[arizona]

I have a four year old neutered male dobe. We live in a two family house. A new family moved upstairs this weekend with a chihuahua. My dog socializes well at dog parks. When he is in the house, on the porch, or in the car he barks aggressively at other dogs. I want the dogs to get along and be comfortable with each other but I am afraid my dog will feel territorial initially and intimidate the other dog. My dog puts up a good front but when faced, with no barrier between himself and an adversary, he tends to cower or if it is a dog, he wants to play. I have never seen him with a dog a small as a chihuahua. At our previous residence we a german shepherd for a neighbor and they got along great! What is the best way to introduce them and avoid the territorial stuff?

 

[zydeco rocker]

Zack met a chihuhua once. It walked right up to Zack and him and bit him on the nose. The little darling drew blood and Zack never went near him again.
e

 

[PatchworkRobot]

I would take them somewhere that neither has any claim over (for lack of a better way to put it). Take them both to a park or something and let them meet there.

 

[Asmit]

My boy frequently stays at my mother's house with her chihuahua, and my brothers who we visit often have a toy poodle. Zeus gets along with them fine however he basically 'ignores' them. He is territorial towards large dogs at the house, and loves to play at parks etc, but he just doesn't think the little dogs are anything to worry about..

Is this chihuahua a male? That may make it impossible for them to ever be unsupervised together.

Definitely start somewhere neutral. Do not 'introduce' them in the house. Have them meet you at the park etc, then move to perhaps the front or backyard if they get along well. Make sure to keep all food, toys, treats, bowls, beds, etc completely out of the question as to make sure the dog is not being protective over ANYthing. Even if your dog is perhaps extremely protective over you, remove yourself from the situation at first and have another family member there. (I had a german shepherd attack my dobe, because the shepherd thought I was 'his' after petsitting for a week. So I know some dogs can be 'possessive' over their humans)... Alot of dogs when introducing to another one, they feel their owner's overwhelming apprehension on the other end of the leash and will therefore be much more assertive, aggressive, dominant, you name it. If you have a fenced in location where you can let the dogs meet on their own, I may recommend that. But this depends on you and the dog. It's just if you're feeling overwhelmed, scared, or nervous about it, your dog is likely to pick up on that and act differently.

With all of this being said, I wouldn't worry too much about the chihuahua being so small. After all, he/she is still a dog. (And I've yet to meet any chihuahua that actually thinks they are smaller than a doberman).

Good luck!

 

[Dobejazz]

I use gates to separate my dogs from any fosters at first it works well for me no matter if it's a dobe foster or a toy breed foster

 

[Elzajpn]

Body size itself doesn't matter to the dogs. It depends on each one's character.
Since the purse size small dogs are mainstream here, Elza has many good small friends. I always pay attention to the Elza's big moves which may hurt or scare them.

For introduction each other, I agree with PatchworkRobot. First meeting is ideal to be made at their neutral territory.

 

[CH4Sure]

we have two chi's. Our long haired doesn't take crap from anyone so Bella pretty much leaves her alone, and when she tries to annoy her the chi just tells her off with a bark that is so annoying it works like a charm every time. Our tiniest chi, the applehead, well thats another story. Bella uses her like a chew toy and we try to separate them when the playing gets rough, but the little one is miserable when she is not near her and finds her way back to her every single time for more play, she has what we believe to be the canine version of a "stockholm syndrome." She is always protecting her abuser. lol. Whenever Bella gets too playful with the other two and they get mad she jumps right in there defending her giant dobesister. Its comical to watch. I think maybe you might be best meeting the other dog in a mutual spot, like on a leashed walk or something, i dont know if a dog park with both dogs unleashed would be a good idea. I'm not a big fan of dog parks personally. Too many potential problems in my opinion and with the large size difference you really have to watch them extra carefully, it only takes a second for a tiny dog to get hurt, intentionally or not. When ours play we are all eyes on board just to make sure everyone plays safe.

 

[Sherryh]

When I had my first doberman Duke ....we met my parents up north for a week of vacation on their property in Grayling, Michigan. My parents had Ceasar the little chihuahua, 2 dachshunds.........LOL! Duke loved everyone and we were all having a great time. We all went for a walk and Ceasar the chihuahua jump on Duke and grabbed his lip and got stuck there...Duke started trying to shake him off. It was funny to watch both dogs parted ways as friends. If I can find that picture I'll post it!!:roflmao: