[Jasonstawnosaa]

I definitely agree. I should have asked if you were changing your recommendation that he be placed in a home without dogs--or merely if it was the other dog who had the issues with Cooper being there.

I think a few days isn't long enough to see if dogs get along either. At the shelter, you have a neutral area that doesn't "belong" to Cooper or the other dog. At home, you have Cooper coming into a home that is the territory of the other dog and dogs will act macho and try to be protective. If attention is shown to the new dog, the resident dog can get jealous, territorial and aggressive.

It happened in my own house with the most easy going, not-concerned-about-dogs-just-humans dog. He was showing signs of slowing down at age 12 so I decided to get him an older companion dog to at least keep him on his game. In comes a 9 year old dog that neighbors couldn't keep any longer.

That started about a month of problems--including my elder dog deciding he wasn't going to go on walks anymore, he would be permanently depressed and just stay in his closet...he would try and eat both dishes of food and when the new dog appeared, he'd growl.

I took to reading books on the proper way to introduce a new dog into the home and started following the techniques--older dog got his food first, more attention than the new dog, a longer leash to let older dog lead the new dog on walks.

Within about a month after that, the older dog actually started to enjoy the newer dog. They started walking body to body during walks and reacting as a small pack. Now when the dogs are separated, the older dog does indeed get bored. Five years later, the older dog is still kickin' it--so my introduction of the new dog definitely worked.