One of the happiest times for any dog owner is the day they bring their new dog home. It can be a time of great excitement & joy (not to mention a bit of chaos & turmoil thrown in for good measure). Your dogs are likely used to a daily routine and a certain level of attention from you and the other members of the family. The addition of a new dog can change these patterns and upset even the most even-tempered dogs. Often dogs will suddenly exhibit territorial behavior or separation anxiety after the introduction of a new dog. If you take the time to prepare yourself & your current pets you’ll have a smoother, less stressful transition for everyone involved.
Tough Question
First and foremost you need to make sure you are actually ready for another dog. Don’t fall into the trap of listening to your emotions over logic. You need to consider all of the space, time, financial & energy commitments that an additional dog will involve. Be sure to think about not only the immediate burdens but also the continued responsibility throughout the life of the dog. It’s all too easy to get carried away in the excitement of getting a new dog and forget the reality of the long term. There will be more vet bills, sacks of dog food to buy (and carry), hair to vacuum off the carpets & of course poop to scoop. If all of that sounds doable to you then it’s time to make sure your pack is as ready to accept a new companion into the fold as you are.
A Solid Pack Foundation
The experience of bringing home a new dog will go far smoother if you’ve taken the time to build your dogs into a solid pack foundation. If you aren’t already using NILIF start using it as far in advance of bringing home the new dog as possible. You’ll especially want to focus on walking, dinnertime & door/greeting behaviors. On your daily walks start limiting urine marking to a few select stops & if you already have more than one dog encourage combined stops. You should also enforce sits at all stops and down/stay at all extended stops. Dinnertime and guests at the door should also be a chance to run your dogs through any commands you choose. By applying a sit, down, rollover etc. (never use a begging posture as a dinnertime command) you are cementing in your dog that you are top dog and nothing comes to them without your say so. During this time you should also use the power of NILIF to uber-socialize your dogs. Enforce sits and polite behavior at any meet & sniffs with other dogs and calm behavior at dog parks. You are now taking full charge and filling the shoes of the alpha dog role, lessening the chance that there will be hierarchy struggles once a new dog arrives.
Build Up From There
With the proper preparation your dogs should now be following you in your new leadership role and be fully accepting of all friendly dogs and humans you present to them. All of the hard work you put in will now pay off with a well balanced dog that will be able to handle the stresses of a new dog’s arrival. Moving forward the key is get all the dogs active together. They should all be going on walks, playing, eating & sleeping together. Use the power you have as the pack leader to quell any puppy uprisings and help them form friendships.
I’ll be covering additional tips and techniques for introducing a new dog to the home in a future article. I would go on in more length now but I think I’ll go take a hike in the woods with G.O.D., Kilroy & their new packmate Yolanda.
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
We recently introduced a new dog into our home. We have a 4 year old male and a 2 year old female. They get along great. The new dog is a 3 year old female. We are now having a issue with one of the females urinating in traffic areas on the carpet in various rooms. Not sure which one it is and don’t know what do do about it. Do you have any suggestions?
Donna,
First and foremost you must devise a way to determine which dog is the culprit. A little extra supervision combined with some segregated confinement when you can’t be there to supervise should do the trick. In any event if both females were solidly housebroken before the introduction then whoever is marking is likely doing it as a result of stress. Usually introductions become stressful when the dog is confused as to their place in the pack hierarchy. I would tighten up your pack structure by fully utilizing the NILIF program as well as making sure you are treating all 3 dogs equally. You are the pack leader. Make sure you instill that.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions. I’ll cover housebreaking issues and more on new dog introductions in future posts. Stay tuned in. :)
I am dog sitting an 18 month old golden female – Rosie. I have 2 mixes, 6 year old MN (Bruno)and 4 year FS (Cleo). Bruno & Rosie get on great but Cleo has some major aggression toward Rosie. Rosie will be with us for 2 weeks. what have I done? What can/should I do?
Mary Beth,
Take the 2 ladies for a walk. If you can’t handle them solo with Cleo being too focused on Rosie then enlist a helper. Through out the course of the walk slowly get them closer while keeping Cleo calm with vocal control/leash corrections as needed. Once you manage to get them walking right alongside each other Cleo should begin to warm up to Rosie (unless you failed to mention an underlying issue such as her being intact and in her heat cycle currently etc.)
