# my chi is being really mean to the new baby



## arwensmommy (Jun 2, 2011)

Arwen has been my whole world for over a year, but my husband and i are moving to our own place, so arwen will lose the companionship of our room mates dog. They're thick as thieves- and she's never been alone. So i contacted the same breeder i got arwen from, and she offered me one of her new puppies for free. I drove five miles last night to get her- and let me tell you, arwens being extremely mean. The new puppy is nothing but happy to see her, her tail gets going and she tries to clumsily follow her around the house, i gave the puppy a small chew rope, as shes teething- and arwen (god love her) took every one of her toys up onto the couch and well out of the puppies reach, she growls whenever the puppy comes near her- if she has a toy or food... she's never ever been like that before, and it worries me. She even snapped at her last night for trying to climb up on me. I've never allowed her to behave that way, and punished her by kicking her of of my lap. Arwen is my baby, i love her more than anything. But it breaks my heart to my new baby get her feeling hurt so much. what can i do to ease the relationship between them? the new dog is a female too, but completely submissive and sweet, where arwen has always been dominant and coy. I'm paying a lot of attention to arwen too, but i cant ignore the new puppy, because shes so young that she needs a lot of attention


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Give Arwen (love the name, btw) time to adjust. I bet they will thick as thieves in no time. Delilah does not like my new puppy, so she is allowed to warn the puppy away if Babushka starts trying to bug her. This is how they learn their place in the pack. Let them figure it out, it is normal. Your interferring in their getting to know one another, quite frankly, can delay their becoming friends. As long as no blood is spilt, all's good. And all my dogs steal each other's toys alllll the time. lol


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## Kaila (Nov 10, 2009)

This is completely normal. Although.. I have to admit, if I were you, I would NOT have gotten a second female. When getting a new puppy, it's a good idea to get the opposite sex of whatever you have (it reduces sexual competition and thus means less fighting).

That being said.. If taking the female back in exchange for a male puppy isn't an option, Arwen will likely get used to the new addition. Just realize that she may never LOVE her (and she doesn't have to). Right now she's just making a very clear statement to the puppy: "I've been here longer than you and I'm the boss." Let her do it. As long as she's not attacking the puppy, it will be fine.  I would definitely make sure you get the new puppy spayed before she goes into heat, though. All those hormones tend to make two females get really snippy towards each other.. (There's a reason we use the word "bitch" as an insult! )

Zoey (my Jack Russell Terrier) used to steal toys from Teddy, push him away from me, growl at him over food or treats, etc. She did try to give him a warning snap to tell him to back off from certain things. For that I would put her out of the room for a few seconds and let her back in when she was calm. She was allowed to growl, show her teeth, take stuff away from him, push him around a little bit.. but she was NOT allowed to corner him, bite him, pin him down, etc. Nothing that could physically hurt him or traumatize him. The rest of the stuff, even though it seems mean, is her way of communicating that the puppy is below her on the totem pole. Eventually Zoey became best friends with Teddy. She only bullied him for the first two weeks or so. Then she started keeping her distance and was pretty much disinterested. But after maybe a month she started to play with him, groom him, sleep curled up with him, etc.

If you keep her from doing what she's doing, it will take longer to establish a hierarchy, and you might just exacerbate the dominance issue when they're older because they never had a chance to work it out on their own. Right now, Arwen is training the new puppy. You need to let her do that while also keeping the new puppy safe. I know it's human nature to want to protect the weak little puppy, but you need to communicate with Arwen as her partner. Don't scold her for expressing her dominance, but let her know when enough is enough (for example, if the puppy has gotten the message and backed off but Arwen is still pressing her).

Until they're friends, you need to keep them separate while you're not there to supervise. If Arwen is allowed free run of the house, don't change her routine on her by putting her in a room or a crate. Instead, put the new puppy in a crate (it'll help with house-training anyway). That way Arwen can't hurt the puppy when the new puppy is hassling her to play and her nerves are frayed. It happens to the best of them. 

Don't worry, this is all normal. Some pairs go through it and some don't. It just depends on the dogs.


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## arwensmommy (Jun 2, 2011)

I'll admit that my preference was originally for another male dog, but the breeder offered me her free of charge, so i took her. Maybe once its just the two of them with the male out of the picture she will be nicer?


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## Kaila (Nov 10, 2009)

Yeah, she might also be trying to be more dominant because there's a male in the mix. A male gives them something to fight over (a lot like humans, huh?). For now, just try to referee their interactions while you're there to supervise. When you're not, they're separated so that there can't be any dangerous interactions between them. A puppy only needs to be seriously attacked by another dog once to develop a lifelong fear/hatred of other dogs.

Developmental Stages

Socialization with other dogs takes place between weeks 3 to 12. Socialization with humans takes place between weeks 7 to 16. (Remember, try to have your puppy meet 100 new people by 16 weeks old!)


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## arwensmommy (Jun 2, 2011)

has anyone had two female chihuahuas and had them love and be happy with one another?


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

I have 6 females and they all get along great. Twiggy and the new baby are best friends and they sleep together all the time. Twiggy and Delilah are great friends and share a bed, too. Delilah just is not too sure about the puppy, but will eventually get used to her. And while the rest of the girls may not share a bed together, they do all share the couch and play together.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

YES! Females can get along just fine with other females. Give it time. So far your little one has been the princess. It takes them a few weeks to warm up to another new puppy or addition. I do not find my females get along any better with my males than they do with the other females for the most part. Is Arwen spayed?


