[Jenn-ifer]

when did you notice the bonding started to happen, & the jealousy between the first started to calm down a bit?

i'm asking because i had just recently picked up my 2nd beagle & both the bonding & jealousy is taking a bit. maybe i'm asking too much since it's only been a couple days.

 

[Murphys Dad]

It may depend on the beagles. My Li'l Girl came into a home where other dogs were already present. She's been with us 8 years, and I can't honestly say that she's really bonded with the other dogs. They get along, but she more or less does her own thing. The jealousy issue is more between our two male dogs. As long as she knows she's number one with me, Li'l Girl is content.

 

[janna]

I agree that it depends on the beagle. We had Hunter first,she was 3 when we got Casey. Casey adores Hunter and at first Hunter wanted nothing to do with her. Eventually they bonded and now share the big dog pillow together and won't go outside without each other. There are still moments when Casey wants to play and Hunter says no way. I guess just like sisters. Hee hee. Just try to have patience and don't force it. They will work it out on their own.

 

[ncdogstar]

My female Beagle, Phoebe(who is also the youngest), adores my female Lab, Jazzy. She wants to follow her everywhere! Teddy, my male beagle plays with Phoebe sometimes, but mostly he is like Li'l Girl and does his own thing. When Phoebe was a puppy the older dogs put up with alot of abuse from the little Phoebe shark..now Jazzy and Ted both put her in her place when she needs it!

 

[Zookeeper]

We were lucky, Violet and Duke bonded in the car ride home from LA and have been buds ever since. There are times Duke gets tired of her, since she is non-stop wanting to play with him, but then there are times he instigates.

Cassie and Violet didn't have such a great start. Cassie was always the only female dog and she did not like having another woman in the house. But, she has come around for the most part and tolerates Vi. I won't say they're best friends, but they get along pretty decently. Cassie just gets grumpy sometimes.

 

[fauxpasta]

We'd had Spock since he was about 3 months old, so he was definitely the spoiled baby of the house. That changed somewhat when Bones came to us when she was 5 months old and he was 8 months old. They looked at one another in confusion and alarm the first night, but they were playing the next day, and it was less than a month before we crated them together during the day. When Bones was having problems sleeping alone in her kennel at night (Spock had started to snuggle in the human bed once he was housebroken), they were crated together at night, too.

It's been nearly a year, and while they still do some puppyish roughhousing and express a playful jealousy over toys, socks, and affection (if one dog is getting attention, the other one tries to nose their way into the middle of it, and there is some good-natured growling as they play), they have accepted the pecking order (me as pack leader, Spock as first dog, Bones as second dog) and have bonded very closely to one another, showing each other affection when they don't think anybody's looking.

 

[Toby & Lucky]

I was lucky, too. Toby and Lucky bonded quickly, but Toby always makes sure that Lucky knows who the alpha dog is!! Lucky is pretty wimpy, so he's o.k. with that!!! Toby was 7 and Lucky was 1 when he joined the family.

 

[BookerMoose]

We had Booker first for a year and a bit before Moosie came along. She seemed somewhat grumpy about his arrival at first (I remember one time she made a very loud grumpy bark when he ran through her bed while she was lying in it), but before long whenever we would go out we would find the two of them together on the bed and they have gotten along very well ever since. Moosie is very definitely not an alpha, and therefore there was no tension in that regard when Moosie arrived. Booker doesn't really play so Moosie never had that sort of a relationship with her either, but when Popcorn came along he found a playmate and they have been having a wonderful time ever since. I really don't remember either Booker or Moose getting perturbed when Popcorn arrived, but frankly she was just so traumatized for the first couple of months that she certainly didn't do anything that would have provoked either of the others. Booker and Popcorn have, I think, also developed quite a close bond - when we left them at a doggy hotel earlier this year they apparently hung out together and even slept together (which they don't do at home).

Buzz was accepted right away by Moosie (they drove home together from Edmonton to Vancouver) and absolutely adored Booker from the first time he met her (not-so-platonically at first, then less so since he got snipped!). And Booker seems to like him a lot too (especially now that he isn't QUITE as interested in her) and even will play with him a bit - which is VERY out of character for her. Popcorn, however, definitely had her nose out of joint for the first couple of weeks Buzz was here... there were growls, the odd snap, and a general feeling of displeasure exuding from Popcorn towards Buzz - but nothing too serious. I think Popcorn does have some delusions of being an alpha... when she isn't too terrified to act on them! After the initial tension, however, they have now definitely bonded - I think the turning point was when Popcorn realized that she could torment Moosie much more effectively as a team with Buzz than she could ever hope to do alone!

So I definitely think you need to give it some time and monitor the situation. The changes and acceptance tend to happen incrementally, as well, and so I suspect in a couple of weeks you will look back and realize how they have bonded without necessarily knowing that at the time.

