WE NEED ADVICE PLEASE.... Tony and I hoped to be able to sort this out on our own; however, were so pressed for time on a daily basis that Im not sure were going to be able to. With cold weather upon us, we lose our flexibility in placing dogs in outside (but comfy) locations for brief periods of time during the day to allow for some separation between the pups that dont always get along. Hey, it happens. We have lots of dogs of all sizes and backgrounds here. Theyre not always going to get along... Most often a squabble passes after a brief separation period and we move on. Were having a long lasting issue though between Nugget and her sister, Nova. Nugget is fine with her sister, however, weve not put Nova and Nugget together since the day I rescued them. Nova, who runs with a large group every day... Bandy, Black Jack, Clementine, Aspen, Bear, Amos, Gunner and a few more.... Was literally thrown in to sink or swim after she was returned from what we thought would be her forever home. Being as loaded as we are and not many fosters, we havent had time for much one on one with Nova. There are only so many hours in a day and not enough of us to go around... Especially when emergencies often take center stage. It seems like we have our fair share.... But thats a whole other post. The bottom line is as well as Nova gets along with everyone else, she refuses to accept her sister... Can not... Will not do it. In fact, shes highly aggressive to Nugget. We have to keep careful separation at all times. Unfortunately the group Nova runs with is the same group Nugget runs with, so we have to crate Nova for half of that play session and crate Nugget for the other half, just so theyre not together in the yard. As a result, both girls are spending an awful many hours in crates. We hate it, but its much better than the alternative. Its difficult to watch Nugget try to extend the olive branch to her sister and her gesture be met with growls and aggression. In fact, Nova waits in a very attentive posture from inside her crate... Watching the doggie door for Nugget to come through. When Nugget enters, Nova goes absolutely nuts... So much so that we keep a clip on her crate as extra security so she cant get out while Nugget has play time. Now with the addition of Sugar, were afraid to allow Sugar any play time while Nova is out as well. Since Sugar is new, were leery of Nova accepting her. We may be borrowing trouble there, but for now were not willing to even try it. Does anyone have any experience with sibling issues like this? Even after Nova was adopted and gone for a while, when she came back she immediately recognized Nugget as her sister and tried to go after her. She was fine with everybody else... And there are a lot of dogs here. This is definitely an aggression directed toward Nugget... And Im not sure well be able to get through the winter with this going on and everyone needing to be inside more where its warm. Are we fighting a losing battle here?? Is there something about the sibling relationship that fuels this? We cant keep this up with everything else on our plates, but were not ones to give up on a dog either IF theres a way to improve the situation. In all fairness to Nova, Im hesitant to just label her as aggressive and give up when I realize assessing a dogs behavior in an environment like ours isnt really fair. In fact, its not fair at all... On the flip side of that, its not fair to Nugget to have to live in fear every day. If you could see how Nugget reacts when Nova responds to her like she does, it would absolutely break your heart. While we try daily to build confidence in Nugget, Nova comes along right behind us and tears it down. Something has to give. What to do??
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 19:25:41 +0000
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