New neighbours also have dogs! ADIVE NEEDED

JBoyle4eva

Hello,

My family & I are moving home this Friday. We've had our Golden lab of 4 years examined and chipped by a vet before we move. Now, we've a problem.

Our new next door neighbours have 2 dogs and we live in a rural area(Which, BTW, we already live in a rural area). Our dog has never come into contact with other dogs, and these dogs are only half the size he is.

Is there anyway we can get our dog to not be anyway at all vicious with our new neighbours' dogs, or would it be likely he'll be fine with these dogs?

Kenny_D

Golden Labs have a really good temperment. They tend to get on well with other dogs. If the dog is going to be interacting with your neighbours dogs on a kinda regular basis then get the dogs together but keep them on their leads. If they dont get on just seperate them. I have a retriever and my aunt has a small ****-zu. The ****zu is about a quarter the size of the retriever yet she tends to be more snappy towards my dog (they still get on great though). So depending on the breed of the neighbours dog I'd say they'll either get along fine or the neighbours dogs might be vicious towards the lab

Only way to find out though is to experiment with them on their leads.Good luck

luckat

Highly unlikely your dog will do anything other than lick them lovingly to death. Labs are (as it were) pussycats.

rogue-entity

And yet Golden labs can have an agressive streak, particularly intact males. Not to say they dont get on with people, but they can be particularly good at keeping away strangers, and I have heard they are a bit like greyhounds, they are notorious for killing animals like cats, sheep, rabbits and hares. Of course.

OP, what breeds are the neighbours dogs?

smallpaws

As long as the neighbors dogs aren't prey sized (like mine is!) I bet it won't be a problem. Why not take your dog to a dog park and see how your dog reacts to new dogs before meeting the new neighbors? Also, supposedly the best way to introduce new dogs is to have them meet in a neutral place, neither one's territory. Can you ask the neighbor about maybe having the dogs meet somewhere besides at home--down the road a bit, or maybe at a beach or someplace neither has any ties to? Odds are, your dog will be happy to meet other dogs, just keep everybody on leashes till you are sure they are ok and have verything figured out. There's a fun book out there if you are interested, called "The Social Lives of Dogs"; I forget the authors' name at the moment, but it might be something you'd like.

Sigma Force

If there is proper fencing then that shouldn't be a worry, dogs aren't allowed run loose even if it's rural. If there's no proper fencing than it is a good idea to get some. The dogs can be introduced to each other under supervision as said they may even become good pals.

and I have heard they are a bit like greyhounds, they are notorious for killing animals like cats, sheep, rabbits and hares

Quit giving greyhounds a bad name it's the owners that train them to do that, greys can happily live with other pets. It's the idiots that do hare coursing etc that are giving greys a bad name. It all depends on the individual dog and how htey have been trained at the end of the day.

rogue-entity

^ well, my granfather breed greyhounds up until the day he died. He used to train and race them too. He retired from the racing a while back, but he still had a few dogs he kept as pets, and if a hare or rabbit strayed into their run, the dogs would rip it to pieces. Its the reason they never had cats. Yes, it is down to the individual dogs, but you have to remember too, dogs have natural hunting instincts, and if a prey item happens to wander in the path of a dog, they will do as nature intended.

FranknFurter

rogue-entity wrote:

^ well, my granfather breed greyhounds up until the day he died. He used to train and race them too. He retired from the racing a while back, but he still had a few dogs he kept as pets, and if a hare or rabbit strayed into their run, the dogs would rip it to pieces. Its the reason they never had cats. Yes, it is down to the individual dogs, but you have to remember too, dogs have natural hunting instincts, and if a prey item happens to wander in the path of a dog, they will do as nature intended.

If as you say, he trained and raced them, its likely when he retired these dogs were already "trained" to be raced even though they were pets. And even if not, somone who has spent their lives "training" dogs is not likely to change the manner they use to do that, even with their pet dog.
So they likely *would* have been trained to be prey orientated.

Greyhounds make wonderful pets, they are quiet and gentle dogs if allowed to be so, and in some countries are actually becoming very "fashionable" as pets, due to their gentleness and coat-type.

B

peasant

Dogs meeting somewhere on neutral ground is one thing, dogs sharing a boundary is something completely different.

The neighbours dogs will see your house and land as part of their territory (all a dog can overlook is his ..even if it can't get there) and your dog will be the intruder.

Your dog hasn't been in the new place yet, so it hadn't time to
"stake a claim". For it accepting the neigbours' dogs shouldn't really be a problem ...the main issue will be to make the neighbours' dogs accept the "intruder"

It woud be helpful to know what the setup is ...is there a wall, a fence ..nothing at all between the two properties?

It is vitally important that the dogs get introduced to each other.
I would suggest meeting up with your new neighbours beforehand and let the dogs sniff around each other on neutral ground two or three times before you actually move in.

And when you do move in, don't just chuck the dog out back ...make it a formal introduction with both owners and dogs present on either side of the fence.
All people involved must try to make the occassion appear all nicey-nice and as casual as possible, appear to be happy to meet each other and smother all and any doggy aggression right there and then.

So you see ..the really important thing is not only that the dogs get on, but that the humans co-operate, otherwise there is a high likelihood of daily doggy skirmishes along the fence.

JBoyle4eva

Well, there are no fences seperating houses, and the next dooors dogs generally come in and out out of our garden.

They seem to be medium size dogs, but I don't know the breeds. And I don't really know are new neighbours that well so I'd hate to be asking them to meet us on neutral ground with the dogs as they don't really know us enough yet.

peasant

Well, if there are no fences then you will end up being two families sharing three dogs very quickly.
So I reckon, you will get to know your neighbours very well pretty soon

If they are "nice and normal" dog owners, it will be in their interest as well that their dogs get on with your dog and will most likely welcome your suggestion to introduce the dogs to each other.

I would, if I was in their situation.

Plus the whole situation could work out very beneficial for both parties ...for example dog-sitting for each other etc.

If they are the nasty and unapproachable kind, then you better put up a fence BEFORE you move in and prepare yourself for all sort of doggy related neighbourly rows.

It is very unrealistic to expect the two parties of dogs to get along peacefully if they are not led by human example.

Another question:

Will your dog be supervised during the day?
Are the neighbours dogs supervised?

There is a potential problem lurking there. Up to now the neighbours dogs had free reign of your property ...so it's DEFINITELY "theirs" and your dog will be the intruder.

It might all go peacefully ...then again it might not and there are two of them and yours all on its tod.

In this situation, without a fence to separate them, I think it is absolutely vital that the dogs are properly introduced to each other and supervised until it is clear that they do in fact get along.

Because if they don't (even if you put up a fence later), depending on the aggression during the first few encounters they might just as well become enemies for life and hate each other with a vengeance.

You do not want to end up havin to live with that kind of situation.