Introducing new dog to currant dog HELP!

[new2newengland]

After a long search we are officially adding a new addiction to our family! The dog we are adopting is being transported from TN. She is being spayed tomorrow and will be here in two weeks.

How should we introduce her to our other dog? Also what can we do to help both dogs adjust?

Lake (our new dog) is about 8 months old. She is not leashed trained yet. Will will be picking her up around 5:00 a.m. Both her and our currant dog have been well socialized and love other dogs although we have never had another dog in our house so I am not sure how Tyson will take having another dog in his house.

Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated!

[new2newengland]

This is a picture of her. We have no idea what type of dog she is. The rescue thinks she is a Shepard mix. She got her name because as a baby she was thrown out a car window into a lake! :-(

[yellowumbrella]

She is adorable!

I would take both dogs on a walk together - don't walk them right side by side, let one walk a few feet in front of the other and then switch. That will give them a chance to sniff bums and get used to each other. Once that goes well, walk side by side.

Then I would go into your backyard (if you have one) and let them explore on leash. If it's going well, drop the leashes but leave them connected to their collars (so you can quickly separate if needed).

Do the same in the house (first on leash, then with trailing leashes).

After about 30 minutes of togetherness I would give them each some alone time. Our dogs got along well from the get-go but we still did crate/rotate for a few days so that it wasn't a huge shock and they each got some one-on-one time with us.

Good luck!

[jen812]

She's adorable. Congrats!

[kellbell191]

We introduced them outside the house and didn't feed them together or allow them to have toys unsupervised together until they'd shown us they were getting along well.

[darkling_glory]

I copied and pasted this from an old post:

When you first get your new pup, leash both dogs up and take them for a walk outside your house in neutral territory. Make the walk as long as it can be 20 minutes or so, so that they get used to one another. But they don't necessarily need to greet each other if they don't seem into it.

Keep the dogs separated for a couple weeks (2 weeks seems to be the magic number for me). Baby gate off a room for the new dog to stay in for a while.

I like to put a blanket over the baby gate so they can hear/smell each other but not see each other. I do this for the first few days. Then I take the blanket off.

They can have supervised play time (both leashed so you can control if there is a problem). But it should be short. No toys or treats that they could fight over in this time. If they fight over your attention (guarding behavior) separate them immediately!

Lots of walks during this time so they get used to one another... while gradually increasing the amount of time of the supervised play time.

I hope this helps!

Read more: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pets&action=display&thread=12052#ixzz1yGa5xqQl

[bullygirl979]

Jun 19, 2012 13:46:05 GMT -5 darkling_glory said:

I copied and pasted this from an old post:

When you first get your new pup, leash both dogs up and take them for a walk outside your house in neutral territory. Make the walk as long as it can be 20 minutes or so, so that they get used to one another. But they don't necessarily need to greet each other if they don't seem into it.

Keep the dogs separated for a couple weeks (2 weeks seems to be the magic number for me). Baby gate off a room for the new dog to stay in for a while.

I like to put a blanket over the baby gate so they can hear/smell each other but not see each other. I do this for the first few days. Then I take the blanket off.

They can have supervised play time (both leashed so you can control if there is a problem). But it should be short. No toys or treats that they could fight over in this time. If they fight over your attention (guarding behavior) separate them immediately!

Lots of walks during this time so they get used to one another... while gradually increasing the amount of time of the supervised play time.

I hope this helps!

Read more: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pets&action=display&thread=12052#ixzz1yGa5xqQl

ITA. I would not let them have play time for AT LEAST several days until they get to know each other and you get to know the new pup. Take them on walks but when they are together in the house, keep them separated either by the baby gate or using a crate and rotate system. When you do let them have play time, use a lot of praise (as long as they are being good lol) and keep their leashes on.

[minniebee]

Jun 18, 2012 14:57:20 GMT -5 new2newengland said:

This is a picture of her. We have no idea what type of dog she is. The rescue thinks she is a Shepard mix. She got her name because as a baby she was thrown out a car window into a lake!

Others have given you good introduction advice, I'll just add that I'm fairly certain that your dog is a rottweiler mix. Our dog is a rott/lab mix and looks very similar to Lake, minus the white spot on her face. Lake's markings are very clearly rottweiler. I've attached a photo of our dog as a reference ... my dog is 8-9 years old so his muzzle has gotten a bit white due to age.

If you have a rott mix, I'll say that my experience with rotts is wonderful. They are easily trainable. Sam was 6 when he came to live with us, so he was completely past puppy behavior, but he's been the easiest dog in the world. He rarely barks, doesn't jump on people, walks beautifully on a leash, has never had an accident in the house, has never chewed anything other than his toys ... he's just been soooooo easy. The only "fault" of his is that he's protective of his yard and his people when it comes to other dogs. Rotts have a strong guarding instinct. He's totally fine with people, in fact he loves everyone he meets and is always friendly, but he's not trusting of dogs. We had to work with him a little bit on not being so reactive to new dogs, but that wasn't too difficult to work through.

[new2newengland]

Thank you everyone for your replies! Very helpful!!!!!!