Anyone with more than one dog?

Killme00

What is the best way to introduce the new pup to the home? I rescued a pup from dog in distress and brought her home yesterday. She is about 8 weeks old and abit small. My current dog was a little jealous, when playing she seems a bit rough and trys to pin the little one down. I know they will eventaully settle down ( which the did last night when they fell asleep ) but how much should i let them away with? When it gets too rough, i have been putting them both into their crates but i would be grateful if anyone has any tips on how to make it easier on the two of them.

jameshayes

Your eldest dog will do one of 2 things, Stay the 'leader' as she has been until now, or she will allow the new dog to become dominant, because the new dog is a pup and the both dogs are female, I would imagine the eldest dog is simply 'putting your new dog in her place' you should always care to your eldest dog first, eg. Put her food bowl down first, rub her first when you come in etc. this will re-enforce her dominance and will help keep order.

Try get some alone time with you eldest dog too, bring her for a walk alone, take her into another room etc..

Some people dont like their dogs fighting at all, but it's like humans, if you dont let them get it out of their system - it will build up (IMO) if my dogs want to have a barney i'd normally let them - of course i would never let it go to far.

Whispered

I agree with james, make your original dog feel "favourite" greet her first, feed her first and try get some time with just you and her. But remember that the pup is quite young so make sure your older dogs knows that while she's "more important" than the puppy, you're still the boss and the puppy belongs to you so she has to respect that.

How is the puppy getting on? Any pics? What did you call her?

fits

From a different perspective, I'd be very wary of showing much favouritism (as it could inadvertently create resentment). I wouldnt give your old dog any more or less attention, and I'd be enforcing rules with the new arrival from the start.

Start as you mean to go on.

There can be problems in houses with two dogs of the same sex, particularly bitches, so keep an eye on them. I have two dogs (as in not bitches) and they get on very well as they have very different personalities and interests, but I could see problems arising if they were both interested in the same things. But lots of people seem to escape without problems in this regard.

Killme00

helena.ryan wrote: »

How is the puppy getting on? Any pics? What did you call her?

Hi Helen,

She is getting on great. We have decided to stick with the name Ellie. Pics to follow amarach.

I dont really want to reward negative behaviour by paying attention to Bailey so both are being put in their crates when it become too vigourous. Im a bit wary that i should be letting them sort it out themselves to a certain extent. I am going to walk them together tonight for a short while. After that ill give Bailey her regular walk and my partner can take Ellie home so she can explore the house alone for a while. I know it will take time for both to adjust, i just done want any injuroes in the meantime.

peasant

The biggest potential point of conflict is food.
As the pup will need more (small) feeds anyway, I'd suggest feeding them in seperate rooms so that no dog has access to the other ones food.

The second one is attention
The pup will need lots of it, because it needs training and looking after. On the other hand it will also need a lot of quiet time to sleep (pups need to sleep lots). It's during those times that you can focus on your older dog, so that it doesn't feel left out and doesn't get jealous.


As for keeping general order:
I wouldn't worry too much about "dominance" and "leadership" just yet. At 8 weeks your pup is a long way from making any claims in that direction and your other dog knows that as well.
If your older dog is properly socialised, you will actually see that it will let the puppy "win" every so often during play to boost its confidence and generally let it away with quite a bit of naughtyness. Only later on (or when she's simply had enough) will she put an end to the foolery.

I would recommend not to bother with trying to prop up the "leadership" of one dog over the other. These matters are not as clearly defined as some people think and can be quite fluent in a small group.
Set a general set of rules and a sort of "maximum noise level" that you will tolerate and only step in when that is exceeded. Other than that try to treat both dogs equally and equally fair to the best of your ability and otherwise leave them to sort out things between themselves.

Seperating the dogs and putting them into their crates is a pretty severe measure and should be reserved for "punishment" rather than keeping discipline.

In order to keep the noise down and the play from turning too rough, just oversee affairs and let them know verbally (a "hey" or a sharp "ah, ah" will do) when you think it's too much.

Also a very good opportunity to teach them "stop", "quiet" and "here" over time.

fits

Excellent post as ever Peasant.

Killme00

peasant wrote: »

The biggest potential point of conflict is food.
As the pup will need more (small) feeds anyway, I'd suggest feeding them in seperate rooms so that no dog has access to the other ones food.

The second one is attention
The pup will need lots of it, because it needs training and looking after. On the other hand it will also need a lot of quiet time to sleep (pups need to sleep lots). It's during those times that you can focus on your older dog, so that it doesn't feel left out and doesn't get jealous.


As for keeping general order:
I wouldn't worry too much about "dominance" and "leadership" just yet. At 8 weeks your pup is a long way from making any claims in that direction and your other dog knows that as well.
If your older dog is properly socialised, you will actually see that it will let the puppy "win" every so often during play to boost its confidence and generally let it away with quite a bit of naughtyness. Only later on (or when she's simply had enough) will she put an end to the foolery.

I would recommend not to bother with trying to prop up the "leadership" of one dog over the other. These matters are not as clearly defined as some people think and can be quite fluent in a small group.
Set a general set of rules and a sort of "maximum noise level" that you will tolerate and only step in when that is exceeded. Other than that try to treat both dogs equally and equally fair to the best of your ability and otherwise leave them to sort out things between themselves.

Seperating the dogs and putting them into their crates is a pretty severe measure and should be reserved for "punishment" rather than keeping discipline.

In order to keep the noise down and the play from turning too rough, just oversee affairs and let them know verbally (a "hey" or a sharp "ah, ah" will do) when you think it's too much.

Also a very good opportunity to teach them "stop", "quiet" and "here" over time.

Thanks for the response peasant.

I am feeding the pup seperately at the moment as she is on three feeds a day wheras Bailey is only on two (and being a beagle/greedy she would like to eat most of the time). I gave them both a treat together by making them sit and rewarding them both with an individual treat which worked well.

Bailey has also laid down and let the pup jump on her (aka let her win once in a while). Ill try the maximum noise level approach. Sounds good and wont let things get too vigorous. Sometime the play just looks a bit too much especially when chasing. You're right about it being a good time for some more training like the quiet or settle command.