We've had Daisy, our 3 month old rat terrier, for a month and a half or so now. We brought her into a home with a large outside dog (and they get along fine when she's outside to go potty), and an inside dog, a Chihuahua named Jake (he's 3).

At first Jake wasn't having anything to do with the new puppy, but eventually he got over it, and started acting like himself. Now it's just...off.

They played a little at first, but he'd get tired of her trying to play with him, get mad and walk away. Now he gets MAD when she's anywhere NEAR him. He yells and barks and growls and snaps, and has bitten her several times to get her to leave him alone. She wasn't hurt by the bites, and really didn't even stop trying to play with him. She doesn't understand, I guess, that he doesn't want to play with her. But when I'm playing with Daisy, Jake jumps in to play too, but goes nuts when Daisy also plays.

We try playing with them separately, but Jake won't even try to play unless Daisy's playing.

We're working with Daisy on obedience, but it's slow going because there are NO classes we can take her to in our small town. She's got the "sit" command, and we're nearly solid on "down." If we can get her to stay off the coffee table and stop biting, we'll be good to go. But training is even hard to do, because when we separate the two of them to work with 'em, Jake won't listen for wanting to see what Daisy's doing or getting. He just sits at the door and hollers, which keeps Daisy from behaving.

So we're at a loss...do we let them "work out their own troubles," or just deal with them separately for as long as they're alive. Will Daisy ever realize he doesn't want anything to do with her?

[chloepuglilly]

I have a 3 yr old rat terrier and a 3 month old chihuahua and they didnt get along good at all at first... my terrier is very territorial but after about 2 weeks they started getting along very well... i find they have a very similar temperment, they like to wrestle and play fight and the chihuahua seems to almost treat my terrier like her mom... just give it time like people dogs need time to get used to each other...but soon they will love eachother... i now have a 3 month old chihuahua that thinks shes a rat terrier... its hillarious!!!

Originally Posted by Mindik

We've had Daisy, our 3 month old rat terrier, for a month and a half or so now. We brought her into a home with a large outside dog (and they get along fine when she's outside to go potty), and an inside dog, a Chihuahua named Jake (he's 3).

At first Jake wasn't having anything to do with the new puppy, but eventually he got over it, and started acting like himself. Now it's just...off.

They played a little at first, but he'd get tired of her trying to play with him, get mad and walk away. Now he gets MAD when she's anywhere NEAR him. He yells and barks and growls and snaps, and has bitten her several times to get her to leave him alone. She wasn't hurt by the bites, and really didn't even stop trying to play with him. She doesn't understand, I guess, that he doesn't want to play with her. But when I'm playing with Daisy, Jake jumps in to play too, but goes nuts when Daisy also plays.

We try playing with them separately, but Jake won't even try to play unless Daisy's playing.

We're working with Daisy on obedience, but it's slow going because there are NO classes we can take her to in our small town. She's got the "sit" command, and we're nearly solid on "down." If we can get her to stay off the coffee table and stop biting, we'll be good to go. But training is even hard to do, because when we separate the two of them to work with 'em, Jake won't listen for wanting to see what Daisy's doing or getting. He just sits at the door and hollers, which keeps Daisy from behaving.

So we're at a loss...do we let them "work out their own troubles," or just deal with them separately for as long as they're alive. Will Daisy ever realize he doesn't want anything to do with her?

[Yogi]

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