Babysitting antisocial dog

[Rheves]

I have my mothers dog with me for 10 days, a soft coated wheaton terrier who is anti social and barking at my dog every 5 minutes ferociously. My dog is very playful and anytime she tries to play she gets scared off, only to return 5 minutes or less later.

My mom has two dogs, the anti social one and an awesome little miniature poodle that never misbehaves and has learned to basically ignore the terrier completely. Anytime they interact they lowly growl at each other, that's...the very best I can hope to get out of this situation I believe.

Is there anything I can do to have them get along better?

[Macomom]

Hello Rheves,

My question is, are you looking to better socialize your Mother's dog and improve his behaviour overall, or are you looking to get through your dog sitting with the least amount of friction?

I think if you are looking to get through the dog sitting experience, then perhaps separating the dogs and visiting them both often, may make the experience more pleasant for everyone. I am not sure that you could do anything to help socialize the terrier in such a short span of time, in a new enviroment while the dog may be anxious about separation.
I would separate them into different parts of the house ensuring the were fed in different areas etc...

With that being said, I am optimistic you can teach the dog over a longer time period what is considered acceptable behaviour around other dogs. While the dog may not be interested in other dogs for play, he can certainly learn to tolerate them and to behave in an acceptable way.

That is just my very humble opinion. Good luck and please keep us posted.
Cheers,
Joanne

[Rheves]

Sorry about the delayed response, I thought there would be an email notification. I just wanted to get through the dog sitting with the least amount of friction. I have a smallish house so I've been putting them outside on the leash for awhile to give them breaks from each other. The terrier has not begun to tolerate the other at all, still barking madly anytime they come close but the remainder of the visit shouldn't be too bad.

The only incident so far has been my dog breaking out the front door (Good to know she's capable of that >_<) in order to go play with the terrier, I thought he was being attacked by the barking and whimpering going on!

[Macomom]

Glad to hear that you are getting through it!
Best of luck.