Hi all, We've recently lost our Husky/German Shepherd mix female dog. We've another 13 year old male basset at home. The had a unique relationship, not exactly who is the boss type but mutual respect. The Husky was rather dominant towards other dogs but never to the basset. At home they mostly ignored each other and never played together, but they got fed same time, chilled in the yard together, got their own toys same times, and walked same times (Husky got extra walks). They were a good pack in harmony despite the differences. Basset is laid back but can be demanding at times, typical basset stubbornness. Anyway, we've been looking around and found this 1 yo Malamute/german shepherd mix. They met once at shelter and the Malamute tried once to show dominance (tower over the basset) and was corrected and didn't tried again. He also complied to the handler commands including COME, so that could be his german shepherd side. They were both relaxed at an off leash enclosure. Not much interactions but that's ok for us. We want another dog in our life to keep us active, the basset sleeps a lot, but his sister used to be his protector outside at the dog park, no fight just placed herself in between whenever any dogs tried to intimidate the basset. Now we won't have false expectations and expect the same things and probably won't take the young malamute to dog park until we are sure of his characters, or no park at all. And we know that he is dominant, we are ok with that too. What I want to ask is tips on making sure he will respect the old dog. We're home all day and we'll be supervising them, feeding separately etc. I read that Malamutes are good with their pack, and I just would like to prepare myself towards success. I am not worried about the old dog, he doesn't care about ranking, and he only wants his walks, food and play for the 4 hours he is awake. Our goal is to let the two dogs form a bond, and the Malamute will respect the old dog and hopefully see him as his pack and love him as such. We're bringing him home next week! Thanks in advance. p/s: we fostered the Husky's mom and she delivered the puppies at our homes, we kept one of the puppy. That was the reason for the odd combination (Husky + Basset household) We kept contact since and had regular group walks so we are used to male dogs dominance. We have also worked in shelters with difficult dogs in the past. The knowledge we don't have is how Malamute male behaves in his home. Any advises are welcomed!
I'm afraid it's a 'suck it and see' scenario. You won't know what problem may or may not arise until the dog comes home. One bit of advice I will give, is to make sure your basset has time to himself when he wants it and don't allow hime to be bullied. He's 13 and the newcomer is still basically a teenager so you may need to step in to respect your Basset's down time
Thanks for your advise. Yeah, the basset's wellbeing is our first priority and we'll make sure that his routine stays uninterrupted. Luckily we've a lot of space inside and outside. For the first few days we'll let them keep their distance and built it up slowly. Looking forward to building a healthy strong pack.
