Getting Chins to Bond

[Zimmanski]

Hi everyone!
We have had our male ChiChi for about a year now and everything has gone so well we decided to get a second male about a month ago. We read a bunch about bonding and introducing before we made the purchase, though we missed the step about QT, unfortunate but since its been a month without any changes in either chin Im assuming its okay. We have a large 5 level cage for the original chin and a cheap one level but decent size cage for the second, Dusty, and they spent 1 week side by side, then 2 weeks switching cages every night. After that we started with some supervised neutral zone playtime. They seem to be doing very well side by side, the original chin would be running and playing and squeeking like a happy chin, the second Dusty would run and play too but then out of no where Dusty would grab ChiChis hair. He only does it once but it has been pretty consistantly once every time they meet. Could be 5 minutes into playtime, could be 20 minutes into playtime even after several face to face meets and sniffs.

Sorry for the long post but does anyone have any extra advice to try to prevent this or help in introducing them? actually, any advice is welcome. I know that some chins just cant be together, and we're prepared for that, but I dont want to give up just yet. It doesnt seem overly aggressive or to cause any damage, actually Chichi doesnt seem to mind much after it happens, I just know I dont want anything to happen to either of them.


Thanks!

 

[mknoblich1]

Is there any hair being pulled out or just grabbing? It's normal for chins to mount to show dominance. My girls will occasionally still show who's dominant over the other. If there is any blood drawn or biting you will have to keep them separate. I found the cage in a cage method to be a good way to introduce chins. Also putting them in a new cage or really scrubbing your cage down to try to get the chins scent out of it that was living in it before. If you search for introductions there will be lots of threads on what methods have worked for people.

 

[Zimmanski]

There was some dominance stuff that happened the first time they met, but not since. The new chin does pull out hair, but other than that there's nothing aggressive and no real damage done like I said. We've been searching for two months for info and I think we have a lot, but still always looking for more or reassurance. Were always searching the forum and web for hints and tricks, but coming across things like trimming whiskers and the "smush" makes me weary of taking info from sources rather than actual people and experiences