New Puppy And Older Dog

[charliehotel]

Hi Everyone,

On Saturday I adopted a 6 month old female lab x (Minna) as a companion for my 6 year old male x breed (Donnie). So far they get along really well, but I'm wondering how much I should be involved in sorting out who gets what status in our new pack? Obviously I have to be the top dog, but I'm not sure if I should just let Donnie and Minna sort out the next positions themselves or if I should actively be involved in keeping Donnie as my number 2 (which personally I would prefer as I've had him longer, and also he is well behaved which I'm hoping I can use to influence Minna's training) with Minna as my number 3. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

charlie

[dogwoman]

As the original dog in the house, Donnie deserves to maintain his position in the pack. You can help this by giving him his food before the new pup and make sure they have their own place for their food bowls and beds. They should sort themselves out, providing that the new pup is not dominant. Try not to give too much attention to the pup in front of Donnie.

[charliehotel]

thanks for those tips, so far things seem to be working out okay......I'm actually amazed at how patient Donnie is with Minna. There were a few times when I thought she was going to end up dominating over him, because he puts up with so much from her, but when it counts he puts her back in her place. And he is also much calmer now that he has company. They are currently sharing the futon in front of the heater and Minna is cleaning Donnie's feet!!!! :p