Getting two male dogs to live comfortably in a household together?

We have a modest-sized 10-year old German Shepherd male, neutered. He is a fairly classic German Shepherd in temperament; he is extremely intelligent, but prone to be introverted and suspicious of other dogs as well as humans, yet this goes alongside of his extreme loyalty to us, his family, if makes him a little overprotective of us. He is a very gentle dog actually, and has never hurt another thing, and is clearly not an Alpha, we rescued him from ARF, and he was quiet and passive around other dogs in that environment, and rather malnourished from always shyly waiting until every one else was finished before he ate his food! He's been an "only child" with us for several years since then, we try to live a quiet life, and he has never had to interact with other dogs intimately, with one exception being a female labrador puppy of a family member who lived with us for awhile, whom he was patient with and not aggressive, though he obvious established himself as the leader of the two. He is OK with dogs and people at a distance, on a walk in the park, down the street or through the garden, but he can be a little tense of personality, though he is more contained than aggressive, he just doesn't like for others until he knows them well, be they human or animal, to invade his space, especially by surprise- people coming right up on him and trying to interact for example. He will bark at first when he is being disturbed, though he is also an obedient dog and can be controlled.





We have just adopted a beautiful runt of a Pyrenees from The Humane Society, he is little over 2-years old and also neutered, and a very polite dog, bright and happy. He was hit by car once which gives him a permanent hip problem however. I think his disability and our first dog's age may work to our advantage, they're not so much fighters. Our new friend is also a temperate, relaxed dog, he is self-possessed, but enjoys attention from people. His hip makes it unlikely that he was an alpha dog in a pack as well. But while he does not seek confrontation, he is assertive, and when barked at or lunged for he reacts, he alerts, growls etc.





We want our two dogs to live together like brothers... or at least roommates, we're not going to let anyone get hurt. We believe that both dogs are naturally intelligent enough, of healthy enough personalities and fairly-trained enough that this should be able to happen. But so far its been two full days and we've had mixed success and are looking for any insights you may have to keep us on the right path.





We first introduced our Pyrenees to our Shepherd through the backyard fence he was relaxing in. Both dogs were curious but not aggressive at first. However there are other nearby dogs that started barking, which excited our Shepherd and he barked quite a bit at him, the Pyrenees was vigilant but did not return any aggression.





We keep the dogs in separate parts of the house for now, but take them on daily walks together, where they have basically done very well. And neither dogs marks their territory in the house.





We did have a relapse when the German Shepherd came inside before he was supposed to and ended up in the kitchen with the Pyrenees, which took them both surprise. They simply examined each other at first until outside disturbances occurred, lots of noise, and he lunged for the Pyrenees, but we kept them from touching.





Since then however we've gone on picnics with them together and walked some, they walk side-by-side without any effects. They listen to us and will behave, but don't like each other. They will turn away from each other, and each ignore the other dog's presence. However, we need them to be civil when we are not around as well.





The German shepherd also is ill-tempered when the Pyrenees tries to smell him and get to know him, he will reject him or try to assert his dominance, mounting him for example.





But there have been no fights yet, but the Pyrenees did bark without provocation at the the Shepherd through the door, once when they were in separate rooms.





How can you help us improve the situation? Personal experiences socializing dogs either from individuals or professionals would be especially appreciate.





Thank you,





SAM|||Well, i have a german shepard mix who is 6. We recently got a golden retriever puppy.





At first the older dog showed a lot of aggresion towards the puppy. Now they are ;best friends.





We basically just let them introduce themselves as they pleased. Of coarse we always were there incase of any fighting. Eventually the older dog just started to ignor the puppy. eventually they became friends!