Need Advice Older Dog ...New PUppy

A good way of introduicing them is for your dog to 'find' the puppy in your garden. I've just posted on a forum full of dog breeders - will await their response and put their reply on here.

I would disagree with Rosi, your dog "finding" another dog on it's territory may not go well!

I've had dogs all my life and have introduced additional dogs and cats to them successfully. I would suggest the best way to introduce a new dog would be to take your 7 year old with you when you go to collect the new addition and let them meet on "neutral" ground. I would then stop off at a park on the way home and give them a chance to play together, although this is a bit difficult as you will need to keep the puppy on a lead and it's best if they are both on leads. If there's any fighting then try again but in a different part of the park or even a different park. Don't try to force them to show each other attention, the older dog might prefer to weigh the pup up from a distance first.

When you get home, place their beds as far apart as possible, preferably without relocating your 7 yr old's bed. When you know they get on you should be able to move the beds closer, mine have always ended up with their beds next to each other. Feed them as far apart as possible (even separate rooms if need be) and gradually move them closer. Remove anything the older dog is likely to guard from the pup such as favourite toys etc until they've settled in together.

I've successfully introduced not just pups but also adult rescue dogs and cats to dogs that I've already had and have never had a problem apart from the odd scuffle to begin with (the small ones are best left, it's how they sort out the pecking order, just intervene if you get a full on fight). Just remember that food, territory, belongings and attention from you are the most likely times your 7 year old might challenge or correct the pup, if there is disagreement then take whatever is causing the problem away from both dogs. Of course, you may be pleasantly surprised and find that, especially as your older dog has lived with another dog before, he/she will accept the new addition regardless.

I would disagree with Rosi, your dog "finding" another dog on it's territory may not go well!

I would agree with you there, Bannick, but just a word of caution about the public parks. Depending on the age of the puppy, of course, this might not be a good idea in relation to jabs for immunity. Neutral but safer ground, disease wise, might be the better option.

Personally, I've never had a problem when a new puppy has been brought into the house, whether we had only one existing family dog [all bitches, actually] or I was introducing a new one into my existing small 'pack'.

Holistic

I've just had a reply from the breeders forum - the method I have spoken about is the recommended method. One of the ladies vets recommends this method and the vet nurses say it works every time.

Note that I am speaking about a puppy and not an adult dog; with an adult dog I wouldn't recommend this method either, but with puppies, older dogs are more accepting.

Many of the breeders on this forum have introduced puppies in this method with no problems at all.

Well OK and woohoo for them, I'm sure they're all experts. :rolleyes:

I wonder though what it must feel like to be a little puppy, dumped in a strange garden and then 'discovered' by a large and totally strange adult dog ..... 😮 ..... sorry, don't buy it!

Holistic

As a non expert I'd also opt for having the two dogs meet on neutral ground. I would not want to risk an older dog protecting his territory from an unwanted animal in his garden! How is the older dog to know that you've introduced this little pup to his life if he just randomly comes across it?!

If the dog is a young pup, it's not advised, as mentioned above, to let them on public ground until about a week after their second jab.

I would agree with introductions in the garden, but I wouldn't leave the pup alone for the older dog to find.

I have only introduced one (rescue) puppy to older dogs so far as most of my adoptions have been adult dogs, but we brought our rescue lab pup home earlier this year aged nine weeks.

We took the older dogs through to the garden, then brought the puppy through. I had bought a puppy play pen, which I put her in for a few minutes until everyone had calmed down a little (although the pen wasn't really needed, but since I'd bought it, I was going to use it!) and then I let her out and they all said hello and that was it.

I watched them all very carefully for the first few weeks, just to make sure she didn't annoy them too much, to make sure toys were shared nicely etc (though I always take toys up initially when bringing a new dog in) and around food times.

I wouldn't have wanted to leave a puppy in the garden for the older dogs to find - I wanted my dogs to know, because we brought the puppy in, that this was a new family member for them to get along with - and they do 🙂

Good luck.

I've always introduced my new adult dogs in the garden too, I know it's not generally recommended as the right way but it works for us.

Well OK and woohoo for them, I'm sure they're all experts. :rolleyes:

I wonder though what it must feel like to be a little puppy, dumped in a strange garden and then 'discovered' by a large and totally strange adult dog ..... 😮 ..... sorry, don't buy it!

Holistic

Seems to work for them holistic; and actually they are the experts. They have been breeding puppies some for over 20 years and all have many dogs between them; so I value their opinion.

Whether you 'buy it' or not is up to you. I am merely passing on what these highly experienced breeders do.

And there is no need to be sarcastic!

Rosi1,

It was good of you to go to the trouble of seeking out this information and posting it here, thank you. However, I'm afraid I do feel my hackles rising if I view something I perceive as being potentially hazardous, or possibly even worse, to a little puppy. So please don't take anything personally 😉

My previous post may have given the impression that I know nothing about dogs. This is not the case. Without any wish to appear to be bragging or claiming to be any kind of self-styled expert myself, may I assure you that as someone who has previously had well over 20 years of experience as a dog breeder myself - if not in recent years - I can confidently claim to know just a few things about the handling and rearing of puppies, AND advice to be given to new owners.

In that time, I'm afraid I have on more than one occasion disagreed with advice given to me by vets, but this has never been in relation to medical matters, since I am not medically trained. The topic here, however, is not a medical matter, it is a behavioral/rearing one.

Maybe there will be responses from those who've had success with this method, but so far I don't see any posts which agree that just letting a new puppy be discovered in the garden by an older and established dog is a good idea. Quite the contrary in fact.

Renewed thanks for posting though 🙂

Holistic

The advice I posted is not just one given by some vets; breeders have been doing this for years with success rates. So whilst you personally may not find it a 'good idea' that does not mean the method does not work. Quite clearly it does for many!

Introducing two grown dogs to each other in this method is not what is advised; but for puppies only.

It is up to the person asking for the advice which method they will employ.

I just have to reply to this

We have an 11 year old Schnauzer and decided to get a puppy so we got Toby, he was bought into the house and placed inside an indoor pen for an hour whilst Heidi, sniffed around the house knowing something was up, we opened the door to the pen and of course Toby started racing around we opened the back door so he could go and relieve himself and of course we were all looking on and keeping close, when they found each other there was the startled look"hey how did you get here" but as a pup does Toby raced around and we just carried on with life.

We had NO problem what so ever and never have done.

If you want a laugh.....Toby sleeps with the cats who are 10,6 and 3, they are all from different litters..
In my opinion its the owners of unsociable animals that need the training after all, like children ...animals will sense fear from us and learn to accept what us humans like and dont like, they sadly can adopt the same attitudes towards things as humans do!