Zeus is here, Help!

[alkite]

Zeus arrived last night instead of tonight. He is currently snoozing on my son's bed. This is the first dog I've not kenneled. My DH works a few blocks from home, so he was home at lunch and said Z is doing fine and hasn't eaten anything or used the house as a bathroom. I'm happy. My son is thrilled.

Zeus and my B Giz don't like each other as of yet. I haven't had two males together, so I don't know what to expect, exactly.

I know that the situation is tense. Zeus was just neutered on Tuesday and is 5 coming up on 6 this June. Giz isn't neutered, although I really need to have him neutered. So Zeus is sore, confused and a little cranky and Giz is just cranky and a B.

Zeus pinned Giz to the couch last night and poor Giz was just COVERED in slobber. He was totally submissive after that. I stayed in between the two until we seperated them shortly after. I presume Zeus was just telling him to keep out of his space, since he didn't actually bite Giz. He just did a lot of growling and I'm pretty sure Giz's head was in his mouth. :eek: I'm sure the outburst had nothing to do with Giz marching up nose to nose and snarling at Zeus, right :rolleyes: .
Why do B's think they are bigger than every other dog? Ah well, we are keeping them seperated and going for small doses with lots of love for both dogs. My terrier mix doesn't seem to mind Zeus too much. She just keeps an eye on him. He is pretty huge. He's very well mannered and laid back. Maybe my other 2 will learn something from him.
Keep the "male bonding" suggestions coming. I know Zeus and Giz will have to work things out themselves, but with Z being a 90 pound dog, I don't want Giz getting hurt so I may be overly cautious. I dont know. My ears are open for anyone with more experience! :o

[Quercus]

Somewhere there is a thread here about why my basenjis hate boxers. Personally, I think an adult male unneutered basenji and an adult male recently neutered boxer are a nightmare of a match. I sure hope it works out for you. Please do be seriously overly cautious. Zeus's testosterone is still flowing..it takes a few months to recede. And they are both adults...and Basenjis really don't like having their space invaded, particularly by dogs with no sense of dog decorum (which Boxers lack).
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[alkite]

I brought a pillow of Zeus' to the house a few days before and then we introduced everyone in the empty lot down the block. Everyone did pretty well, no noise making just a lot of sniffing. Giz meets everyone with hackles raised that is his way.
Zeus was very close to me when Giz got in his face, and I am sure that is why. I don't blame Giz, at all. I fully expect that it will be an effort and that there is a possibility that it will not work at all. I am up for any advice on how to make it easier on everyone.
We have agreed as a family to give it a few weeks and if we don't see improvement, we will drop the idea of keeping Zeus. I have a friend with no other dogs and a nice big back yard that would love to have Zeus. If my husband wasn't so enamoured with him, I would be in the stages of sending him to his new home already. My plan was to foster Zeus for a while, who knew my husband had other plans?
Andrea, thanks for the input and I'll take any more you can give. I really appreciate your advice.

[WBL]

@Quercus:

Please do be seriously overly cautious. Zeus's testosterone is still flowing..it takes a few months to recede. And they are both adults…and Basenjis really don't like having their space invaded, particularly by dogs with no sense of dog decorum (which Boxers lack).

I completely disagree with saying that boxers lack dog decorum. Boxers are a highly intelligent breed, that are very much misunderstood as stupid and such because they more often outsmart thier owners and are problem solvers. A lot of peoples misconceptions of boxers if because there are to many people that don't train their dog and focus the working breed mind.

As a boxer owner I hope I can help some. Boxers will tend to be more vocal when it comes to asserting thier place, and even if it's a basic "hey knock it off an leave me alone". Like you described between Zeus and Giz. I'd give it some time. Boxers over all are a very laid back breed and want to get along with every one.

And of course yes at the moment in a sense you have two intact males in your house, because Zeus still pretty much smells like he's intact, and the hormones are still going through. Because you say that he is very laid back, just have some patients, keep a squirt bottle on hand. And squirt the one that starts acting up. Now granted it might be more Giz, and I'm not saying to punish him for his actions, its more to show him that these actions are not permitted. YES, it is still his house and he was the king, and now there is a big dog, but he needs to learn that "nasty" behavior should not be accepted at anytime. And same for the Zeus, he needs to learn that the smae behavior is not permitted either and that slobbering the Basenji is not a correcting thing to do.

