Whew! We finally got it figured out!
Well we've had an interesting couple of days, including some knock down drag out fights, but I think we made a breakthrough today.
This morning all three dogs got in a huge fight ( I was getting ready for work) and I freaked. It was scary as all get out, even though no one even has a scratch on them. It's been building since Cin got here and came to an ugly, but productive head.
We now have three dogs who are pretty much sure of their spots in the pack and seem to be pretty happy with everything. Chester apparently decided this morning that enough was enough and put his paw down. He said he's not taking anymore crap from that "girl who never stays still". :D
Millie's decided that she wants to be the queen bee, and queen bee she shall be! She really hasn't had too many issues with Cin, other than lots of grumbling and some snapping at each other, which hasn’t happened tonight. Millie’s even kept her hair down tonight! :D
I think once Mom quit coddling Cinny (who I keep calling Cindy & it's driving Michael crazy), and backed Chester up instead of telling him to 'stop growling, leave her alone, back off' etc, things have done a 180. Apparently my desire to play fair was screwing up the rankings and confusing everyone. :rolleyes: It's just so hard to let your kids work it out and watch one be 'treated unfairly' or be picked on, especially the new one with such sweet eyes. That's humans for ya!
Tonight has been smooth sailing and almost like Cin's been here for a long time. It's so nice to actually see them happy. Next is to work on Cin's bone aggression, which Aly thinks she'll get over pretty quickly (she had some issues with Aly's cats at first). I solved the food issues by placing several bowls of food all over, so she sees that food is plentiful and that there's no need to guard it. It's working very well. :) We had to do this with Millie when she first came here, too.
We're not giving those great bones, and she doesn't guard greenies, so those are ok to give. We'll introduce the "great ones" when everyone is more comfortable. :)
Just thought I'd update everyone on our progress! Wow, that ended up being looonnnggg. :eek: :)
