we have had ronnie since he was a puppy, he's only 9 months old.
he's very playfull, loves meeting new dogs and people and he does know who's in charge.
we have just taken on a rather skinny rottie from the rspca called samson who is 18 months old who has a lovely temperment but i dont think he has had much socializing with other dogs. he has been in a kennel for 3 months and was found on the streets (so, no history or background) he is always hungry which is understandable but we are careful not to pile his weight on at once. he is 50% good with ronnie, smells and licks him. they walk together fine on leash and off but he has a tendency to deep growl at ronnie and show his teeth even when he doesn't have anything to "guard" over like toys or food.
my problem is that sometimes ronnie just sits there and almost looks scared and tiptoes around him (i know that in the dog pack samson has asserted himself) i would like samson to accept ronnie but how long will that take?
they play ball and rope together no problem as ronnie likes to play.
we have made sure that we still fuss over ronnie but are we the problem?
samson stops growling as soon as we have spoken and lies down but we dont want him to be frightened of us but we would just like to see them happy together.
any tips

thank you in advance
marka8517

My advice is take it very slowly and dont interfer. By this I dont mean wait til all hell breaks loose before you step in - what I mean is the dogs will form their own pack and just because Ronnie was there first doesnt mean that he'll be the gaffer. They will sort out who's gonna be the boss amongst themselves and its a natural process that they and they alone have to go through. Samson will take a fair while to settle into a home environment if he has been in kennels for a while so he needs plenty of space to adjust. My biggest piece of advice is this - dont ever - not EVER - leave them unattended together. I waited nearly 3 months after my dogs were introduced before they were left together and from day one I hadnt had any problems - however in your case you have two dogs that will be at very similar stages in life - i.e the dreaded Teens!!!!!
I hope you have years of fun with your boys - theres nothing quite like 2 Rotts in the house - well unless you've got 3 ............ or 4

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Thank you Jo for your reply, it's been nearly a month and samson has been checked out by the vet, so we are going to keep him for good, to see them playing together in the park is what dreams are made of, i think we will have to monitor the situation and see what develops.
Regards
Mark

Best of luck Mark - I'm glad he got the ok from the vet.

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Hi Jo,
i have some pics of my boys if you wish to have a look at them......
regards
mark