Suggestions to build a doggy friendship?

[Rosie]

We have just got a tenant for the house next door (which we bought last year) who is lovely and perfect for us in every way. Dog lover - in fact she has just got a rescue dog. He is Boris, a basset hound (she loves basset hounds). We've said she is very welcome to use our field to let Boris play, and we're bound to bump into them on occasion when we are out with Pongo.
Pongo met Boris for the first time yesterday - they have been exchanging pee-mail on our local tracks and fields for several weeks since Boris arrived, but this was the first time they'd met in the flesh. It was a slightly rocky encounter - a bit of bum-sniffing on both parts, not entirely appreciated, a bit of growling....but also quite a lot of just ignoring each other, and some waggy-tailed friendly sniffing. Pongo got a bit over-enthusiastic at one point, and Boris had a bit of a snarl at him - but nothing escalated. I took Pongo away back into the house eventually and fed him some lovely lovely chicken in the hope he'd associate Boris with nice things.
I'd really like the two dogs to be friends - or at least be indifferent to each other - so that we don't have to worry about them meeting unsupervised (which is unlikely but not impossible because there is no real boundary between the houses, and we're sharing the field).
Does anyone have any tips for what might or might not be a good way of encouraging positive behaviour from both doggies? I don't want to make a big deal of this with Boris's hooman - she is not particularly into canine behaviour research, I think! - so I don't anticipate any formal, structured process of getting them together. But any tips about how to reinforce Pongo's good responses when he encounters Boris (or to manage any negatives)?

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Seems you've already done it right. I wouldn't worry much about the first encounter - Pongo was a little over the top for Boris and Boris told him off. Now that they know where they stand, the next time out should go smoother. Remember Carbon's grump face with Pongo the first time? The experts here may have another stand (and better advice) but I actually think that's not a bad start and just to keep on with the pee mail and the off-lead brief meetings until Boris warms up to Pongo...or just decides to ignore him. (But who could ignore Pongo??!)

 

[snowbunny]

Generally, I'd try not to make it "a thing" where you're expecting them to be in a space together. It works for me a lot better when it's amore natural set-up, maybe on a walk where the dogs can bimble about doing their own thing independently without feeling the need to interact if they don't want. Co-existing in the same but very open space helps build tolerance in a less stressful environment.

 

[Rosie]

Co-existing in the same but very open space helps build tolerance in a less stressful environment.

This sounds good, because it's a pretty much perfect description of the set-up here.
Pongo is very, very interested in the scent of Boris everywhere - he walks the same route as us, and the Pongster is pretty much nose-glued-to-ground these days as we go along. I'm choosing to see this as a good thing (i.e. becoming used to his scent) rather than something I should distract him from. Does that sound right?

 

[Rosie]

And by the way, aren't basset hounds weird looking dogs???

 

[SwampDonkey]

They're not supposed to look like they do. They have been to the point where they hardly function. They are an example human cruelty. If you want to see a real Bassett hound look at the Bassett hunting packs there are a few about and they are healthier and can walk properly and do dog things.

 

[Natalie]

And by the way, aren't basset hounds weird looking dogs???

I was talking about them to my vet a few years ago, I Had heard they were a bit lazy and happy to spend a bit of time on their own during the day.
She looked at me in horror, and told me they made the frequency of joint issues in Labradors pale into insignificance... consistently have ack, joint, eye, ear issues for starters. In her opinion they were one of the most 'unhealthy' breeds she had known. My work colleague has two of them and mentioned breeding them last year... I gave him a bit of an earful about health testing (he'd done none) and then apologised the next day to him for being a bit ranty fortunately he hasn't bred them.

 

[Selina27]

They're not supposed to look like they do.

I didn't know they had been so interbred.

There is one near here, we see sometimes walking past when the footpaths don't have any cattle on, he's called Bill and Cassie thinks he's fun! It is quite comical when you see them do the mutual bum sniff thing, the logistics make it quite tricky. He's only a bit older than Cass and always seems lively and happy to interact. He's quite a bit smaller than others I've seen, perhaps that's a good thing? His legs are not so bowed. His owner walks him a lot.

 

[Selina27]

For what it's worth @Rosie I think your going about building the friendship the right way, offlead with space for them to take it at their own pace.

 

[Rosie]

OK, so an update on this.
Pongo and Boris have not met much, although they obviously exchange lots of scent-messages because they walk the same routes. I think Pongo can also hear him sometimes next door, because he has started barking for no apparent reason (not normal behaviour for Pongo).
But today they met - Boris had just come back, he was on-lead and Pongo was off-lead. Just a couple of sniffs each and then Boris had a real snap-and-bite at Pongo - definitely aggressive, and enough to make Pongo yelp and dart away behind me. Kelly (Boris's hooman) was terribly apologetic and said it was entirely out of character for Boris - he had just been to the market and been lovely with everyone, human and dog.
Boris seems to have taken a serious dislike to Pongo, presumably on the basis of scent messages on their shared "territory"...?
Any suggestions for what we could do? It is not a crisis because they don't have to meet often, but I'd like to resolve it...

 

[Charlie]

Could you maybe go for a very short lead walk with Boris and his owner occasionally Rosie? xx

 

[snowbunny]

To be entirely honest, I wouldn’t even try. If you can manage it easily so that they never meet, just stay with that. You just can’t expect every dog (or human) to get along, and trying to force it will likely make it more stressful for everyone. Imagine finding someone incredibly irritating and then being forced into situations where you have to pretend to be polite. No fun, and although you might fake it for a while, the chances are you’ll find up snapping eventually. Accept that Pongo and Boris are not meant to be, and move along