[schnauzerlover91]

Okay, me and my boyfriend recently added a third dog to our pack and realize it may have been a mistake, I know. Here's the story & I would appreciate no negative comments

We have a stray, terrier mix that we found about 2 and 1/2 years ago. She is a female and weighs about 10 lbs.

3 months ago we added a little male miniature schnauzer puppy to the family and although our previous dog wanted nothing to do with him at first, after a couple weeks she warmed up to him and plays with him and puts up with alot of nipping from him. He is VERY nippy and although I think we've tried everything, NOTHING is working. He bites for play and excitement. It's almost impossible to even pet him because of his biting/nipping/chewing.


Today we were at the shelter for something and it was my bright idea to look at the small dogs and puppies... There was a chocolate brown miniature schnauzer a year and a half old that had been abandoned by owners BV she was pregnant. The shelter fixed her and aborted the puppies and they let us take her outside and we fell in love. She wanted no part of going back inside and automatically took to us when she was out of the cage. I had to have her so we adopted her and brought her home.


First mistake-- I introduced her to my two dogs in the house. I wasnt even thinking.. And she attacked my puppy leaving a bump near his mouth. He is fine but whimpers when I touch it. I scolded her by pulling her leash and saying no but I'm not the best at correcting bad behavior and I've never had an aggressive dog.

I kept her on leash/harness and we took all 3 dogs outside and they seemed fine and her and my other female TO MY SURPRISE haven't had any problems but now she is growling at the puppy everytime he's near..



How can I correct this.. ? If not, she will have to be taken back within 10 days. Can it be corrected in this time? Is it maybe because she just had surgery and this is a new place for her? The last thing I want to do is take her back to that place !!!!


Please no negative comments because that won't change anything




Thank you for your help! Please respond

[Lunareclipse]

There's nothing negative about trying to adopt a dog from the shelter. If there is a serious problem and you think your new dog is a danger to your other dogs then it might be best to take it back and pick up a dog that won't attack your other dogs. Not every dog is right for every family. I know it would be sad taking your new dog back, but it would be even worse if it hurt or even killed one of your other dogs. There are other solutions but those take a lot longer and since you don't have any experience with aggression in dogs then the best bet would probably be to return your dog for another. If you do decide to stick it out and try to work through your current dog's issues, I would get a professional trainer. Not one of those ones at Petco but a real trainer that deals with dog aggression. Even then, one false move could really be a bad setback for your new dog and your old dogs.

[schnauzerlover91]

Thank you for your reply!

I never planned on getting a third dog so soon but I felt that I just had to help this little girl ! She is super sweet to me and my boyfriend but especially me like she's been ours forever! That's how mini schnauzers are though! Very attached to their owners! So it isn't fun knowing that most likely I will have to take her back but I have to put my puppy first because he cannot defend himself and it's not fair for him! He's usually so hyper and happy but since that he's just scared to even walk past her whn I have her on the leash. She knows when I say "no" that She's doing something wrong I think by the look she gives me and puts her ears down & stops but I'm afraid I won't be able to stop her in time. They are very unpredictable and fast when going for an attack.

Her previous owners abandoned her and I think they even had her as an outside dog because she was filthy with DIRT and her hair was terribly matted. The shelter had no clue if she had been around other dogs but I'm assuming not. The thing is, she wasnt aggressive toward any of the dogs at the shelter when we had her outside.. She is already territorial by jumping on the couch and jumps and looks at my other dog when she jumps on the couch. I'm not letting her on the couch now but even just after 20 minutes she thinks that couch is hers.

Thank you for your opinion & I'm going to give it a couple days of being very cautious and TRYING to socialize them but Ive heard this breed can be this way for life if they weren't socialized at a young age!

[piratekitty]

Hi welcome to I Love Dogs. You were right by what you said that you didnt introduce the new dog right. It is always a good Idea to spend alot of time with a dog your looking at to adopt, when you have others at home. Once you spend good time ( couple of days) seeing how the dog reacts to you and you stiill think it would do well in your family. Next step would be bring your dogs to meet with a fence or something between them that they can meet and still have protection, if that goes well try walking by each dog by one or the other, or walking the dogs up to each other undercontrol 10 feet apart facing each other and make them sit. Praise for good behaivor. If dogs are still well mannered walk up closer, again making them sit . They should be relaxed, mouth open, no sign of stress. You can also make them down, which is a non dominate position. Make it your decision they meet not the dogs. If dogs are growling or not sitting and lunge forward, turn them away and say leave it. Retry untill you get afriendly meet, and praise the good behavior. Some times older dogs just dont like the energy puppys have, and will bite to let that puppy know. Thats where you need to start trainning your puppy to sit, come and down, no bite, basic trainning. Alot of walking and exercise, helps calm a dog down. Good luck with blending your dog and keeping everyone safe.

[KAJvet24vball]

Hi schnauzerlover!

I knew I had to read your post because I also love schnauzers. I adopted one from the SPCA 11 years ago and she's the best dog I could ever ask for. However,she is very dog aggressive. We've tried to socialize her but every time we let her near another dog, she bit it. So, now that she's almost 13 years old, we've finally decided to stop trying to socialize her and accept the fact that she doesn't have any dog friends

In your case, since you have some other dogs already, you can't keep a new dog aggressive schnauzer. Don't give up on her just yet though. She's still pretty young so there's still hope for socializing. Did you try having someone else introduce her slowly to other dogs. Sometimes dogs, especially schnauzers, can be very attached to their owners and may react differently when they are with them. My dog is very protective when she's with me. But when she's at the groomer, she gets along fine with other dogs.

Maybe try having a friend take her for a day and try to introduce her to other dogs. Im not a professional trainer or anything but I do work at a boarding kennel and this method is usually successful.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your little schnauzer