posted 01-29-2004 06:50 PM         

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posted 02-05-2004 07:51 PM         

I sincerely do believe that time will be your best friend in this situation! I think it is a little premature to know whether or not they will ever become friends. Definitely let time take its course. Your two pups may never be best of buddies, although we can only hope, they just might learn to simply TOLERATE one another.

Your chi is probably confused, and obviously upset, as to why all of a sudden another dog has come into "his" home where he has established his territory. Therefore, leading the chi defend his territory, which is coming out as intense aggression. Thus, your pom has no choice but to fight back.

One more thing, if the fighting is severe, I would not recommend leaving them alone toghether w/out your close supervision.

posted 02-06-2004 03:52 PM         

C) After you have yelped, give him a bone or some sort of chew. When he starts biting/chewing at the bone or chew, praise him as to let him know that he is now exhibiting the desired and correct behavior! He will soon catch on and realize that chewing on bones/chews is acceptable, but with humans, it is not. You made mention of the fact that your pom doesn't seem to be incredibly interested in the smoked bones. I would go out and buy many different types of bones and chews to see which varieties he likes best; he is bound to like some of them out there. I know with my two pups, they only like certain types of bones, but there is a huge variety of bones out there, so I always have several types of bones and chews for them that they particularly like. One other note while on the topic of bones and chews, try to only have one type of bone out at a time. If you put several varieties out for your pom, he will probably chew at each one of them, then get bored of each of them. Give him one type, once he is finished with it, give him another type, etc.

D) If you haven't done so already, I would highly recommend enrolling him in a high quality obedience/training class that includes "puppy playtime." During the time when the dogs play with one another, they are inadvertently learning bite inhibition from their play. How? Well, play among dogs is often inclusive of "play biting," and when one dog accidentally bites another dog too hard, the dog who was bitten too hard will let out a yelp. That yelp signals to the other dog that his/her bite was not tolerable and won't be accepted! (Hence, this is why you want to mimic that behavior as I mentioned up above in point A)

Biting is a very natural behavior for a dog to exhibit, but that is not to say that it is admissible! Therefore, you need to be very persistent in correcting the behavior when it does happen. I will forewarn you, it may take some significant time, but the goal is most definitely achievable!!!

Best of Luck,
Kristi