Hope this helps. Keep in touch!
We have recently undergone great canine transition in our home. We have a 3 yr old male lab/hound mix that was raised with a LARGE aggresive male lab that was put down this past summer. After we put our lab down, I purchased (rescued) an australian cattle dog pup (male) from a mennonite farm (keeping and breeding dogs innappropriately) of all places who gets along well with our lab/hound mix…follow so far? 6 weeks max of integration between our 2 dogs, and lo and behold I rescue a badly neglected stray male plott hound who’s never been inside a house–he was in the road and another driver was playing with him but was reluctant to do anything so I took him and quarantined him from my other dogs until I got him to the vet. The plott is very smart and somewhat ignores the other dogs but is either friendly or neutral–sometimes even playful with the others. And he has to gain 15 pounds before I can get him neutered, the pup has 2 months to go before neutration, the hound/lab mix is neutered. My questions are these: At this point, the new dog, who is also the largest seemed more submissuve until this point, he now really growls at the puppy or dog if they are irritating him near food or being too playful. He also was not ‘licky’ but now as soon as we sit down, he comes over and is all licky and chompy–can that be stopped? Also, walking multiple dogs is tricky, is there a leash solution? Sorry this was so long!
Thank you to everyone. The dogs got on great. My niece brought her 3 for Thanksgiving and all 5 had a good time. I am now thinking of fostering on occasion as well as dog sitting Rosie. Thanks for your advice.
We have a 16 month female Lab, and are looking to introduce another female lab at 10 weeks to our household. What advice could you give me when introducing them together and sleeping arrangements.
Also at the moment we feed our dog 2 large meals a day, and when the new pup arrives we will be feeding her 4 times a day, how do we handle meal times?
i have a 5 year old black lab and he is the most loving, loveable dog. i just recently brought home a 9 week old yellow lab. my black lab is a little resntful and has become aggressive during feeding time which is a brand new emotion from him. how do i get a harmoneous pack?
We just brought a 14-mo. spayed female Sheltie into our home to live with our 2-yr spayed female Sheltie. Our older Sheltie has always been friendly and playful with other dogs but will not play with our new dog. The only time they are ok together is when I walk them. I am having to keep them seperated because Abby will attack Skye (new dog) with no provocation (that I can see). I am keeping them apart unless I am with them, and using leashes to maintain control. I feed them separately, and am trying to give them plenty of attention one-on-one. What else should I do? Thanks.
hi, i’m looking into rehoming a akita who is 3 years old. I already have one who is 14 months old and for the breed is very well behaved and socialises well with others. today i took her to meet the new dog… but on arrival i was prepared for him not to like her…. more like the other way round. after sometime she started to calm down. i wanting your advise on the next meetings at the animal home ( doing introductions to each other first) on how to get them to know each other without them wanting to kill each other..also if everything does go well how do i introduce him to the new home.. i was thinking of putting them in the back yard together when he first comes home so they can walk in at the same time? Thank you very much
Hi, i already have 2 dalmations one called Nikki she is 5 and the other called Jay he is 4, my parents have said yes to me getting my own puppy but they are worried that our other 2 dogs will attack iot as they are not really dog friendly Nikki took to Jay when we got him as a puppy but know they are older i dont know how they are going to react. I do not know what to do as i do not wont to get a puppy if its only going to get hurt but i have been thinking about this for many years know.
how would i go about getting my dogs know to get along with a little puppy?
how would i get them ready for a new member of our house joining them?
Please could you email me back letting me know how i would go about this
Thank you vary much
Samantha
We have a docile 8 year old female Brittany. 4 years ago we began caring for our next door neighbors male brittany. He was neutered at 6 months old. He has been aggressive with other dogs since he was a puppy and especially agressive to puppies although he has never shown aggression to our female. We are now day caring for a friends female Brittany. We’ve had to muzzle Jake when he visits because he has taken the puppy down twice and doesn’t stop until we pull him off. He continues to growl at the pup whenever he is approached by her. We are walking them all together and spending time with them all together. Is there something more that we can do to make Jake a better yard mate?
