We have a 3 yr old female Westie, spayed, small at 11#. We recently brought home a 2 yr old male Westie, 15#, recently neutered. The female is fairly well behaved, listens pretty well to commands. As an only dog, we didn't push all the training such as rollover or fetch; she sits fine and usually comes when called. Those two seemed most important. She doesn't run out an open door anymore either.
The first day went very well all considered, with no opportunity to introduce them slowly. The male immediately jumped on the female and she let him have it, with a snap and a growl. He's never done that again. The male loves to play, running like crazy, running and playing with toys. He is very sweet, non aggressive, laid back, wags his tail a lot. Our female loves to play as well but is a growl, nippy rumble tumble player. I've not really discouraged this as it's the sort of play many dogs do; it seemed normal to me.
The male, however, doesn't like this. He rarely growls or barks, and never when he plays. He now will not play with the female, seems depressed, and won't even play with us. It only took the female the one day to realize having him around looked like fun. She tries to get his attention by grabbing his ears with her mouth and chewing on him. He just turns his head away and walks away. It might be better if he growled and snapped at her to let her know it's not ok, but he doesn't. I decided to try to break the female's habit of nipping at his ears which I do by taking her head in my hands, if I'm close enough to do it immediately, making eye contact, and telling her no. She sort of gets it for a moment, then does it again or walks away looking sad. I don't want him to be depressed or unhappy and I know he wants to play, you can see it in his face and eyes but he simply refuses to play by her rules or teach her a lesson about the nipping. I think she learned this type of play in the doggy daycare I used to take her to. I found she didn't like it so quit; I think it was too many dogs at once. She's quite small for a Westie and is afraid of dogs much bigger than her; well who can blame her.
Also, the first few days he began nudging her away from her bed, her food, her toys. We spent some time telling him no, he had his own bed and food; removing him from hers and taking him to his. He seems to have gotten this as he's much better about it now. We did not, however, keep him from taking toys away from her. He is a bit of a tease, taking her toys and when she tried to grab it back, either to have it or tug on it, he just kept turning away so she couldn't get it. He's just bigger enough that she is at a disadvantage with this. We thought this would work itself out with the two of them.
Instead, he won't play or run in the yard anymore. We've only had him a little over 2 wks, so it's early yet. But I am still concerned about his mopiness. I'm not sure what to do. I can continue to work with the female on the nipping the ears but don't know what to do about the growling. And how long do I wait before deciding he'd be happier somewhere else? I think he's ignoring her as a lesson but it's too subtle for her; she needs a more in your face forceful lesson.
I'm continuing reading the obedience training but haven't found this problem/s yet.
Thanks for any suggestions!
