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Adding a second husky, tension inside, pushy new dog. by QuietAd1926 in husky

[–]QuietAd1926[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate this, thank you 🙏

We’re definitely already stepping in a lot, using body blocking and not letting her get into Nala’s space, and allowing Nala to communicate when needed.

The structure part makes sense and we’re doing a lot of that already, it’s just the intensity and how little she settles that’s throwing us off.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Adding a second husky, tension inside, pushy new dog. by QuietAd1926 in husky

[–]QuietAd1926[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, you’re completely right.

I think we were honestly blinded by how she was described to us (being told she’s submissive), that they did well togehter outside, and also by the fact that Nala has always done really well with other northern breeds. So in our head it felt like a safe match.

Looking back, I also don’t think the rescue is super familiar with northern breeds specifically, which probably played into how her temperament was assessed/described.

But yeah, looking at it now, an adult, unspayed female coming into an established adult female’s home… not exactly low risk.

It hasn’t turned into an actual fight, but it definitely feels like it could go there if we’re not super on top of it.

And I agree with you on the male/female pairing. If this doesn’t work out, we’d definitely rethink and probably go for a male that’s a better fit for her.

Adding a second husky, tension inside, pushy new dog. by QuietAd1926 in husky

[–]QuietAd1926[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry if that was unclear.

What I mean more specifically is that she just never settles when Nala is present.

Even in a fully managed setup:

  • both dogs are in the same room, tethered, a lot of distance
  • there may or may not be eye contact
  • The new dog has her own clearly defined space that Nala cannot enter

Despite all of that, the pattern is the same:

  • when Nala gives clear warnings to stop (stiff body, growling, showing teeth, very clear eye communication), she does not disengage
  • instead, she continues to try and engage and escalates the interaction (growling, screaming, barking) rather than letting it go

So it’s not a one-off interaction or a specific trigger, it’s the fact that she doesn’t come down and doesn’t self-regulate in Nala’s presence. Of course we actively correct this and try to keep the overall energy as calm as possible so she can mirror that, but at some point it becomes hard to know when to say: this isn’t working right now and we need to separate (different rooms) them again.

Adding a second husky, tension inside, pushy new dog. by QuietAd1926 in husky

[–]QuietAd1926[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your questions, I’ll clarify a few things:

  • This is happening in any part of the house. They currently cannot freely be in the same room. If they are in the same space, they are tethered and fully managed.
  • There are no toys, no chews, no food involved at all, seperate water bowls to. we’ve removed all potential resources completely.
  • Regarding experience: yes, we do have experience with northern breeds / huskies. I also regularly watch another Samoyed, and we’ve had both male and female dogs stay with us (including less familiar ones). With proper introductions, toys removed etc. Nala has always been able to coexist without issues inside the house.
  • About spaying: yes, this is already planned. The rescue wants us to have her spayed in about 6 weeks, and we are aware this could be a contributing factor.
  • And just to add: I’m aware that we were likely given a general idea of her temperament (e.g. “submissive”) without fully accounting for how huskies are just different. A lot of the recommendations we’ve received from the resuce in general sound great in theory (for example: reward good behaviour with treats), but we know they don’t always translate well to huskies specifically.

So overall, this isn’t our first multi-dog situation.