which gives me the impression that this is poor puppy manners and a lack of respect for Buddy that is escalating things. That said, she's still much bigger than him and clearly capable of serious harm if she wanted to cause it.
Today the two were playing in the backyard. I watched him chase her around the yard, pause and then let her chase him, etc. Then they started playing tug with a toy, and both seemed to be enjoying it and I took some video. As you can see in the short video, at the end Penny 'won' the toy... and then when they initiated play again I'm watching Buddy's body language and his tail is straight out -- a sign of aggression? Then the two of them began fighting about it right as my phone ran out of room and cut off, though nothing really happened after that, their "fight" just ended, no one was hurt.
Anyway, I feel so involved in this that I'd like some outside perspective. When you watch the video does it look like they're both happily playing? The two of them will curl up and nap together and seem to get along, until he's had enough and she doesn't listen to his warnings and then they'll fight, and she's gonna win because she's so much bigger. Are they still just working things out on where they stand in the pack or are these signs this pairing isn't going to work?
Submitted February 05, 2016 at 10:41PM by murph54 http://ift.tt/1miflux dogs
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