Help! I need help regarding my Dog & new Puppy!

[Yolanda]

A little history:

We originally had our 6 yr. old male Akita mix. In June, we went to my Aunt's wedding in another state. She was no longer able to keep my 7 yr. old Chihuahua. So, we brought her home. She did really well with Curley. Well, Curley was stolen from our vehicle in July. So, Kiara (the chihuahua), was the only pet in our house up until 3 weeks ago.

Three weeks ago, we decided we wanted another dog. We got a 9 week old puppy.

Kiara is pretty aggresive towards the puppy. She will bite the puppy and the puppy will cry. Well, last night Kiara bit the puppy and actually drew blood (not alot of blood, but a few drops did drop on the carpet).

What do we do???? We don't want to have to give up one of the dogs. Why is she doing this? She has always been good with other animals.

Any ideas??

Thanks for all of you help!!

[katiadarling]

What type of situations are surrounding the bite incidents? Is the puppy being rambunctious and Kiara is correcting it... knowing the context would be helpful in trying to figure out what is happening.
Also, what type of dog is the new puppy?

[Yolanda]

The new puppy is an Australian Shepherd mix.

Last nights "attack" happened when I had 2 small rawhide bones in my pocket for a treat. Of course they smelled them in my pocket. Kiara was sniffing at my pocket and Daisy (the new pup) came over to sniff too. Then, Kiara just started snarling and then bit her. The other time, Daisy was just walking through the room. Maybe Daisy was too close to Kiara and Kiara didn't like it?

[ejs]

Did you have Kiara meet the puppy before you decided to adopt it? How did you introduce the dogs? Are you planning on Kiara being the alpha dog? Are they always supervised together? Are they fighting over toys or food? Is Kiara just trying to let the puppy know she's in charge? Could they actually just be rough-housing and not fighting? Are you giving the puppy free reign of the house? What gender is the puppy? Why haven't you had Kiara the whole time?

[Yolanda]

Oh my gosh, I have not had time to reply. I am very sorry. Work has been too busy and I have slooooooow dial-up at home.

Anyways,
We did not introduce the 2 before hand. When we brought the puppy home, we brought her inside. We sat on the floor with both of them and let them sniff eachother. We didn't have any problems for the first couple of weeks.
I don't know about the alpha dog thing. I'm not completely sure what "alpha" dogs are?
They are not supervised while we are at work. They are restricted to the laundary room (which has a doggy door that goes out to our fenced back yard).

I think part of it is over food and rawhides.
They rough-house and play alot too, but these "attacks" are not play/rough-housing. Kiara doesn't just bite, let go, and that's it. She will bite onto Daisy's neck and not let go and she will throw her head side to side...all the while she is snarling.

They do not have free reighn of the house unsupervised. The puppy (Daisy) is female and 12 1/2 weeks old.

When I originally moved out of my mom's house, I wasn't able to bring Kiara with me. So, she stayed at my mom's house. Well, eventually, my mom didn't want her anymore and I still couldn't take her (due to my living arrangements) so she gave her to my Aunt. She was very happy at my aunt's house. She was spoiled and cuddled. She was there with another dog (yellow lab, i think) and a cat. They never had any problems. Well, in June my Aunt got married and they moved, so my aunt asked me if I could take her. I could and I did.

After answering your questions, what advice do you have to offer?

TIA!!!

[pocket]

I think rawhides might be too high value for Kiara. She cares too much about them. Maybe you will have to banish them altogether for the time being, and also feed in shifts until they sort out who is going to be in charge - that's what alpha means. What do you do when she goes for the puppy? do you shout and make a lot of noise and say no! no! and then discipline her immediately in a very angry voice?

wait a minute - Kiara is the chihuahua?

[Yolanda]

also feed in shifts until they sort out who is going to be in charge - that's what alpha means.
We are trying to do this, but they rebel and won't eat when I give them their food (until they are good and ready:rolleyes: ).
Any suggestions there?

What do you do when she goes for the puppy? do you shout and make a lot of noise and say no! no! and then discipline her immediately in a very angry voice?

We will yell at her and we usually spank her butt and then once she will let go, we take her away to timeout (the guest bathroom) and shut the door for a little bit. The time she drew blood, I left her in timeout for 30-45 minutes.

wait a minute - Kiara is the chihuahua?
Yes, Kiara, the chihuahua, is the one biting and being aggressive. She is 7 years old.

Daisy is the new puppy. She is 13 weeks now.

Thanks for all the help!!

[QueenofCA]

Have you tried any kind of training with Kiara? She may benefit from working on commands like "Off", "Sit", "Stay", etc. That way she'll hopefully get an attitude adjustment and you'll be able to control her better.

Also, I wouldn't recommend hitting her. That only teaches the dog to fear you and your hands and it can make her even more aggressive. Maybe try using a shake can when you see Kiara getting growly at Daisy? Do you reward Kiara when she is behaving around Daisy?

Also, do you have separate crates for the dogs? You could try feeding them separately in their crates with the doors locked, that way there's no competition. It may even help to have the crates in different rooms for a while...

[Yolanda]

I am actually thinking of putting both dogs in classes at Petco.

I have started to feed in shifts like QueenofCA suggested. It has been working just fine.
We have not had an "attack" all week.

Thanks!

Also, I have been limiting their rawhides. If they start getting "snotty" with each other (trying to steal from one another), I take them all away. I don't let them just freely chew on them all day anymore. They get them at specific times.....like when I am trying to cook dinner. They seem to do better.

[Yolanda]

So, we limited the rawhides and started feeding separately. Kiara was doing sooooooo good. No attacks for several days. BUT, starting yesturday, she is attacking the puppy for no good reason.
Last night, for example, I was in the laundary room with Daisy getting her toys with her. Kiara trotts over. As soon as Daisy saw Kiara, Daisy just quit what she was doing and sat still (I could tell she was a little scared). She didn't move a muscle. She wasn't right next to me, wasn't near the food or any toys or bones. Kiara just started attacking her. This happened 2 (maybe 3) times last night. Then it happened this morning again....over nothing!

When she attacks, we have started yelling her name and banging on the floor trying to get her to stop. When we finally get her to stop, I scoop her up and grab her muzzle and tell her no. Then I put her in the bathroom for "time-out" for anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes.
She is still sorta snarling when I am carrying her.

I am afraid that one day our child will be crawling on the floor and be near a toy and Kiara will attack her.

What do I do??? I just don't know. I am going to talk to a trainer and a vet tomorrow about it, but I would like your opinions too, please.

Thanks for you help! I can always count you guys!