Update:
Thank you for all the advice. I just wanted to share a couple of things. First of all, we did take Missy on and are working to make her a member of our family. We also went ahead and hired a professional dog trainer. Secondly, our beautiful new GSD was diagnosed with heartworm disease. Luckily, we caught it early and are able to treat it. Unfortunately, this means no running, playing fetch, or any exercise that will increase her heart rate. So it has definitely complicated things a bit more. Obviously, GSD are working dogs who need to be kept busy, and they have plenty of energy. Since she can't run and play, she doesn't have an outlet for that pent-up energy, and it has made things that much more difficult in our attempts to bring her and our little dog together. We are taking it very slow and following all the advice from you good folks on reddit, our trainer, and the information we have read. The Vet said she "was the sweetest and calmness GSD" she has ever seen. Of course, this was before her exercise restrictions. The trainer also said that neither dog is at all aggressive and 'if we do things right there is a high likelihood' that our dogs will be great friends soon. We are very happy that Missy came into our lives and are thrilled that we are able to save her sweet life. Not so thrilled with the vet bill. However, we are extremely fortunate to have the resources needed to give her the life she deserves. Thank you reddit friends!
This is going to be long I'm sorry.
Ok so here is how she came to me. I was watering flowers in my front yard when I look up standing about 40 ft away in my driveway is a huge beautiful GSD. I hadn't seen this dog before and she obviously made me nervous at first. I slowly backed away towards my front porch and pulled (not that it offered much protection) the little gate closed. I was smiling and speaking calmly and immediately realized she was just as sweet as she could be. She had a collar no tags but understood baisic commands. I gave her water because I thought she was a stray. After reaching out to my Neighbors I quickly learned her name was Missy and lived in my neighborhood. She frequently gets loose and many in my neighborhood have had to return her home. So I reached out to her owners and told them Missy has been at my house all afternoon. He said he was not home and asked if I would bring her home and put her on her lead. I did and when I left her she cried and I felt terrible. His place had trash everywhere as though he just dumped bags of garbage all over his yard. His yard was extremely overgrown and had weird red lights everywhere. I later found out from one of my neighbors that he leaves her tied to the tree a lot. She came back the next day. I was not willing to tie her to that tree again. I told him she was at my place and he could come get her when he came home. The thing is he didn't come back for two days. She spent the weekend at our place, sleeping on our front porch. She is a gentle seemingly well trained dog and we enjoyed having her, she didn't leave my property. When he came she was not happy to see him she ran from him going as far as running up under my house, and he had to crawl under my house and drag her out by force. He carried her home crying the whole way. I was heartbroken by the experience. Missy came back the following weekend and stayed with us again. He works out of town on weekends so once again he came to pick her up on Sunday. This exact scenario went on for a month. Every Friday night she came to our home. I offered to help him with her, by dog sitting so she didn't have to remain chained up while he worked. He declined. He told me he was thinking of sending her to a cousins house. So I told him if he was thinking of rehoming her I may be interested in adopting her. He declined. Ok so fast forward to the 6th week mark Missy has returned each weekend. Finally this past weekend he sent me a text and said "if we still want to adopt her we can have her." At this point I love this dog and I did not want to send her back. We have a huge fenced in yard we live on almost 4 acres in the country. However I would never of personally chosen a GSD just because they're huge and shed honestly.
So here is the problem my little Papillion is not happy now that he realizes this dog is here to stay.
Background on my family we have a 17 year old daughter about to go off to college in the fall. She has a cat which also worries me. Our Papillion is 6 years old and the love of my life. He is spoiled but is a good dog who has been socialized and gets along with other dogs. Husband is about to retire from the army next year and I stay at home.
I'm very worried that I jumped into something that may not work. Now Missy is very gentle natured and has not given us a single aggressive sign. My little dog is the one starting problems. However if there is an issue Missy is capable of serious harm. Missy did fine with my MIL little Chihuahua, and her previous owners had a cat. Since Missy was just visiting at first and had terrible fleas I didn't really introduce them except through a fence. Since she came to live with us and we have beaten the flea issues we introduced them the first time and the Papillion kept putting is nose in her but and she didn't like it so she kind of ran away from him but he chased her barking snd nipping her tail. Second introduction they walked calmly up to one another and touched noses and then my little pup snapped at her and started barking. She didn't really respond. We cut it short then. We made a mistake and didn't take them to a neutral place. Since then we walked them separately down to the street and walked them one in front of the other and then switched. That went well. I will get a professional trainer if needed but it's early days and like to try and get them both to accept each other ourselves first.
I know GSD can be aggressive and I don't know much about her previous life. I reached out to her last owner but he won't get back to me. She allowed us to bath her even though it seemed as though she had never had a bath before. We were nervous but she was so sweet even though she was scared. I'm just worried that this could possibly not work out and I love both dogs so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I tried to give as much information as possible because I would appreciate both advice on how to get both dogs comfortable with each other, and what behaviors to look for when it comes to gaging Missy on aggression? I have only had one dog so I'm not well versed when it comes to our canine friends. I continue to read as much as possible on the subject, I thought that asking here where I could give specifics on our personal situation would be beneficial. All advice and tips are appreciated I sincerely hope this gets a little traction! I'm worried I let my bleeding heart get the best of me. Thanks if you read this far!