We have a 15 week old Labradoodle pup (male). I was recently offered a Yorkie pup (female) of about the same age. Can this size difference really work? It would work perfectly for us humans, but I want to be sure that the dogs will be ok together. They are both of the same temperament, but of course they are both still babies, so it’s hard to tell. Could this work?
Hey there!
just introduced a new dog – about 2 years old, x collie, ijto a home with an 8 year old lab!
she aint impressed, and will growl/bark about most things! – expecially when the new dog comes within a certain distant.
What to do??
thnk ya xxx
Hi i just brought home a 2 month pomeranian. my room mate has a boston terrier. my little one is almost house trained and will go on his pads. but one day i was getting ready for work and the boston terrier lifted his leg and went to the bathroom right in front of me in my room. he has also gone on the pad. i have tried to give both same attention and have punished to boston terrier as much as i can since he is not my dog but he just wont seem to stop peeing only in my room what do i do??
I have a 4 year old Shih Tzu-Lhasa mix boy (10lbs). I recently brought home a 1 and 1/2 year old (4lb) Maltese boy. My Shi is so mad. He hasn’t lunged or growled or bitten…but he is very stand off-ish and suddenly has a twitch type thing he is doing with his mouth. He is totally housebroken…but now refuses to go “potty outside” now. Any suggestions? He is depressed. He’s my baby. I give him a ton of attention. Why is he so mad?!
The exact thing is happening at my house as with Ashley’s house. I have a two-year old lab and she has been doing really well with both of my roommates. Just last month, one of my roommates got a new dog (7-year old American Eskimo) and now my dog is peeing in my roommate’s room. Only in her room. How do my roommate and I fix this?
About four years ago, I introduced a lab pup (fixed) to my existing to female dogs, both of which were about the same age (8) and both fixed, one a Dalmation and the other a German Shepard mix. After about 6 months they fought (major fight, $1000 in vet bills) over the pup, and never would get along after that resulting in getting rid of the German Shepard mix.
Two years later we brought home a Great Dane female pup, (fixed) and to date all get along well. The old (now 12ish) Dalmation is top dog, (excluding us) and is content to be left alone, the dane, now about 2-1/2, is second, and the lab mix, now about four is content to follow.
Now my question. I have an oportunity to bring home another Great Dane pup, male, not fixed but will be, about four months old. We are very happy with the other Dane as a bread and would love to get another, but I’m afraid of repeating what happened before.
None of our dogs have formal training but respond to basic commands well.
Any thoughts?
I hope you can reply soon as the dog is available this week.
I have a four year old Rottweiler/Pit Bull cross named Cali and two cats and have recently (two days ago) adopted a lab/Rodesian Ridgeback cross that is more a medium size dog whereas my current dog is much larger. They did fine meeting at the shelter and outside our home with no aggression whatsoever. They have tried to fight fairly badly however inside my house, the newer, smaller dog being the instigator, and have to be seperate except on walks. My husband and I have put up child gates and they are friendly greeting through these and when Shiloh, the new dog is in her crate. Any suggestions as to how my husband and I can help the new dog have a smoother transition into a new home and a new pack and the older dog be less tense about sharing her home?
Thanks,
Emily
Hi. I recently was given a 7 month old purebred golden retriever. I already have a golden retriever mix that is 10 years old. The dog that I already have is very attached to me and I treat him well. I want to be nice to the new dog and give him special attention, but then my other dog gets depressed and I don’t want that. Also, the new dog HAS NOT been fixed yet. If I get him fixed, will my other dog respond to him better? I want to be able to give them equal attention/love without one (especially my current dog) getting upset/jealous. What should I do?
