2 Mastiffs to 3, recently rescued. Helppp!

[Bella-Bee]

Hello all , I'm new to this forum but I am seeking some advice. My fiance and I already owned 2 purebred corsos who are our babies as we do not have children. Our house isn't large, but we have a big fenced in yard. Last week I took in a Neapolitan mastiff that is now on his 4th home, due to his most recent owners not having enough time for him. In his first home, he was abused and shoved in a garage to starve to death. Aside from all of this he is an AMAZING boy. Very sweet and very well behaved. However... Our female believes she runs the roost and in the house everyone gets along great, but outside they do not. She was trying to dominate him but after correction she is beginning to get better. I was planning on fostering this boy as he was going to be given away to a terrible home and I wanted to ensure he found a good one but now I would love to keep him. My only issue is that my male corso is so attached to me I am afraid he will be upset , and the female corso trying to be dominate. We recently just spent $8000 on surgery on our female and we don't want her to end up getting hurt if they fight.

Any suggestions and advice would be so appreciated!

 

[Hector]

Where are you located?

 

[Bella-Bee]

Ontario Canada

 

[DDSK]

This can be done but will take a lot of effort on your part.
There is a lot of good information here on this forum to help you, you will need to search the forums.

 

[DennasMom]

There are lots of different ways to approach the issue... (and, having 2 dogs already, you probably know more than I do)

The first that come to mind are:

1. support the dominate dog (but make sure she still knows she has to listen to YOU), help the new Neo find a comfortable lower level pack position - a lot of times that's less stressful for the new guy, too... i.e. fewer responsibilities in lower positions.

2. put the dominate dog in a lower position (move all dogs to an even level, one notch lower under YOU), and help her relinquish her leader responsibilities to you. If she's ruled the roost for a long time, she might not like this idea... or she might be grateful to give it up.

In either case, I'd be spending some one-on-one time with each dog, so they get reinforcement on listening and focusing on YOU. This will also help your CC realize that he's not losing you to the new guy... you're still there for everyone.

Going for a pack walk all together then doing some one-on-one obedience work (while the others are partaking of a post-walk stuffed kong) might help them all re-align to the new household arrangement.

And... take my suggestions with a grain of salt... we tried to incorporate a new kid into our pack (we added a second male dog to our single male dog household)... and were not successful. The new dog just wasn't built (mentally) to share a house with another dog. We did find him a great home with a young couple that loved him to bits.

At the first sign of trouble, I'd bring in a professional behaviorist and see if you can get some good tips on things to do to keep peace in the house.
If you can video some of their interactions, that makes it easier for some of the great people here with experience to help, too.