Thank you for all the advice. I just wanted to share a couple of things. First of all, we did take Missy on and are working to make her a member of our family. We also went ahead and hired a professional dog trainer. Secondly, our beautiful new GSD was diagnosed with heartworm disease. Luckily, we caught it early and are able to treat it. Unfortunately, this means no running, playing fetch, or any exercise that will increase her heart rate. So it has definitely complicated things a bit more. Obviously, GSD are working dogs who need to be kept busy, and they have plenty of energy. Since she can't run and play, she doesn't have an outlet for that pent-up energy, and it has made things that much more difficult in our attempts to bring her and our little dog together. We are taking it very slow and following all the advice from you good folks on reddit, our trainer, and the information we have read. The Vet said she "was the sweetest and calmness GSD" she has ever seen. Of course, this was before her exercise restrictions. The trainer also said that neither dog is at all aggressive and 'if we do things right there is a high likelihood' that our dogs will be great friends soon. We are very happy that Missy came into our lives and are thrilled that we are able to save her sweet life. Not so thrilled with the vet bill. However, we are extremely fortunate to have the resources needed to give her the life she deserves. Thank you reddit friends!
This is going to be long I'm sorry.
Ok so here is how she came to me. I was watering flowers in my front yard when I look up standing about 40 ft away in my driveway is a huge beautiful GSD. I hadn't seen this dog before and she obviously made me nervous at first. I slowly backed away towards my front porch and pulled (not that it offered much protection) the little gate closed. I was smiling and speaking calmly and immediately realized she was just as sweet as she could be. She had a collar no tags but understood baisic commands. I gave her water because I thought she was a stray. After reaching out to my Neighbors I quickly learned her name was Missy and lived in my neighborhood. She frequently gets loose and many in my neighborhood have had to return her home. So I reached out to her owners and told them Missy has been at my house all afternoon. He said he was not home and asked if I would bring her home and put her on her lead. I did and when I left her she cried and I felt terrible. His place had trash everywhere as though he just dumped bags of garbage all over his yard. His yard was extremely overgrown and had weird red lights everywhere. I later found out from one of my neighbors that he leaves her tied to the tree a lot. She came back the next day. I was not willing to tie her to that tree again. I told him she was at my place and he could come get her when he came home. The thing is he didn't come back for two days. She spent the weekend at our place, sleeping on our front porch. She is a gentle seemingly well trained dog and we enjoyed having her, she didn't leave my property. When he came she was not happy to see him she ran from him going as far as running up under my house, and he had to crawl under my house and drag her out by force. He carried her home crying the whole way. I was heartbroken by the experience. Missy came back the following weekend and stayed with us again. He works out of town on weekends so once again he came to pick her up on Sunday. This exact scenario went on for a month. Every Friday night she came to our home. I offered to help him with her, by dog sitting so she didn't have to remain chained up while he worked. He declined. He told me he was thinking of sending her to a cousins house. So I told him if he was thinking of rehoming her I may be interested in adopting her. He declined. Ok so fast forward to the 6th week mark Missy has returned each weekend. Finally this past weekend he sent me a text and said "if we still want to adopt her we can have her." At this point I love this dog and I did not want to send her back. We have a huge fenced in yard we live on almost 4 acres in the country. However I would never of personally chosen a GSD just because they're huge and shed honestly.
So here is the problem my little Papillion is not happy now that he realizes this dog is here to stay.
Background on my family we have a 17 year old daughter about to go off to college in the fall. She has a cat which also worries me. Our Papillion is 6 years old and the love of my life. He is spoiled but is a good dog who has been socialized and gets along with other dogs. Husband is about to retire from the army next year and I stay at home.
I'm very worried that I jumped into something that may not work. Now Missy is very gentle natured and has not given us a single aggressive sign. My little dog is the one starting problems. However if there is an issue Missy is capable of serious harm. Missy did fine with my MIL little Chihuahua, and her previous owners had a cat. Since Missy was just visiting at first and had terrible fleas I didn't really introduce them except through a fence. Since she came to live with us and we have beaten the flea issues we introduced them the first time and the Papillion kept putting is nose in her but and she didn't like it so she kind of ran away from him but he chased her barking snd nipping her tail. Second introduction they walked calmly up to one another and touched noses and then my little pup snapped at her and started barking. She didn't really respond. We cut it short then. We made a mistake and didn't take them to a neutral place. Since then we walked them separately down to the street and walked them one in front of the other and then switched. That went well. I will get a professional trainer if needed but it's early days and like to try and get them both to accept each other ourselves first.
I know GSD can be aggressive and I don't know much about her previous life. I reached out to her last owner but he won't get back to me. She allowed us to bath her even though it seemed as though she had never had a bath before. We were nervous but she was so sweet even though she was scared. I'm just worried that this could possibly not work out and I love both dogs so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I tried to give as much information as possible because I would appreciate both advice on how to get both dogs comfortable with each other, and what behaviors to look for when it comes to gaging Missy on aggression? I have only had one dog so I'm not well versed when it comes to our canine friends. I continue to read as much as possible on the subject, I thought that asking here where I could give specifics on our personal situation would be beneficial. All advice and tips are appreciated I sincerely hope this gets a little traction! I'm worried I let my bleeding heart get the best of me. Thanks if you read this far!