My dog growls at new rescue indoors. How to make them get along?

I recommend that you keep them separate until you are sure they can get along when you are gone. Separating by a baby gate or keeping them on leashes would be fine. If they fight over toys, then all toys should be removed from the area. You also. Red to keep a close eye on them around feeding time. Here is a helpful article https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/behavior/how-introduce-dogs

Behavioral problems can be difficult problems to handle. The fact that your dog is now growling and snapping since the introduction of the new dog seems important to the equation. Most behavior problems are solved by making sure you use positive reinforcement when addressing the problem and may require steps to avoid them both sleeping on the bed together initially then graduating toward adjusting their activities such as feeding, playing, and socializing with strict attention to proper behavior. Your local veterinarian my have some resources to help such as training experts or behavioral specialist to assist you in the process of getting these two dogs well adjusted. Hope this helps. Thank you and good luck, Steve Popish, DVM

It can take a while for dogs to get used to new companions. As long as they are still playing together and not hurting one another I would not be too worried about this behavior. The more they interact together the more quickly they will become used to each other. Just make sure they are always supervised so they don’t hurt each other. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Hi there. It's actually quite normal for dogs to want to protect their food from other dogs - as you've observed, this is not correlated with an increased risk of resource guarding towards humans. Having dogs eat side by side is somewhat unnatural, and many dogs aren't comfortable with this. If either dog shows any signs of guarding, I would recommend simply feeding them separately long-term. There is no benefit to going through a long training process to try and make them eat together, and this will likely be stressful for both dogs. Just feed them in separate rooms or crates, and let them back together when they're both finished eating.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having these problems! Aggression or fighting between dogs in the same household is a complex behavior issue that's very difficult to address without evaluating the dogs in person, because there are so many factors to consider - it's important to assess both dogs' personalities, how they interact with each other when they're not fighting, how severe the fights are when they happen, what seems to trigger the aggressive behavior, etc. For this reason, I would strongly recommend getting in touch with a veterinary behaviorist or a good reward-based trainer who can work with you in person to help determine why the aggression is occurring and put together a detailed treatment plan to address the problem. In the meantime, I would recommend keeping the younger dog on-leash whenever he is around the older dog to prevent any bullying or harassment, or using a baby gate or other barrier to keep the dogs separated until you are able to get some hands-on guidance in how to help them.

Walking them in neutral areas away from his normal routine and territory can help to get dogs used to each other in a less confrontational manner and can help in such cases, I would recommend muzzling both before allowing free play to prevent injury initially. Do not leave them unsupervised or loose until they are more accepting of each other

Give him some time to acclimate. A pheromone product, such as the Adaptil collar or DAP plug in diffuser, may decrease any anxiety. Consider short visits to a dog park or short walks to get him further acclimated. Praise and reward him as he progresses, but correct any negative behavior immediately. If you need help, consider an obedience or socialization program. The local Petco may offer one or both.