Bringing a new dog home - how do I introduce him to my other dog?

billythefish1

Hi all

Hoping you might be able to help here. I have a German Shepherd but she sits out our back garden alone a lot of the day so we've decided to get her some company. We've picked a Terrier cross from a rescue shelter. He's being neutered this week so we'll be picking him up next week.

My dog is fine with other dogs when we put her into kennels but she gets quite aggressive with other dogs when myself or my wife are around. It's like she's feeling we have to be protected from them.

Can anyone who is in the know about these things suggest how I should introduce the two? I was thinking about just letting them go at it and sorting it out themselves, possibly with muzzles on.

Anyone any better ideas?

Cheers

Billy

ppink

We have a female GSD who is dog aggressive. We got another male from rescue and put a lot of though into the intro as we wanted to give it the best chance of working. When we brought the other dog home I dropped him and my OH off at a neutral location 5 mins walk from our house. Then I went and picked up our female and brought her along. Initially she went for him and grabbed him by the neck but it was all a bit of handbags really. He did not react and she got a surprise by this:D. So I just took one in each hand and started walking them around and after 20mins or so walked them home. We were a little worried leaving them off together (just in case) but it was incredible to see. They played solidly for hours...running and chaasing and having a great time.
I am pretty sure if we just "arrived" home onto her patch it would not have gone as well. They slept in the same bed....squashed in together!

You are right to put a lot of thought into it as the intro will probably define the realationship.
Best of Luck

lorebringer

Introduce them on neutral ground (maybe along where you usually bring your current dog for a walk) and let them check each other out. Them walk along with the new dog, all very casual, and see how they react. Don't force them to interact or try to get their attention towards the other dog, all in their own good time. Bring the new dog into the house (walking home), without any fuss, and maybe keep them on the leads for a little bit - perhaps go out into the back garden and let them all have a sniff - keeping it very casual. Once you feel comfortable, let them off in a large area (eg. garden) so that if there is a fight they can be separated easily. If, at this point, that are doing well you can praise them - maybe a few rubs etc. - but don't focus on one dog.

Just remember, if you get stressed your dog will so be very blasé about everything when they meet. Your current dog may be a bit confused because it will be you or your OH with the new dog so she may be a bit weirded out, so you will need to be extra careful she doesn't get stressed out. If you want to muzzle her when you are introducing the new dog you could but this could increase her stress be more of a hindrance than a help. In the house, remove any food, toys etc. that she could be protective over and may fight with the new dog about. Don't leave them alone together, let them sleep in the same room or feed them in the same room until you are sure they will be ok together. There will be fights, there always is when a new dog is introduced into the house, but let them settle little ones on their own because they are just establishing who is boss.

Good luck!

clevercanines

There are loads of ways to do it. Here's another way you could try.
Have you GS brought for a walk & go home with the new dog.
Settle the new dog into a cosy crate & when the Gs comes home just act as if the new dog isnt even there, let her discover him herself. He is safe inside the crate if anythng kicks off. If you think there is a problem I wouldnt let them off unsupervised together until you feel they are both safe & used to each other. Walking them together will help imensly.
On another note, does your GS come in the house or does she sit out alone by choice?

PaulB91

my own experience (slightly reversed) I got a GS out of the rescue in Aug, to be honest i would have liked to get things set up a little better but as they wouldn't hold onto her for even a day i was forced to take her without time to get things ready, so you've got a headstart ;o)

the dog i had already was a boxer/lab who could be aggressive on his own "patch" so anyway I got home with the GSD in the car (with no collar or lead) popped in the house and got a spare, popped it on and left her in the car, went back in to change quickly into the dog walking gear, got my the lab/boxer on his lead and brought him out to the front of the house (car parked in street) got the GSD out of the car, big old growl from the GSD, thought "here we go this is going to be interesting", but then took them both for a 4 mile walk, one either side, and they where fine, got back to the house and left them off in the back garden, no problems, did keep them seperate during the day (as i was at work) just to be safe until i could watch them at the weekend, but never had any problems, the GSD did growl again after they where seperated for a week about a week after getting her as they where in seperate kennels but settled down quite quick.

so in my limited experience, neutral ground and go for a walk - also, i heard/saw that dogs treat other dogs in the house hold/pack in the same manner as the pack leader, so if you make sure that both dogs are petted equally they should see that and understand to bond - dogs are after all pack animals

Fink Goddie

German Shepherd this is Terrier Cross
Terrier cross this is German Shepherd

PaulB91

Fink Goddie wrote: »

German Shepherd this is Terrier Cross
Terrier cross this is German Shepherd

now you see you got that backwards, should always introduce the visitor first for correct etiquette

Fink Goddie

PaulB91 wrote: »

now you see you got that backwards, should always introduce the visitor first for correct etiquette

Doggie etiquette is the opposite way around

PaulB91

Fink Goddie wrote: »

Doggie etiquette is the opposite way around

hence the growl from my "visitor" the GSD - i obviously upset her -

Fink Goddie

PaulB91 wrote: »

hence the growl from my "visitor" the GSD - i obviously upset her -

I'm a dog whisperer so if ya need any advice just bark at me

namurt

I would definitely agree with ppink and lorebringer. That's pretty much what we did (although we were lucky because we got our second dog from Dogs Trust so they had met 3 times before we brought her home). I waited with new addition a few minutes from home while OH went and got Truman. We then let them meet the same way we'd let Truman meet any willing dogs on a normal walk, brought them for a walk and then walked in home together. They had their few little tiffs, and still do occasionally, but unless it's getting out of hand it's better to let them sort things out for themselves.

billythefish1

Folks, thanks very much for the helpful replies. I wouldn't have thought of doing it on neutral ground. Great advice. Roll on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes.

F.Galway

How did you get on? No disagreements I hope.

billythefish1

Hi all

Well, we brought the dogs onto a nearby rugby pitch and there was a bit of argy-bargy. Old dog kept chasing new dog away. Old dog baring teeth and snapping at new dog. Doggie version of handbags really. So, we put them on leads and walked them around for a while.

Then, I took both leads and walked them on either side of me, then on the same side. They were fine once they were on leads. No more drama there.

Got them back to the back garden at home and more snapping but that stopped once we put them into the dog pen.

At this stage, new dog - who has just recently been neutered - is trying to mount old dog (not sure if the motive dominance or sexual). Old dog just seems to want nothing to do with new dog. New dog tries to butt in when I'm petting old dog so old dog goes off and sulks.

Sure it's still early days but any opinions at this stage would be welcome. They're still kinda jostling for position at the moment so that should be interesting...

PaulB91

just continue to show them both the equal amount of affection and attention, and if one is butting in while your petting the other just make sure you take control of the situation as you are "top dog"

Jaxxy

PaulB91 is right, you're the boss, you're in charge. Once both dogs realise this they will stop jostling for position with each other. Continue to walk them together as you're doing, as was said treat them both in the same manner. They'll make friends eventually

As for the humping thing I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have two neutered males, one Shepherd and one Shepherd/Lab cross. They're always trying to roide each other. Not sure if it's a dominance thing or they just get excited when they're playing. Either way it's lulzy and something all dogs do regardless of sex or whether or not they still have the bullets in the gun!