Hello everyone

I was wondering if you good people could offer me some advice regarding our new rescue Rottie.  There is nothing majorly wrong, but we want to make sure she is happy and secure and a good member of doggy society.

We were given the Rottie between Christmas and New Year as her old owners were moving.  They had only had her three months and had bought her from someone who had taken her in to rehome (a Rottie breeder I believe) just a month before that.  So, when she arrived we were her fourth home in as many months :(

She is a fantastic girl, eager to please and has been well trained.  She will sit, lie down, stay, roll over and fetch.  She knows what 'outside' and 'off' mean. 

When she came she was sick.  A lot. There wasn't even any retching, just open mouth and vomit.  We, and the vet feel this is caused by stress.  It is easing off a lot now, she has only been sick once today.  She also had an ear infection and has had this treated.

We also have two other dogs who live outdoors.  The Rottie lives inside.  The other two are a Staffy and a JRT.  The Staffy is as soft as muck, the JRT is a typical fiesty JRT.

When out on walks with all three the Rottie and JRT get to a point on the walk where they chase each other.  There is much barking going on and the JRT snaps at Rottie as she gets close.  There are no hackles up or actual biting but it all sounds and looks very violent.  My concern is that Rottie gets extremely excited during these games and I feel that it wouldn't take much to tip it over into a squabble.  There has already been a very vocal squabble between the Rottie and Staffy over a ball, but they separated when I shouted at them and we have stopped taking a ball out on walks with us when all three are there.  We also walk them individually later in the day and that is when the ball reappears.

So, how best do we ensure that the dogs don't fight?  The JRT is also a rescue and isn't as well trained as our Staffy, who we have had from a pup.  All three are bitches, our existing two are spayed, we aren't sure about the Rottie yet, but she will be if she hasn't been already.

Any suggestions greatfully recieved.  I will then move on to the issue with cats............ :D

Hi and welcome to the forum. :)

My breeds are very different to yours -I have Belgian Shepherd Malinois and Papillons, but they are both high energy dogs that play a lot and play rough, so I recognise the scenario you are describing. I think in may ways you have answered your own question. When you have dogs that are very excitable, the main thing is to avoid the situations that could potentially tip over into a fight. So no toys on walks, and if I was you, I would not let the JRT and the Rottie run free together, as if there was a fight, the JRT would not stand much chance. Size differences between breeds can be dangerous even if all that happens is that the bigger dog happens to step or fall on the smaller one. It's a shame to not be able to let them all offlead together, but sometimes it's best to play safe. The fact that they don't all live together in the house also means walks together will be extra exciting of course. How old is the Rottie? It sounds like she may be quite young, and so hence could calm down a bit with age.

As Goldmali has suggested, you have to step in before anything gets silly and overboard in this case not letting them chase each other.  How old is the Rottie and what is her background with other dogs?

We have had Rottie's for 14/15 years and especially with the bitches never had any problems with them interacting with other dogs - although we had all from pups.  However Rottie's can be extremely vocal when playing and they do like to play rough which may be too much for an over excitable JRT and this is where is could spill into a squabble.

You haven't had her long so I would continue to walk them together and let them off lead seperately until they have all settled with each other.

Is there any reason why the 2 dogs live outside and not in with you and the Rottie?

Thank you for the replies :)

When the dogs are let off the lead initially, there is absolutely no interaction at all, they all wander off and do their own thing.  However, as soon as we get to a certain point the Rottie and JRT are off.  The Staffy just runs about after them, and they both ignore her totally.

We don't know much about the Rottie.  She is docked, so we assume older than 5 years old, but she is definately not old either.  She is fine with other dogs in general.  She shows an interest when we meet one on a walk, but we call her over and she walks to heel off lead and doesn't bother with it.  A BC came bounding out of the sand dunes the other day and literally ran straight into her.  She just had a sniff and as soon as we called her she came back to heel. 

Rottie is happ to sniff at rabbit holes (she is obsessed with rabbit holes!) for most of the walk while the JRT and Staffy chase each other about like lunatics - they never stop running the whole walk - until we come to the point where Rottie decides she wants to join in.  We walked the opposite way round today which seemed to throw Rottie a bit and we didn't have the chase at all :)  She will stop and calm down when I tell her to, which is almost immediately, it is just a shame she can't control her enthusiasm and be allowed to play more.

The other two dogs have lived out for years.  We took on a rescue ex working dog who hated being in the house and the other two ended up prefering being outside with him, so outside they have stayed.  They live in a shed with a stable door with the bottom half open and covered with a rubber flap.  They have a heat lamp and access to the half acre garden 24/7.

Rottie is indoors as we wanted an indoor dog again after our old Ridgeback died last year.