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Introducing New Pup To Existing Dog


Snoopy21
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I've got a new pup on the way (and I'm pretty excited :thumbsup: ). What is the ideal way to introduce her to our current dog? Raff is 4 and is usually great with other dogs, and gentle when meeting puppies but he's had a year of being an only dog after Willow died last year. Pup is flying to us, so no chance of a pre-meet.

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Set up a playpen or largish crate to put pup in and let Raff greet without being jumped on or pup getting frightened of his advances (if he's a bit boisterous or feeling nervy).

Every time I get a foster, I set them up in a large crate before I let the resident dogs meet them one at a time... just a bit of a barrier in case one or the other isn't fussed at first.

T.

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I agree with tdierikx :)

Thats what i did, but be careful as after the initial meeting which went great I thought they'd be good with everything but turns out the older dog guards some toys from the puppy and is a bit edgy with treats being given on the ground (but not to him directly) too which he never was before/with my previous dog or with any humans

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I supervised contact very closely. When I went out the pup went into the bathroom. That happened for about a month till pup was a bit bigger (2.5 kg when he came home, so tiny). Then he was in a play pen when I went out. Again about a month. Then I painted, so both were in the yard while I was painting. That was an excellent way of giving them alone time but being close enough to surreptitiously supervise. That led in well to me returning to work and the dogs being home alone.

The bigger dog was very good with the pup. There were two instances where I stepped in as she was a bit nasty but she was excellent with him all in all. We both loved midday nap time, when the wild rascal had a nap for a few hours.

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Basically, only thing you need to do when introducing new members of your furry family to each other is supervise, supervise, supervise.

Puppies especially tend to be full on, so a playpen, as tdx mentioned above, is an easy way to keep them safely separate but well aware of each other for those times when you cannot put 100% of your attention to supervising.

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Exciting times. My boy (now 8) had a long interstate flight. I'd borrowed a smallish crate for his puppy travelling (had bigger ones for later. My girl .. 6 at the time .. always came everywhere with me in her wire crate in the car, so she came with me to the airport for the pick up. I had some chicken in case the pup was hungry, so I sat on tailgate of the station wagon I had at the time, with the pup, and let Kirra sniff him and see him from her crate, feeding chicken to her .. and him if he wanted it. So she got the message that this newcomer came complete with yummy treats for her, which gave her a good feeling about him from the start. Then he went into his airline crate, and we all travelled home. Then it was supervision, crates, play pen etc. etc.

It took her about 2 weeks of telling him who actually was in charge of the house, before she decided he was fit to stay, and demanded that he play with her. They've been best buddies ever since. I was lucky too in that he'd been well raised in his litter, and particularly by a grumpy grandma who while she was good with the pups, was a firm disciplinarian. :D

Good luck with the new addition. And don't forget we need photos. :laugh:

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I didn't take my older girl to the airport when I collected my latest dog. She isn't great with other dogs and especially puppies and I seriously thought I'd have an interesting time on my hands. Puppy was allowed free time to explore when we got home before being put away in her puppy pen and my older girl let out to explore and say hi from the other side of the puppy pen. After about 24 hours my older girl was trying to get the puppy to play and they have been friends ever since.

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It all went well and Riff Raff is actually quite smitten by his baby sister. He got extremely over excited at first (he does this sometimes) - dilated pupils, excessive drooling, dashing back and forth and jabbing her with his nose. But wth some gentle praise and guidance from us, he soon got the idea, calmed down and gently sniffed instead. 24 hours later saw them sharing a bed for an afternoon nap. Both are inviting each other to play, and seem happy in each other's company.

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