So, I went and did a thing.....   My son has always wanted a German Shepard, and I happen to know a guy at work who's 2 AKC registered full blood German Shepards were having pups.  So, loving dogs and believing 2 is better than 1, so 3 must be better than 2, I picked one.  Meet Gunny, 8 weeks old, and smarter than both Zhukov and Colby combined.




I did the right thing, introduced them all on neutral territory with no problems at all.  Brought him home to a crate in another room (Zhukov has his crate in my son's room, Gunny's crate is in my office, and Colby just roams the house).  Once again, no problem.  Gunny took right to his crate without a thought.




Now, I know that Zhukov has established himself as the Alpha male, after me of course, and Colby after some nips and rollarounds learned his place.  Zhukov has guarding of resources issues, so we feed them in different rooms and Colby relenquishes toys and balls to Zhukov with a glance (except for the basketball in the yard, that is his and Zhukov does not care about it).



So, here we are.

Zhukov and Colby showed the typical enthusiasm for their new buddy.  There was much tailwagging, sniffing, licking, and nudging.  Everything was going well.  Until about 2230 that first night.  I thought that I had picked up all of the toys, because I did not want there to be any issues.  However, Gunny got under the futon in my office and came out with a toy that I had missed.  Zhukov lunged and "nipped" him, breaking the skin above his left ear.  Head wounds bleed.  A lot.  Gunny screamed and after a quick examination, since I could not determine the location of the wound due to the amount of blood, I ran him to the ER.  $640, ONE stitch, and 3 hours later, I brought him home and slept with him on the couch because he was having a lot of problems with the "cone of shame".  Let me clarify.  Zhukov is not displaying any aggressive behavior.  No growling, no hackle raising, no "mean face" grimace.  There was no fight, just that lunge and nip.  We all know though, an 80+lb Husky vs. a 3lb puppy can lead to disastrous results.  Then, tonight, while I was at work, my son told me that Zhukov did it again.  He nipped at Gunny right on his nose.  No cut, but Gunny freaked out and peed.

The wife is crying, worried that Zhukov is going to hurt Gunny. My son is angry at Zhukov for being a jerk. I am trying to tell them that this is all part of having dogs. Not sure where I am going with this.... just needed to rant a little and reassure myself that this to will pass.....

What a cute pup; congrats on the new addition!

Mark, I think any time you have a new addition to a pack you're going to have a few "Why did I do this?" moments - I know I did!!

Even though you know that Zhukov is a resource guarder, I'm really surprised that he drew blood ... normally a warning nip is just that, enough of a pinch to make the other dog think twice but not enough to draw blood.

What surprises me more is that since Gunny is just a pup that Zhukov didn't respect his 'puppy license' and just roll him a bit. Correction is one thing but drawing blood with a correction is an entirely different animal altogether!

I ditto the congratulations on a new pup, he's definitely a cute one - long haired shepherd? And is Gunny a USMC pup??

Cute pup. The blood drawing worries me a bit. The pup is tho young tho properly defend himself. I would, for the time being, remove all toys, feed only in crate and have both dogs out only when an authoritative adult can monitor and intervene. And start work on the resource guarding. Make it known it will not be tolerated

Cute addition. I really didn't notice much difference going from two to three in anything other than space in my truck and my food bill. It'll take time for all things to shake out and he's pretty small right now. Hang in there. It will work out.