<div class="MsoNormal">Hi Everyone,</div> <div class="MsoNormal">I am hoping that you may be able to give me some advice on a conflict that has been brewing in our household.<span style=""> </span>About two months ago my two bassets, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Darwin</st1:place></st1:City> and Wallace, and I adopted another basset, Lily, from a local city shelter.<span style=""> </span>Her prior family had lost their home due to foreclosure and had to surrender Lily to the shelter.<span style=""> </span>My boys, although not from the same litter, will both be five this July and have been together since they were thirteen and ten weeks old.<span style=""> </span>Needless to say they are very close.<span style=""> </span>Lily, we were told, is between four and five years old, but my vet thinks she may be slightly older.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">When we first looking into
adopting Lily everything went really well.<span style=""> </span>We did meetings before hand and all three looked like they had known each other for years and got along really well.<span style=""> </span>When we first brought her home everything also went really well for a short period of time.<span style=""> </span>However, things began to change.<span style=""> </span>Lily is very possessive of food and of me, both of which can lead to fights. <span style=""> </span>The food issue seemed to work itself out.<span style=""> </span>The boys just avoid her when she is eating.<span style=""> </span>Then she and Darwin had a few fights not related to food, but they also seem to work out their issues and now will play together and generally get along.<span style=""> </span>This, however, has not been the case between Lily and Wallace.<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div
class="MsoNormal">There are two different issues that spark fights between Lily and Wallace.<span style=""> </span>As mentioned, Lily is very possessive of me.<span style=""> </span>My vet believes she has separation anxiety, which is understandable considering what she has been through.<span style=""> </span>My vet also told me to do the typical ignore behavior, etc., around her when coming and going and so on.<span style=""> </span>Lily often growls if one of the other dogs comes near me.<span style=""> </span><st1:City w:st="on">Darwin</st1:City> would generally ignore Lily and eventually this behavior towards <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Darwin</st1:place></st1:City> stopped.<span style=""> </span>However, Wallace is a different type of creature.<span style=""> </span>He is a lover to the nth degree.<span style=""> </span>He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and is a bit of a scaredy cat. <span
style=""> </span>When Lily growls at him at Wallace he runs away and often times Lily will chase him into a corner where Wallace will stand with him tail tucked between his legs frozen or a fight will start.<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">The other issue that will start a fight is Wallace’s barking.<span style=""> </span>Wallace has a health bay and when he gets excited he stomps his front feet like R2D2 and barks.<span style=""> </span>He does this when he wants to play or there is something he thinks is really neat going on from the mailman to a squirrel in the yard. <span style=""> </span>I think this scares Lily and she will attack him and I think it is getting worse. </div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">This weekend I was doing some work on my house and walked into my back patio between Wallace and Lily not thinking too much of it
at the time.<span style=""> </span>Wallace started barking, presumably to tell me he wanted to play.<span style=""> </span>Lily lunged at him violently.<span style=""> </span><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Darwin</st1:place></st1:City> came running from across the yard to join the fight. (I should tell you when Lily fights with either of the boys the other one will come join in to protect his brother.)<span style=""> </span>The fight was really bad and I grabbed the nearest dog which happened to be Wallace to try and break it up, but Lily continued to attack and Wallace’s collar slipped off.<span style=""> </span>I then grabbed Lily and for the first time ever Wallace continued to attack her.<span style=""> </span>By this time my boyfriend, who had been up on a ladder on the side of my house, had gotten down and crossed the yard and was able to restrain Wallace.<span style=""> </span>I also realized about this time that
there was blood everywhere.<span style=""> </span>The fight took place in a matter of seconds, but Wallace ended up with a pierced ear and a gash on his neck.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">I am really kind of at a loss at what do.<span style=""> </span>Lily behavior is so good when there are not other dogs around.<span style=""> </span>She is really a sweet basset and never tries to challenge my authority or the authority of any other person.<span style=""> </span>I know that when a new dog comes into the house disagreements will happen over the peaking order, etc., but these fights are far too dangerous and cannot continue.<span style=""> </span>Needless, to say I am becoming terrified of leaving the dogs unsupervised and someone needs to work to bring home the dog food.<o:p><br></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">Any advice you can give me would
be very helpful.</div><div class="MsoNormal">We all have our paws crossed for Brudder Elwood.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br></div><div class="MsoNormal">Thanks,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Alicia, Darwin, Wallace, and Lily Trimble <br><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><pre><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></pre><p>
<hr size=1>Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ "> Try it now.</a>