I currently have a 7 year old weimaraner female dog, a co-worker need
to get rid of her 3 year old weimaraner female dog, and I would like
to take her in. My concern is how should I go about doing this? Does
anyone out there have any suggestions??? Does anyone know of things I
should be concerned with??? Lets hear your ideas!!

Mike

reddevil wrote:
I currently have a 7 year old weimaraner female dog; a co-worker needs
to get rid of her 3 year old weimaraner female dog, and I would like
to take her in. My concern is how should I go about doing this? Does
anyone out there have any suggestions? Does anyone know of things I
should be concerned with? Let's hear your ideas!


I suppose the worst that could happen is that the 2 females could fight,
and while that's a real concern, it's not a certainty. More likely, the
2 dogs will become best buds. I'd ask your co-worker how her dog has
gotten along with other dogs in the past. If the new dog has always
gotten along in a friendly, tail-wagging, getting-to-know-you sniffing
manner, I wouldn't worry too much.


Surely you want to watch them carefully when the new dog moves in.
Also, you want to make sure that both dogs consider you the boss. Do
that by controlling resources (food, water, toys, walks, attention) and
giving basic obedience training to both. Separate them if you feel the
least worried that a fight might break out, but a fight might not break
out. Lots of dogs get along together just fine. My 2 females did when
they moved in together.


Why does the co-worker need to give up her dog?


--Lia

"reddevil" wrote in message
ups.com...
I currently have a 7 year old weimaraner female dog, a co-worker need
to get rid of her 3 year old weimaraner female dog, and I would like
to take her in. My concern is how should I go about doing this? Does
anyone out there have any suggestions??? Does anyone know of things I
should be concerned with??? Lets hear your ideas!!

Mike
==========
I had a similar situation a few years ago. I already had an old male Chow
Chow, Sebastian, and rescued a female Rottweiler, Susie, from a shelter.

Before I adopted the Susie, I brought Sebastian up to the shelter and one
person walked Sebastian, and I walked Susie, just to see how they would
react with each other. The idea was to introduce the dogs on neutral ground;
not on the old dog's property. We never got them too close to each other.
We did this for about 20 minutes. We kept walking them past each other
within the same vacinity of each other. We took each dog home in separate
cars that day from the shelter.

When I first got Susie home I put her in the yard by herself. She walked
the parameters of the yard checking everything out. I also have a separate
fenced in area within the same yard, so that whenever I put Sebastian out I
would put Susie in the other smaller yard, so they could observe each other.
I wanted Susie to know that the yard belonged to Sebastian.

I kept them separated in the house with baby gates and eventually Sebastian
the Chow, on his own, would stay downstairs and the Susie, the Rotty stayed
upstairs.

Eventually, I put them in the yard together with no problems and removed the
gates. I always put Sebastian out first. I just did everything slowly. I
think I kept them separated for about a week or two.

The reason I was so careful was that Susie had a reputation for not liking
all dogs, so that concerned me as I didn't want anything upsetting my 13
year old Chow, Sebastian, and I really wanted to take Susie home with me.

Susie gave Sebastian his space and they worked it out. In the end, they
each had a lot of respect for each other.

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:33:47 -0400, "pfoley"
wrote:

...
Susie gave Sebastian his space and they worked it out. In the end, they
each had a lot of respect for each other.

Is Sebastian still living? I hope so. If so, give him a stroke for. If
not, give yourself a pat on the back, for giving him such a long and
safe life.

You might get a chuckle from this. Yesterday, a shelter visitor
announced that she was looking for a "Chow." I resent the shortcut, and
repeated, "A Chow?" She said, "Yes", and went on to explain that "Chows"
are smaller than "Chow Chows," and she needed the smaller version.

I pretended to be enlightened, but I can still hardly believe my ears.
LOL So, remember: Chows are smaller than Chow Chows. LOL


___________________
A dog's life is too short; their only fault really.

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:02:53 -0700, reddevil wrote:

I currently have a 7 year old weimaraner female dog, a co-worker need
to get rid of her 3 year old weimaraner female dog, and I would like
to take her in. My concern is how should I go about doing this? Does
anyone out there have any suggestions??? Does anyone know of things I
should be concerned with??? Lets hear your ideas!!

Take them for a long walk on neutral ground. Unless one or both have a
real chip on their shoulder, they will have worked things out, by the
end of the walk. Then as now, *you* must remain the alpha dog.

Make sure your present dog knows she is still just as important as ever.
Take special care at feeding time, and with toys and treats---long after
you think all is well.



___________________________
Don't sweat the small stuff--and most of it is small stuff. :-)

Julia Altshuler wrote:

snip

I suppose the worst that could happen is that the 2 females could fight,
and while that's a real concern, it's not a certainty. More likely, the
2 dogs will become best buds.snip

The most horrific fights I've seen or heard of, with the worst physical
consequences, have been bitch fights. One gal owned aussies - a mother
and daughter. They got into a brawl and the daughter bit her dam's face
and punctured the mother's sinus, causing her face to blow up with
escaped air. A friend with various terriers says that she's learned
that only way to break up a bitch fight is to throw them into the pool,
jumping in and holding them under until they let go, if necessary.

I myself was worried enough about female aggression that when I was
deciding to add a 3rd dog to our male/female balanced household I judged
it safer to go with a small male than a female of any size.

"Michael A. Ball" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:33:47 -0400, "pfoley"
wrote:

...
Susie gave Sebastian his space and they worked it out. In the end, they
each had a lot of respect for each other.

