Introducing BanterBull

Seniority, whether age, or who was "here first" definately needs to count. Other than that, I'd let them work it out to an extent too. The dog we brought in 1st here, THINKS he is the alpha, but so does Copper, the doxie and he was 2nd to the last! It's more up to you than the dogs to an extent - but if letting the new dog become alpha works out and there's no problems, let that occur. If the resident dogs wants to retain their status as alpha, or at least assert it, let that happen however and discourage the new dogs attempts to overthrow it and assume alpha position.
In short, watch and see, and if necessary, intervene. Hopefully one will be submissive and make the choice easy for you!
On the 3rd(?) hand, my deaf Mini Aussie pays little attention to alpha status and in fact has many alpha behaviors. It's like she misses many of the other dogs' cues. But we manage to keep peace here regardless (we don't own bullies, just foster occasionally though!) for the most part! :lol:

nanniesrock said:

Maternal is not a word I would use to describe Harely, hopefully she might get that way.

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:lol: Well, the first of the four dogs that we have, was not really maternal either. She
was all about herself and still is for that matter. We got her at the age of 4 months in the
month of February. That following July we got Holly :grommit: and the sole purpose for getting Holly
was so that she could be Sasha's friend. They got along great but it has always been
Holly that took to Sasha, Sasha just lapped up the attention. Then one day in August,
we got a kitten and named her Whiskers. :dog: We kept Whiskers seperated from them for
three days, on the third day we saw that the dogs and her were playing footsie under
the door so we knew whe could let her out. We waited until the dogs had laid down and
napping. I let Whiskers out and she slowly manuvered herself in front of the coffee table
and laid down. By this time Sasha had her eyes open watching her. When Whiskers laid
down, Sasha got up and went to her - I thought the kitten would run but she did not. Sasha's
eyes were getting really big as she looked at her and when she got to her, she stuffed her
nose into Whisker's belly and nosed her and sniffed her. In one fell swoop, she picked
Whiskers up by the back of the neck, took her to where she had been laying down, nestled
her and they have been best friends ever since. :love3: It was her maternal instinct that kicked in.
So I will keep my fingers crossed that Harley's wil too. By the way, Sasha and Holly are like best sisters and Sahsa and Rusty are like Husband and Wife and Clara is like the troubling teen that is messing up the balance. But she is learning their ways and they hers.

It sounds like Bully's main problem is that he thinks he is the alpha. When deciding who should be top dog, Bully or Harley, the answer is easy. Neither! The human is the alpha, dogs are the followers (equal pack members). All five of my dogs are of equal status. They do activities together to help maintain a pack mind set. I walk them all together, feed them side by side, they sleep together, etc.

When introducing them (as said in a previous post) do not bring them face to face. Take them for looooonnnnggg walk together (at least an hour or two). Also, you might want to use a basket muzzle on Bully, at least for the walk, since you don't know how he is going to act. When you get home, start setting the ground rules at the door. They both have to wait for you to enter and then invite them in. Remember everything is yours, and you get to decide what they do and what they get and when they get it. Do not allow Bully free roam. Make him follow your lead. You can invite him into each new room as you come to it, and set up boundaries where you don't want him to go.

I would separate them for a while when you aren't home or paying attention to them. Also, refrain from being to emotional with him for the first couple of weeks. Don't get excited when you meet him, and don't approach him. Make him come to you (you are the alpha), and then ignore him. As Cesar says, "no talk, no touch, no eye contact". Simply take his leash and lead him (make sure is following you not leading you). This walk will help establish your role as leader. Do this first walk without Harley. Once Bully accepts you as the leader, he will be more willing to accept other members of the pack. When they meet correct any dominant or aggressive behavior (i.e. hackles up, tail erect, ears forward, bared teeth, mounting, etc.)

Okay, back to the don't get emotional (excited, affectionate, etc.) with him. He should have to earn everything (as should Harley) affection, food, treats, etc. Dogs to not follow emotional, unstable, norotic, angry, etc. pack leaders. They only follow a calm-assertive, confident pack leader.

Hopefully some of this made sense. Since I am at work and helping customers in between sentences. And I as my husband says "I have the tendency to shift gears without pressing the clutch first".