Hi Zach,I’m having the same problem with jealousy between both dogs despite my best efforts to give them equal alone time with me. One idea that has worked for me, even when trying to include a new cat, is to give treats to each pet or in your case each dog at the same time and if they know basic commands, have them sit or down then get a treat. This way, they have something to focus on and are doing it at the same time with you. Playing games or playing with toys with both dogs at the same time is great too. Of course, make sure they don’t try to grab each others’ treats! Fixing a male or female dog can definitely help some behavior problems, but maybe someone with more medical backgound could answer that part of your question. Sometimes, it just takes time for the older dog to realize you still love him/her too. I have heard from a behaviorist I know and trust that it is very important to make sure the older or resident dog does not feel left out.Emily
I have a 2 yr old female redtick, not spayed, an 11 yr old female boxer/pit mix, spayed and HAD the redticks brother with us. ..we lost him about 4 months ago. We just(as in yesterday) adopted a 2.5 yr old, intact, male saint bernard. I have his history and know he is a very good boy..the family lost their jobs then their home and had to move to an apartment with some friends and with their 3 kids..no room for Brutus. So he has been very good. Listens to no great. He is hot and bothered for my 11 yr old…he will need to get fixed very soon. But the 2 yr old is a different story. She is upset and barks and growls all the time at him. Even if is walking by, ignoring her. She isnt biting or showing teeth. She has come up to him in the back yard and barked and growled. When I gave toys last night he slobbered on one and left it..she came right up and took it. Bit later he got it back and was chewing on it and she came running over, im thinking to take it away from him as she has with my other dogs…my 11 yr old will growl at her, her brother would let her have it, and he let out a nasty bark..first time i heard that..when she has been barking and growling he usually jumps back. I have taken things away from him while chewing and have had no issues. Is all this normal? plus, my dogs have their own room where they have a couch and 2 chairs..the saint is too big for any of it…i have read to not let animals on furniture…do i have to discontinue their use of their room?
Hi,
One year ago me and my family rescued an English Coonhound(2 yrs old), Bandit. He’s has been the only dog in my house for a year. Two days ago we adopted a Redbone Coonhound (5 yrs old), no name yet. Both are neutered. They get along fine on walks, but in the house Bandit will get aggressive and show his teeth and bark and lunge at him. The other dog will then bark and show his teeth as well. I was wondering how to help them get past this because we can’t have them in the same room off leashes, and I don’t want them to hurt each other. Is this just something that will take time? Or is there something I can do to help besides walking them together and having them in the same room with leashes on and pulling them away when they fight? Any help is greatly appreciated
We have 2 adult dachshunds: one 9 yr old male and 6 yr old female. Over Thanksgiving we intorduced a 1.5 year old dachshund male puppy to our pack. Our female, who is very dedicated to her mommy by always being at her mom’s side, is slowly becoming depressed. She is more calm in the day and not as spunky as she has been in the past. Actually, she doesn’t follow her Momma aound much anymore. Is there something we can do to encourage her to regain her spirited self? Do dogs regain there previous spunky and happy behavior after becoming use to a new pack memeber? Whart are the rules for introduction to a pack with a new dog so depression doesn’t affect a pack member?
Alyson´s last blog post..Milo: 1997-2008
We already have a 1-2 year old male rescue dog who is a collie x with german shepherd- he can be very attention seeking and slightly destructive to furniture and shoes on occasion. We have introduced a new dog today partly as company for him when we do have to leave him – again from a rescue home, she is a purebreed golden retriever – about 8 months old. She is very friendly and good natured but our male is very pushy and tries to provoke her into playing with him by nosebutting and barking at her – she is still nervous in her new home and also has only recently been spayed so is not ready for extremely physical games like he wants play, she ignores him but often feels cornered and scared by him. Have you any advice on how to curb his behaviour or to bring her out of her shell anymore?
i have 3year old male dog ,who is the most placid animal you could wish for i got a new dog two weeks ago alll hell broke lose im scared to death there so aggressive togother they walk fine but thats it wht am i to do ,i feel terrible i cant cope
hi claire,
i have the same problem though sadly no answer. my 5 year old yorkie who is my total baby, wont have anything to do with my 4 month old staffie. and now he wont have anything to do with me inside the house. he just stays upstairs and i feel so sad, i cant sleep or eat i just feel like maybe i have made a terrible mistake and dont know what to do. if you find any answers please let me know.
thanks
I have recently adopted a male greyhound as a companion to my female pitbull/boxer mix. They get along fine but lately I’ve noticed them competing more…if one gets a rawhide, toy, whatever then the other one runs to get theirs (usually it is the female). The female even tries to go out the door before the greyhound at times. Should I be worried? Should I stop it? I’ve just been monitoring it.