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## Mel's chi's (Jun 2, 2011)

ditto to the other reply's, also you might consider that they will become closer when you actually make the move as now the territory is all new and neutral so to speak. Just a thought


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## guccigrande (Apr 17, 2011)

When we had Gucci, Prada was a bit mean to him for the first couple of days and growled at him etc..
But soon she got over it
But when we brought Coco home, it was and still is a different story
Coco is soooo tiny even at 7months old comparing to Prada, and she just thinks she can bully her and tries to dominate her
She always snapped at her, sometimes with no reason what so ever.
I actually had a dog trainer come over and we found out that sound aversion and the pet corrector spray gets the best response from Prada.
So now whenever Prada growls at her or snaps at her I spray the pet corrector (makes a loud sound) and she stops.
Their relationship has improved so much and most days they are great together and play etc.. but obviously I still need to carry on with the training even though it has been 2 months already. Hopefully persistence pays off


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## Kaila (Nov 10, 2009)

arwensmommy said:


> has anyone had two female chihuahuas and had them love and be happy with one another?


Two females CAN get along, so don't worry too much! Right now it seems like Arwen is just going through standard dominance stuff. She's trying to make sure the puppy understands that she's the boss!

It's just that getting a puppy of the opposite sex tends to make the process of introducing a new dog to your pack a smoother process. They tend to get along faster and easier. There's always the possibility (with any dog, of any sex) that the old dog may not like the new, or vice versa. My opinion is.. that's okay! They don't have to be best friends, but they do have to learn to live together. With time, they may even _become_ friends, but pushing them to do it sooner or having high expectations will just make it take longer, in my opinion.

01 Same Sex Dogs in the Home - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!
01 Adding a Second Dog to Your Family - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

"Two females are more likely to fight to the death than males are. It’s as if neither is willing to admit the other girl is “better than” she is, so they cannot come to a stable pack order. The males make that decision more readily in some cases, but the one who has to be submissive can take it more to heart than the female."

This can sound really scary, but as long as you make sure you're the boss of BOTH dogs it shouldn't be a problem. That's what I was trying to say by making sure you communicate to Arwen that telling the new puppy that she's the boss is okay, but beating her up for no reason or taking it too far is _not_ okay. There's a limit on what she's allowed to do because, ultimately, YOU'RE the boss of HER. That doesn't mean you have to spank or scold her. That just means you have to let her know where the line is. My suggestion is get used to using a vocal correction and remove her from the room for a few minutes if she's getting too mean. It's a "one strike and you're out" process. You give a vocal correction as a warning (she only gets one warning), and if she ignores you she loses access to toys/food/laps/beds/etc. (whatever she was fighting over) for a few minutes. She'll learn really quick. *Whatever you do, though, don't punish Arwen and then turn around and coddle the puppy. Be neutral.* Make sure everyone is okay, no one is bleeding, and then back off and let them do their thing.

PS: My Jack Russell Terrier started off as being severely dog aggressive. She came to me from a shelter that I was volunteering at. After having her for two years (she's now my ex-boyfriend's dog) she has improved significantly but can still never be trusted with another dog. The ONLY dog she was able to be off-leash around was Teddy. I trusted them together completely because you could see how much she loved him. But it didn't START that way. They had to build a relationship, just like any two people would.

I used the removal technique coupled with lots of praise and attention whenever Teddy was in the room and she was being calm. As hard as it was to ignore a brand new puppy, there were times when I forced myself to spend more time doting on Zoey. I wanted her to feel like the new puppy wasn't a big deal and that she wasn't going to get less attention just because he came into our lives. (She had been a stray and shut in a concrete kennel at a shelter for months.. so I'm sure this was a particularly sensitive issue for her since she's a pretty clingy dog.) I showered her with treats, praise, and attention for being calm around him and I shut her out of the room for a few minutes if she got too mean.


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## OzChi (Oct 26, 2011)

I just added a 2nd puppy to my household (an 8 week old female to my 18 week old male) and while my little boy was glad to meet his new little sister he played much too rough with her and had to be disciplined with a sharp "no" and being blocked from jumping on her. They were supervised when they were together 100% of the time until I was confident he wouldn't hurt her. It's taken 2 weeks and her putting on a bit of weight and learning to stand up for herself for me to be happy to leave them together unsupervised. Give your two time, especially as there will be a considerable size difference between an adult and a pup. As Kaila said, force yourself to give as much attention to your older dog as your new pup. I know you feel she needs lots of attention but if she is confined in a safe warm spot with food and water you can safely leave her to spend time with your older dog, the baby will probably just sleep and appreciate the rest!


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## Squirrelflight (Nov 17, 2011)

When they are fussing simply walk away and ignore them both. Just keep an eye on how they are doing and do not let the puppy pester the older dog. When they pup pesters put the pup a little away from the older dog. Give the older a place in every room to hang out where they new pup cant reach. 

When they do interact the big things you want to look for is that the pup rolls over and acts submissive and when she does that your older chi should back off and just smell her and such. If the pup does not roll over and act submissive OR if your older girl does not ease up than you need to supervise very closely. Otherwise the pup will aggrivate the adult and the adult with snap at her. the pup should roll over or just lay down and the adult will probably sniff and may mouth her a bit. They will do this alot. The adult is teaching the pup what she will and will not tolerate and the pup is going to do a lot of testing.


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