Really long ramblings... Sorry, my questions are at the bottom.
So I got Scout a little over a week ago. He's a pretty white mosaic. He's my second chin so I really wanted to be able to house him with Piper, my other boy. So the first day I got him I took him into my closet to have play time like I usually do with Piper and he was fine and seemed to have some fun. So then I got Piper and brought him in too. I left him in his carrier for a little bit to see how he reacted to Scout and vice versus. Everything seemed fine so I let Piper out. They kind of walked near each other for a bit and then started making noises at each other. Seemed friendly and then out of no where Piper started chasing him and jumping on poor Scout. I grabbed Piper and put him back in his carrier. I read somewhere that if you put the aggressor in a sort of time out they can learn to be friendly. So I left him in his carrier for a little while again and then I let him back out. Exact same thing happened. So I put him back in his cage with no play time. By this point, poor Scout was terrified. So I put him back in his cage to settle down. Poor guy released some hair when Piper jumped him. (Nothing substantial maybe a pinch of hair, but enough that it was clear Scout was terrified.) I had both Piper and Scout in different cages and in areas where they couldn't see the other so Piper wouldn't think Scout was encroaching on his territory. I decided to follow the neutral territory approach to getting them to live in the same cage. So, I had a big cage Piper had never seen before, but I wanted them to be friends first before I put them in the cage and I needed to switch Scout's food. I ended up switching Piper's food though lol.
Anyway, after the first day I decided to let the boys have a day without seeing the other and Scout seemed to get a little happier. The next day, I decided to set up a fence area in my living room so that it'd be a "neutral" play area, because maybe Piper had set claims on the closet? I let them stare at each other from their carriers on the first living room day and then I would let each one of them out one at a time to explore and see the other carrier. That seemed to work so I let them both out and the same thing happened with Piper except this time he made a noise that sounded attack-ish first so I had warning and grabbed him before he could jump on scout too many times. Did the time out again, but I didn't let him out of his carrier again. Over the next few days I just left both of them in their carriers in the living room and gave them slices of a raisin once every minute thinking they might associate treats with one another. (The slices added up to about a raisin and a half each. Only treat of the day so I think I was okay on that.) I figured since they had had such terrible meetings so far I had no hope of them getting along, but then I read online that as long as no limbs are lost, like toes, there's hope! So, I thought maybe if I let them both into the new cage maybe it'd be so exciting and new cool things to do that they'd ignore each other long enough for Piper to realize Scout wasn't a threat. Piper is almost 3 months old so he's pretty young and Scout is just over 2 months. So they're young, similar age, and Scout is actually bigger than Piper. Piper was the runt out of a set of triplets and Scout was the only chin in his litter. So I was kind of expected Piper to be the push over and Scout to be the dominant one. I was so wrong.
Piper explored the new cage for about a minute then went to see what Scout was doing. I think Scout was secretly figuring out escape routes in the time Piper was exploring because the second he caught sight of Piper he bolted and then Piper would run after him. (not super fast like when he attacked previously so I let it continue.) Then Scout finally let Piper get close and they did their, what sounded like friendly, barking. Then, again, out of no where Piper did his attack bark. I channeled a ninja though and grabbed him so fast and put him in his carrier that he didn't have a chance to even move. So then I set his carrier up on one of the bar stools I was using to keep my fence in place and let Scout continue to play around in the new cage/surrounding area. Piper started to making crying noises, but I used some tough love and told him that if he was good he could play too. I let Scout get comfortable for another five minutes then put Piper in his carrier on the floor near the cage, but I was hoping he'd think it was Scout's territory now. After another five minutes Scout was acting braver and Piper was acting a little timid so I let him out. He was cautious around Scout and Scout was cautious around Piper. They started doing some friendly barking and then they did a teeth kissing type thing. Sort of adorable, but I was worried after all the other encounters. Then Scout mounted Piper and it was like this instantaneous understanding went through the room that Scout was not going to put up with Piper's crap anymore and it was like Piper understood that Scout was bigger and was in charge. After that it was fantastic. I watched them to make sure their little fights didn't escalate into anything bad, but other than each one trying to establish dominance over the other one they acted like they'd always been best friends. Piper ended up winning the dominance fights, but I think that's because Scout didn't care. Scout's really chill, whereas Piper is super energetic. Very different personalities
Regardless, they're super cuddly now and love to be near each other and play with each other and all around it's very clear they already love each other.
So, after my super long ramblings, is it normal for a chin to have a sort of bravado? I mean Piper is a sweet heart and he loves to cuddle into my hand he's never been mean, and he was a triplet so it's not like he's never seen other chins before. So why was he so mean to poor Scout? I mean, I'm super glad they're bff's now, but I think I just got lucky and was a little stupid about how I went about getting them to live together. Was Piper just trying to play the whole time, but Scout didn't realize that since he was an only chin? What do you pro's (as I like to think of you
) suggest for getting little boys to live with each other happily? Again, sorry for the ramblings... It's just I looked up a lot of info on how to introduce male chins and the neutral territory method obviously ended up working out, but I think it'd be great if some of you pro's really let us new chin owners know some of the trade secrets
Thanks guys.
edit: I completely forgot about the quarantine time period
To think I thought I did a decent job remembering most of the tips... I wish there was a be all end all guide to introducing chins. There are some decent guides out there, but only for a particular technique.
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Topic: My new boy (Read 1853 times)