Boxers like basenjis are vocal dogs, but because they have a deep voice it can sound quite awful, my boxer Reggie sounds like a lion when he does it. He's 5 now and I've seen him like you described only a few times, and not to sound like I'm defending Zeus because I didn't see the whole, thing, Reggie only will get that way if the other dog starts it. We have a friend that has a cocker spaniel mix that snarels and nips at Reggie all the time because she's very jealous over attention and is very possesive over her chewys. Reggie has only put her in her place once, and that was after she actually drew blood on him.

Please feel free to ask all the questions you need, especially about boxers, we used to have a neighbor that had a basenji so I know that they can get along.

[Quercus]

@alkite:

I brought a pillow of Zeus' to the house a few days before and then we introduced everyone in the empty lot down the block. Everyone did pretty well, no noise making just a lot of sniffing. Giz meets everyone with hackles raised that is his way.
Zeus was very close to me when Giz got in his face, and I am sure that is why. I don't blame Giz, at all. I fully expect that it will be an effort and that there is a possibility that it will not work at all. I am up for any advice on how to make it easier on everyone.
We have agreed as a family to give it a few weeks and if we don't see improvement, we will drop the idea of keeping Zeus. I have a friend with no other dogs and a nice big back yard that would love to have Zeus. If my husband wasn't so enamoured with him, I would be in the stages of sending him to his new home already. My plan was to foster Zeus for a while, who knew my husband had other plans?
Andrea, thanks for the input and I'll take any more you can give. I really appreciate your advice.

Sounds like you are doing everything right so far. Does either dog have decent obedience skills? Sometimes it can help difuse a tense situation to do a quick training session…call dogs over in happy tone, and do some sits? Depending on how they are with food aggression issues, you may be able to reward with treats for good behavior. It is really good news that they haven't actually fought yet. But I would do everything possible to keep anything that even looks like aggression from happening...meaning if one dog says 'knock it off' that is fine...unless the other one says 'screw you'..and the standoff begins.

I hope it works, sounds like the family already adores both dogs!

[Quercus]

@WBL:

I completely disagree with saying that boxers lack dog decorum. Boxers are a highly intelligent breed, that are very much misunderstood as stupid and such because they more often outsmart thier owners and are problem solvers. A lot of peoples misconceptions of boxers if because there are to many people that don't train their dog and focus the working breed mind.

Oh, WBL, don't get me wrong…I really do like Boxers, and think they make awesome working dogs, and family pets. And I totally agree with everything you posted. What I meant by lack of decorum was not aggression or stupidity (Boxers are FAR from that). I mean that they don't "hear" subtle signals well. They are so busy going "hi, hi, hi, I wanna be your friend, wanna be my friend? hi, hi" while dogs that are more reserved (like Basenjis)are sending them 'get out of my face' signals. And then when the Boxer finally gets the message, they are like 'oh, don't be mad, wanna play?" and they whack the other dog on the head to diffuse the tension Good strategy with a lot of other dogs...but Basenjis have such incredibly rigid structure to 'getting to know you' routines that it is not a match made in heaven I would imagine that a Basenji puppy introduced to a Boxer would have a much better understanding of how they operate, and do just fine with them.

[Quercus]

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I just have to throw this in. I hesitate to use any sort of physical reprimand, even squirting, to thwart a mild display of aggression. The reason is because often a dog will learn not to growl, and go straight for attack.
I prefer to say "ah, ah", or "knock it off" and if they keep at it, I physically get up, and get inbetween them gently. That is what uninvolved dogs will do during an altercation between two, particularly those of higher status will split the dogs...they will quietly walk up and between and split the dogs who are displaying. Note: the alpha dog does not run up and pin the aggressor down and bite him...

[WBL]

I do now seeing what you say I do agree with a more verbal and/or stand up and as you say "higher dog" split them up. And I have seen this many times, where my boxer would do that at a dog park, he's such a dork lol, some dogs would start arguing and he'd go shoulder his way inbetween them and just stand there.

I can also understand your point that there are a high number of boxers that don't get the clue and subtle hints, and part of it JMO is back to training. And the whacking them in the face, yep thats a boxer, lol. And I can understand that Basenjis don't like that. When we frst met our neighbor that had a Basenji, Reggie tried his normal "boxer" techniques (but thankfully he's not a face wacker) to get the B to play, pawing at him, low woofs, etc, since that didn't work he took the B's toy and stood there squeaking it at him and then took off in a game of chase, they were friends until we moved away.