Is Sebastian still living? I hope so. If so, give him a stroke for. If
not, give yourself a pat on the back, for giving him such a long and
safe life.

You might get a chuckle from this. Yesterday, a shelter visitor
announced that she was looking for a "Chow." I resent the shortcut, and
repeated, "A Chow?" She said, "Yes", and went on to explain that "Chows"
are smaller than "Chow Chows," and she needed the smaller version.

I pretended to be enlightened, but I can still hardly believe my ears.
LOL So, remember: Chows are smaller than Chow Chows. LOL


___________________
A dog's life is too short; their only fault really.
==============
I wonder what she thinks a Chow looks like compared to a Chow Chow; that is
funny.
No, Sebastian is gone. He is what I would have called the perfect gentleman
and a very unique dog. He was a very clean dog in his habits; he only
messed in the same corner of his yard everyday; he would never do a mess on
a walk, ever. I like talking about him, because he was so nice.

He was very self confident and never had any fear of any other dogs, but yet
he never challenged them either; he just stood his ground never budging or
running away; they would run from him. He never started any fights.

The first day I allowed Susie in the yard with him was quite something to
see. I was nervous. Susie, who was one of the most intelligent dogs I have
ever owned, walked up towards Sebastian and Sebastian just stood there
staring at her; not moving, as if to say, "This is still my yard and don't
you forget it" He was teeter tottering on all four legs that could hardly
hold him up off the ground. He was very weak at this time of his life, but
he just stood there during the face off. She could have knocked him over in
a second; no problem, Susie was a very tough dog. But she just stood a few
feet away from him; stared at him and then turned and quietly walked away.
There was no growling or sniffing; nothing; just the stare down. He was
still king of the yard and she let him be king. Sebastian died about six
months later in February, 2002.

Kathleen wrote:

The most horrific fights I've seen or heard of, with the worst physical
consequences, have been bitch fights.


This brings up an interesting question. I've heard about bitch fights
too. They're horrific, but are they likely? Given all the 2-female
households, how often do fights break out as opposed to the best-buds
scenario? Who out there has stories to tell of owning 2 female dogs
where there were no troubles and no fights? I do.


I don't have enough experience to guess, but I wondered if it might be
like child sex abuse or stranger abduction statistics. No one is
arguing that it isn't a horrible crime, but somehow the horribleness of
it makes it loom more common in the public's mind when it's really
relatively rare. On usenet, when I try to point out how inflated the
statistics are, I often get people coming back with how wrong I am by
telling me about an even more horrific crime.


So to the original poster-- Be careful. Keep an eye on the dogs. Pay
attention to their interactions. Be on the lookout for fights breaking
out. But if there's no indication that the dogs won't get along, don't
let the fact that they're 2 females deter you from getting the dog you
want. I'm glad I didn't know about bitch fights, or I might not have
put Genny and Sheppe together, and they were great for each other.


Also, no one has brought up the spayed/not spayed variable. I should
think it would make it difference but don't know.


--Lia

In article ,
Julia Altshuler wrote:
I don't have enough experience to guess, but I wondered if it might be
like child sex abuse or stranger abduction statistics. No one is
arguing that it isn't a horrible crime, but somehow the horribleness of
it makes it loom more common in the public's mind when it's really
relatively rare.

When we think formally about risk we do take into account
the likely severity of the consequences of an event.
There's nothing unreasonable about that, and it's
appropriate to do it when we're thinking casually about
risk, too.

I think that when thinking about having two bitches in the
same house you should consider how comfortable you'd be
dealing with fighting and with keeping a cap on posturing
(recognizing what's a problem, what's not a problem, and
intervening in problematic behavior before it escalates).

Pay
attention to their interactions. Be on the lookout for fights breaking
out.

If you're looking for fights breaking out you've waited too
long, although granted that they can break out pretty
suddenly.

Also, no one has brought up the spayed/not spayed variable. I should
think it would make it difference but don't know.

Some, but not much. Personality and pack issues are a much
bigger question. If you've got a dog that either doesn't
agree with her place in the pack or who's looking to improve
her place in the pack you've got a potential problem (and
that's not even getting into resource contention issues,
which are easier to manage, anyway).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:23:11 -0500, Kathleen
wrote:

Julia Altshuler wrote:

snip

I suppose the worst that could happen is that the 2 females could fight,
and while that's a real concern, it's not a certainty. More likely, the
2 dogs will become best buds.snip

The most horrific fights I've seen or heard of, with the worst physical
consequences, have been bitch fights. One gal owned aussies - a mother
and daughter. They got into a brawl and the daughter bit her dam's face
and punctured the mother's sinus, causing her face to blow up with
escaped air. A friend with various terriers says that she's learned
that only way to break up a bitch fight is to throw them into the pool,
jumping in and holding them under until they let go, if necessary.

I myself was worried enough about female aggression that when I was
deciding to add a 3rd dog to our male/female balanced household I judged
it safer to go with a small male than a female of any size.

I've had at least 7 females living at my house at the same time when I
was doing rescue and didn't have that experience with it. One dog was
very aggressive and had to be managed. Most of them got along fine.
If you want to be better safe than sorry, go for a male if you have a
female, but don't let the mere thought of a bitch fight stop you from
taking in a dog you otherwise love. Have the two dogs meet and greet,
keep an eye on things to see if they hate each other or love each
other. If they just tolerate each other, keep an eye on things longer
to see which way that ends up going. You could end up with a
situation like two female dogs I had that were inseparable and the
best of friends. They even shared a crate when they were crated
because they were fine with that but sad if crated without the other.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay