AutumnGirly
New Born Pup
For some background, we had Girly (the older one) for a few months by herself when family gave her to us. We got her a companion, Autumn, two weeks ago. When Girly was by herself, she had a pet store cage for her home, food, and water with a door that led to a big open play area. When we brought Autumn into the mix, we closed the door to the play area and made that Autumn's space with her own house, food, water. Then we extended Girly's cage so that her space wasn't smaller and both had plenty of room to run around and play.
The first few days we kept them separate, and mixed their poop as we read somewhere it would help them get used to each other. They we popcorning, squeaking at each other, and seemed to be doing really well. We made a mistake, however when assuming it would be a good idea to open their doors after 2 days and within minutes they were teeth chattering. We didn't intervene as we thought it was normal behavior, but things escalated to the point where Girly ripped a piece of hair out from Autumn.
This last week they were separated by a divider and we made sure to give them both plenty of attention and water hoping that tensions would die down. They slowly started spending time next to each other by the divider and things seemed to be going really well. Today we thought it would be appropriate to try again but almost instantly got into a cartoonish fight, this time Autumn pulling hair from Girly.
I'm wondering if there's more we could be doing for them or if it's time to separate. If separating permanently is the right call, would having them in a divider close to each other cause distress?
The first few days we kept them separate, and mixed their poop as we read somewhere it would help them get used to each other. They we popcorning, squeaking at each other, and seemed to be doing really well. We made a mistake, however when assuming it would be a good idea to open their doors after 2 days and within minutes they were teeth chattering. We didn't intervene as we thought it was normal behavior, but things escalated to the point where Girly ripped a piece of hair out from Autumn.
This last week they were separated by a divider and we made sure to give them both plenty of attention and water hoping that tensions would die down. They slowly started spending time next to each other by the divider and things seemed to be going really well. Today we thought it would be appropriate to try again but almost instantly got into a cartoonish fight, this time Autumn pulling hair from Girly.
I'm wondering if there's more we could be doing for them or if it's time to separate. If separating permanently is the right call, would having them in a divider close to each other cause distress?
