We live in a rural orchard area, and a sweet male Pyrenees mix stray found his way onto our porch a few months ago—maybe about 8 mos-1 year old. We took him to the vet and he was healthy (no chip, etc). He initially got along relatively well with our first dog (also 1 year old, Bernese mix) except that our dog was dominant to him at first/ pinning him frequently, etc, and the Pyr would immediately submit and roll over. Once our dog was neutered, his behaviors went away and they seemed to get along fine for a few months (unless food/treats were involved— we learned quickly to feed the separately).
After about 3-4 months, the Pyr mix has started to show more resource and territory guarding— maybe related to his maturing and feeling more at home with us. He has started growling at our Berner mix whenever he goes onto the porch (where the Pyr sleeps— his “space”) and even when our Berner mix is near us. Initially we could intervene and the Pyr would stop (we’d tell him to sit / redirect, etc) but yesterday he full on attacked our Berner and bit his lip, drawing blood. My husband and I were right there fortunately and it took all our might to pull him off of him. So going forward, we are keeping them completely separate, and planning to neuter the Pyr asap (we had held off for his joint growth and also he isn’t quite house trained yet).
Besides getting a professional trainer involved, what advice do you have? The Pyr has never been aggressive to us or other people — this really is a new behavior but I’m worried it’ll extend to other dogs besides our Berner mix and that they will never get along again like they used to as pups. Thanks for the help.
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