Good luck and do keep us all posted!

 

[Kirby-oh]

Natalie had Max dominated for a long time. It took one extra year after he had grown up for Max to realize he weighs twice as much as she does. (runt of the litter, light bones) They've always got along great, though.

 

[Zowie]

Ooooh... it can take time. Eight week old Ziggy came home two months ago and six year old Zowie was NOT IMPRESSED!! I expected it because she's never been socialized (ex-research dog). For the first two weeks, Zowie avoided the puppy like the plague, even though he quickly fell in love with her and wanted to hang out with her. After two weeks, Zowie realized that Ziggy wasn't just visiting, and so began the fighting phase. Their body language was clear and non-aggressive, so I let them fight it out for a week or two and then one day Zowie offered a play bow and everything changed! They're like siblings now, playing until someone gets annoyed and it becomes a fight. They'll look for each other in the house and call each other to come play, though they haven't reached the cuddling stage yet.
Ziggy's been home for two months now and I'm not concerned about their progress, I expect that once Ziggy gets all his man-teeth that things will calm down between them. I know that some beagles just take to one another immediately, but all dogs are different! Mine are polar opposites - Zowie is a lazy lug and Ziggy is a psychopath that never stops moving. But I trust that they'll grow closer and closer. It was difficult in the beginning, and I wondered if I had made a mistake in getting a second dog. But I took things one week at a time, gave them plenty of time apart and it really paid off. Beagles are pack dogs and will settle in with their pack-mates, it might just take a while!

 

[cobismom]

I think you have to notice what is fighting or jealousy and what is just puppy playing. I think it's horrible that they bite at each other's ears....all I can think of is beagles with pierced ears. But all my other beagle friends tell me that is normal dog behavior and an alpha thing. So, unless there is growling or yelping involved, I try very hard to ignore the tumbling around play.

As for bonding, well, I could tell that Casie and Cobi were going to be okay, the second day, when Cobi snuggled up to Casie's crate and just slept by him. If they are willing to share things, and not snarl at each other, they have bonded. So it does take a close eye and allowing them to do things that we think are just a little wierd. To this day, and we've had Casie for two months now, they have to go through this ritual in the AM of sniffing buns and making sure that each is who they think it is and then off they go to the yard....whatever.

Cathy

 

[Murphys Dad]

It truly depends on the beagles. Murphy and Summer bonded but it was not close. Murphy was already partially paralyzed and protective of himself. Summer was an energetic little girl. It took a few months for them to just lightly play together.

Now Summer and Kali, a very different story. We are talking bonding in days. They had their fights (mostly food related), but they play constantly. Summer never played with Murphy this much or this hard. After 2-1/2 months, they are inseparable.

 

[Lucy's Mom]

It depends both on the beagles, and on their ages. We got Flora from a rescue at 7 weeks (according to our vet) or 8 weeks (according to the rescue. The mother was picked up in the woods with very young puppies.) Lucy was 9 months old at the time. Lucy thought Flora was the best toy we ever brought home. We have great video of Lucy chasing Flora, Flora disappearing under the couch and popping out when Lucy comes looking for her. Very cute.

They were competative siblings, and never slept together, so it's hard to judge their level of bonding.

Of course, now they hate being separated, and do sleep together sometimes. They still compete, though.

 

[rad]

It can take a couple months or so for the two beagles to work out the dominance issue. In our case Chica and Monty bonded pretty well soon after Monty was brought home. My wife would take both dogs along for Monty's vet visits and in the waiting area Chica would act all worried when Monty was being checked. The would play a lot and mildly fight from time to time, but there have only been a couple times when we thought they were fighting hard enough that we needed to seperate them. Usually food was involved. The only time jealously is an issue is when Monty sees Chica getting attention. He obnoxously tries to butt in.

Just give it time. Unless one is intentionally trying to injure the other they will probably work things out.

 

[Joe Johnston]

Vinny the Beagle is very jealous of certain things. The most obvious is he MUST be the first to greet us when we come home. He will chase Miles off then come back to welcome us home.

I think this started when our neighbors got a female Great Dane that Vinny had a crush on. He would chase Miles off when Gracie (the great dane) was at the fence.

As far as bonding, they have to sleep touching each other. In fact both just climbed into the bed with me, got under the covers and are snuggled up next to each other.

 

[JetEngineMech]

With our two it never got too bad because we still let Diggity know that she still got top billing. We'd always say hello to her first and then say hello to Dotty. The last thing we wanted was any jealousy towards a smaller dog. There is still some jealousy, but it is not in a vicious matter. Usually it's just Diggity making sure she gets on my lap first. If they're both on the couch or in the room, I always make sure to pet them both because the other is always watching to make sure the other doesn't get any more attention. They're just like short-furry kids.