I'm watching Fox's dog, Jack, while he's in Texas for work. Jack is a 7 year old cream shiba inu who's pretty mild mannered. Cooper was super excited when Fox dropped him off Sunday night and somewhat excited Monday, but yesterday he wasn't having Jack in our house any longer. First he wanted to play with Jack but Jack was too sad that Fox left him to do anything but mope by the door. Then Cooper tried to dominate Jack which resulted in harsh words from me, a few whacks on his butt, and time out in his kennel. Yesterday Cooper tried to attack Jack (which really is him growling all mean-like in Jack's face and opening his mouth really wide and snarling) and Jack retaliated by snapping at Cooper and I'm worried that he'll draw blood.
I've come to notice that Cooper's just jealous and protective of me. He always positions himself between Jack and me and keeps a wary eye on Jack when I'm petting him. He still doesn't care when we go for walks, but as soon as we're in the house he's herding Jack away from me or trying to intimidate Jack as far away from me as possible. I'm also getting worried because Jack feels more comfortable in my place and is attacking Cooper when Cooper gets in his face. I'm fine with that to some degree because Cooper needs to learn that he can't dominate and rule every dog out there, but I don't know if Jack will actually bite Cooper or not. I know Cooper well enough and know for a fact that he'll NEVER bite a dog or a person because he is just too afraid to do that. He definitely talks the talk but can't and won't walk the walk.
I guess at this point, Cooper definitely has to be the only dog. He gets too jealous or insecure and that creates too much drama for me to deal with. It kinda sucks because his only dog friends are Pickle, Jack, and Leila and Pickle and Jack are along the same lines; too much anxiety and too mellow for play, and Leila is so hyper active you can literally see Cooper getting dizzy from trying to keep up with her. I wish I could find another dog with his energy level that can stand his ground so Cooper can actually play with the dog. Oh well, sometimes things just weren't meant to be.