We have 2 American Pit Bull Terriers, the female is 4 and the male is 3. We have had some issues with aggression from our mail in the past. Recently we found a 6 month old Boxer female wondering the streets, and brought her home. Our male is obviously not happy. He growles when he walks by her cage, and shows his teeth. We introduced him to her outside of ‘his’ yard, both on leashes. He growled and barked, we tried again inside the fence, both on leashes, he tried to bite her. What are we doing wrong? And what should we do to correct this? we tell him to stop when he growles at her when she is in her cage, and make him leave the area, but really don’t know what to do other than this. Our female loves the new dog, and has found a playmate in her. We would really like to keep this Boxer, but don’t know how to handel the situation we have gotten ourselfs into. Thank you for any advice or suggestions!
L
We just added another dog to the family after the loss of one. He is a Japanese Chin that came from a puppy mill through a rescue. He is very withdrawn and unwilling to move, probably from being in a cage all the time. What can we do to make him want to move? We actually have to carry him outside, but he won’t go any way. We want to make him happy and energetic. Is it just a matter of time to get used to his new environment or is it a problem
i just got my gf a chow chow mix 2 years old named Mumble. she is so sweet and gentle. my gf has other dog named jojoe a 5 year old chow chow mix that is not giving mumble a chance. she just gets attacked by jojoe. what tip may help jojoe get along with mumble the new dog.
I have a Male Dachshound that is 7 Y.O. and a Female Feist (jack russel/rat terrier mix) that is 5 Y. O. and just introduced a 7 week old Female Chihuahua. The two older dogs have gotten along fine for about 4 years now (ever since I introduced the Feist into the home). The two older dogs like to roll on her. WHY? They play fairly well for about 5 minutes and then they both do this.
I had a black lab, 2 shelties and one pom and they have always gotten along. We brought in a black lab pup and one of the dogs attacked and mauled the pom. We do know that it was either one of the shelties or the puppy. Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening? I am at a loss but I must make some changes (like getting rid of the one that did it) so that my pom is not attacked again. I just can’t believe either would do something like that.
My female dog gets possesive of my male dog at he dog park and attacks dogs who come into the park and greet my boy. I don’t know what to do Can someone give me advice?
We rescued a new dog at the end of March, Lexi(female) is about a year old. She was not spay yet so we made an appt to take her back in May. We already had 2 dogs. Kane(male) and China (female) are both at least 6+ years. When we rescued Lexi we brought her home only to find out she was in heat. So since our male is NOT fixed we had to keep them separated which meant taking turns with the dogs being able to run about the house. We took Lexi back to the Rescue League to be fixed about 3 weeks ago. Now that she is fixed and feeling better I want to start to introduce the dogs again. Is their a right or wrong way to do this…I am still taking turns letting them run around the house and then just today let them all out together for a little while. Lexi is VERY high strung and all over the place, the commands I thought she knew didn’t work one big when she was with the other pups? Any suggestions??
thanks a bunch
I have introduced a new dog (spayed female, about 1 year) into my family. I currently have a collie (spayed female about 12 years old) and a male jack russell terrier (about 10years old). The new dog is a rescue and is very attached to me. Everything was fine the first evening, but now, the new dog chases away my collie and she is very depressed and won’t come in to sleep or play with her ball. Will this get better, what can I do to help or will they sort each other out eventually?
I have a 4 year old German Shepherd. She is loving and sweet, except “fear aggressive,” especially to humans. We tried to bring into the home a new “playmate,” a mixed breed male, only about 2 yoa. It was not good. The Shepard first smelled, licked, then snapped at the new dog. They would lay on the same porch and was quiet (whicj is a good sign for the shephers, becuase she usually keeps barking for quite a while – especially at humans), Any Adivise to make this work???
