After two happy years watching our husky dog, Lily, try to play with the smaller dogs next door (our neighbours have five or six Schnauzers and our husky absolutely loves seeing them and tries to get over the fence to play with them when they're not all playing in the front yard) we decided to add a new puppy to the house and we brought home a tiny Jack Russell / Pug mix we called Layla.
Lily seems to like Layla quite a bit, even if the smaller puppy does rip out chunks of the older dog's hair with her teeth. Lily growls at Layla quite a bit when the puppy does this, and I've seen her swat the littler dog away when she was really getting on Lily's nerves, but she's never hurt her. She seems like an annoyed sort of big sister, and when Layla isn't yanking on Lily's tail while she's sleeping, they get along just fine.
The thing is, though, i don't think Layla likes me much at all. She seems rather terrified of me for reasons i don't really understand. She's not exactly a timid dog and she had no trouble warming up to my mother, who basically ignores her, or my boyfriend, who babies her, but she seems to avoid me. She likes being held by my boyfriend, Matt, and the first week she was here she slept beside him every night while i was in Florida. However, when i pick her up or try to hold her she cries and squirms away like i've beaten her in the past or something. if i bring her up to bed with me, she pulls away and moves next to Matt instead. When he leaves for work at one in the morning, she refuses to stay in the bed with me.
She doesn't seem to hate me outright or anything, not that dogs can hate, because she runs up to me to say hello in the morning or when i get home with her tail wagging, but whenever i try to touch her or hold her she completely freaks out and it makes me sad.
i really want to bond with this puppy like i bond with Lily, but i'm not sure what i could be doing to improve my relationship with her. She seems to like me least of everyone in the house and i can't understand why.
Anyone who's good with dogs know what's up?
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