Can Dogs Be Jealous of New Dogs?

When adding an additional dog to your household, keep in mind that existing dogs may react with jealousy at first. This is a natural reaction, and it can be managed with effort so that eventually the jealousy will be under control and your dogs will get along better and better as time goes on.

  1. Attention

    • Your current dogs may be jealous of a new dog, especially a puppy, if they sense that you're devoting the majority of your attention to the new addition. If you aren't careful about spending equal amounts of time with the dogs you already have, they might begin to display jealous aggression towards the newcomer. Spend some one-on-one time with your established dog -- take it out for a walk, just the two of you, to show it's still special.

    Toys

    • Your established dog probably has a favorite toy or two that it won't want to share with a new dog. If you allow the new dog to play with or "steal" the other dog's favorite possessions, jealousy will ensue. It's a good idea to separate a new pet from an existing pet anyway; make sure the established dog's toys are with it and not the new animal. Eventually, jealousy will abate and it will let the newcomer play with its toys.

    Food and water dishes

    • It's important to have separate food and water dishes for each animal. If a newcomer is cutting in front of your established pet to get a first crack at the food, the established pet will respond with jealousy and aggression. Discourage the new pet from eating and drinking out of the old pet's dishes. You may even want to feed them in separate areas of the yard or house.

    Hierarchy

    • What we perceive as jealousy in dogs can sometimes be an older, established dog feeling that its dominance is being challenged by the new addition. Puppies, especially, are often too young to understand signals of dominance that an older dog is displaying. For that reason, it's important that you supervise encounters between new and established pets, possibly even keeping them leashed to prevent aggression while the dogs establish a hierarchy among themselves.