I just rescued a badly neglegted American Eskimo a few days ago (age 6 or older they had NO records for me). He lived in a home with a little pug that was ALWAYS chewing on his leg and biting him. It was clear the pug was the family favorite and the eskie just let him chew. This eskie was not aggressive at all to the pug so I figured he’d be nice to my dog I had at home.I have a 4 almost 5 year old easkie already at home (our resident dog). I introduced them like I had read and seen done before however the new dog (male) has NO interest in meeting my old dog (female). He won’t sniff her, play with her, even look in her dirrection. She has gone up to him to lick him but he just walks away. He loves to play fetch and “tries” to monopallized my attention, but I DO NOT let thais happen. I try and make sure my old dog knows she comes first. Tonight I noticed that my female was I guess you could say sulking. She had her head real low and she was just slowly walking around the yard. She won’t play with me or anything. I don’t know what to do, I feel so bad. They eat together fine and don’t fight. I don’t understand what is wrong here.
Hello everyone.
I live with my friend at the moment and we both have 3 y/o pugs a male and a female… they have known and lived with each other since they were puppies, my friend is moving out and taking her male pug with her..
I thought it would be a good idea to get a new friend for my female pug… so we now have a 8 week old border collie.. the male pug gets along really well with the new puppy but my female pug is very scared of her.. she isnt showing signs dominance but more being submissive.. she is normally pretty good at standing up for her self when it comes to her not being happy with the male pug.. im not sure what it is…I am giving her plenty of love and neither of them are getting more attention than the other.. does anyone have any ideas of what i can/ should do??
hi
i have a 1 year old lab / pitt mix who is a total social butterfly. she gets along with everybody and every dog she meets. she’s about 50 pounds and just happy all the time. i have this dog at work (i manage a boarding and grooming kennel) who is a 5 year old bull mastiff. he looks like he will be needing a home and i want to take him in. only problem is we don’t really know his history.
how have other people handled this situation? should i just bring him home and hope he doesn’t become aggressive? he seems fine at work, but i’ve never had them off leash together for the fear that he will attack my mix. he seems friendly, fits the “gentle giant” category very well as far as we can tell.
just curious about other people’s experiences if you have any comments i’d love to hear them.
thanks!
Hello!
I have a 10 year old Patterdale terrier (Shadow), and for the past two years he has lived by himself with my husband and I. He has previously lived with my Mom’s Jack Russell, and he did fine.
When we take Shadow on walks he is somewhat aggressive towards other dogs, but off of leash he seems to do much better. He has made friends previousley, and does fine with those dogs.
We recently adopted a 16 month old Patterdale, and at times they are fine together but at times Shadow gets really aggressive towards her. I think a lot of it is jealousy. What can I do?
Hi
We are planning to get a new German Shepherd pup soon but we are worried about how to introduce the male to existing dog.They r both males n the dogs r both diff. breeds.The existing male dog doesnt like to hv anything to do with other dogs. he is also very snappy.I will be grateful 4 any advice on how 2 introduce them.
Thks.
We’ve dogsat a Welsh Terrier several times and will be doing so again in a couple of weeks, she’ll be with us for 10 days. Until 2 weeks ago we have been dogless for a year and a half. 2 weeks ago we adopted/rescued 2 miniature dachshunds. Do you have ideas about how best to introduce everybody to each other?
thanks!
We’ve brought a new male german shepherd 8-week old puppy into our home. We have two dogs, one a female shepherd/shibu ina mix (we think) and the other a male schnoodle. We’ve never had any problems with either of them. Everything is going well but last night the female was laying on my daughters bed and when she went to move her the dog gave her a gutteral growl. She’s never been the least bit aggressive toward anyone in the family before. I (as the alpaha) went over and moved the dog and put her to the floor. At that point I roller her on her back and had all my kids come over and rub her belly. Do you think this is a sign of the female trying to readjust her place in the pack or a bit of “jealousy” over the new dog?
I have a 5 month year old hound dog mix named marley and i just got a 2 year ol pomeranien channel. Channel is scared of marley because he is very hyper and has never been around small dogs. hopw can i get them to get along and play nice together?
hi im looking for any advice anyone might have in introducing a new puppy to my other two dogs one is male staffie 2 1/2yrs the other is a female patterdale cross 2yrs old my male is nuetured and very docile i dont think they would be a problem with him. but my female dog can be a little bit bossy!! im abit worried she might cause problems? in setteling them in together i really want a dalmatian not sure also on wheather to get a male or female? i prefered to have a female but are they worse for aggession ect?