Hi, I have a 2 year old neutered male frenchie. His name is Buckminster. He has been an amazing dog and has gone through therapy dog training with Pet Partners here in NYC. Recently, my wife was volunteering at the Animal Care and Control in NYC and met a pit mix female that captivated her. She is really a beautiful dog. She was abandoned and when she was picked up by ACC she was malnourished and in need of some real TLC. At the ACC she picked up kennel cough and was put on the euthanize list, at which point my wife wanted to do everything to save her. We contacted several rescue orgs and AmsterDogs was the only one to respond, but we had to foster as they didn't have any foster families available.
We have had one other experience with fostering a dog, which was a 3 legged boston terrier who was the same size as Buckminster. We also occasionally dog sit for another frienchie. In both cases Buckminster has started standoffish and grown to get along with each.
We were expecting that the pit might be annoyed with our frenchie and may lash out. But she has been a pure pleasure. She is super friendly with people will lean into anyone and give kisses. She is house trained and knows some random commands and she know how to fetch and plays tug of war. She had climbed into my lap and fallen asleep resting her head on my foot. She has some separation anxiety, which we are working on. She gets anxious when she is left alone in a penned in environment even if she has her kong or bully stick.
We live in a 1 bedroom apt about 700sq ft. She has the kitchen and he has the rest of the apt. The problem we are having is that our frienchie, Buckminster, is a mess. He has never liked a big dog standing over him but at the dog park he I can manage it by keeping him moving. All she wants to do is sniff him and lick his jowls (which he has let other dogs do without any incident). He seems very stressed and is almost always focused on her. We have her penned in the kitchen which is out of sight from where he is and she is very focused on her.
We did all the traditional introduction things when we first brought her home. We talked to a behaviorist yesterday and she gave us some exercises to do with them to desensitize him to her. As he is a very treat focused puppy he can focus when there is treat in his face but will go right back to focusing on her again. We will not use punishment as a method of training.
Can you please give us advice on what we can do to relieve the stress with our frenchie? I am no longer worried about her being aggressive to him but him lashing out at her as he has done several times when we have done training exercises when they come close to each other.
Thanks.
We have had one other experience with fostering a dog, which was a 3 legged boston terrier who was the same size as Buckminster. We also occasionally dog sit for another frienchie. In both cases Buckminster has started standoffish and grown to get along with each.
We were expecting that the pit might be annoyed with our frenchie and may lash out. But she has been a pure pleasure. She is super friendly with people will lean into anyone and give kisses. She is house trained and knows some random commands and she know how to fetch and plays tug of war. She had climbed into my lap and fallen asleep resting her head on my foot. She has some separation anxiety, which we are working on. She gets anxious when she is left alone in a penned in environment even if she has her kong or bully stick.
We live in a 1 bedroom apt about 700sq ft. She has the kitchen and he has the rest of the apt. The problem we are having is that our frienchie, Buckminster, is a mess. He has never liked a big dog standing over him but at the dog park he I can manage it by keeping him moving. All she wants to do is sniff him and lick his jowls (which he has let other dogs do without any incident). He seems very stressed and is almost always focused on her. We have her penned in the kitchen which is out of sight from where he is and she is very focused on her.
We did all the traditional introduction things when we first brought her home. We talked to a behaviorist yesterday and she gave us some exercises to do with them to desensitize him to her. As he is a very treat focused puppy he can focus when there is treat in his face but will go right back to focusing on her again. We will not use punishment as a method of training.
Can you please give us advice on what we can do to relieve the stress with our frenchie? I am no longer worried about her being aggressive to him but him lashing out at her as he has done several times when we have done training exercises when they come close to each other.
Thanks.
