Introducing a New Puppy

Introducing a New Puppy. They were shocked when the older dog growled.

They are very concerned because Fen growled at the new puppy.

introducing a new puppy - Pug

Bailey

I look at this very differently. Hooray for the older dog growling!

The thirteen-week-old pug puppy is let free in the room, in Labrador Fen’s room, and gets a bit too familiar too soon. If Fen didn’t growl they would never know that she was feeling uneasy or threatened and then what might happen?

Bailey is delightful. He is brave and playful as a puppy ought to be. Fen is now eight years old and doesn’t want to be jumped all over and that is fair enough. So she gives a warning growl. The puppy understands what that means but the the humans get alarmed.

Fen has been less patient of late with other dogs when out and they are afraid she may hurt the puppy.

I have seldom met a more patient and tolerant dog than Fen. Even when out she very rarely has reacted to another dog and then only when provoked. Their older dog had died and Fen probably feels a bit more anxious now without her.

The lady and the young daughter in particular are anxious. Very wisely they now have puppy Bailey in a crate when the two dogs are in the same room.

Introducing new puppy to black labrador

Fen

Fen is absolutely fine with sniffing Bailey through the bars. She is perfectly relaxed in the same room as her but she doesn’t want to be jumped on or interfered with. She needs to get used to him first.

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People often do things the wrong way round.

One thing I find is that people usually restrain the older dog on a lead and let the puppy bound all over the place. This is wrong.

It should be the puppy that is restrained on lead. Fen can then sniff and interact with him if and when she wishes, knowing that she can escape out of his reach at any time.

They also need the kitchen door gated so that puppy can have freedom from the crate and people can relax. If they are constantly worrying and can’t leave both dogs alone, Fen is sure to pick up on it. Introducing a new puppy through a gate works best. Both dogs are free – and safe.

Good associations should be actively built up and with Fen food will work best. At the gate, or when Bailey is in the same room and on lead, she can be fed tiny and specially tasty bits of food – and so can Bailey

The garden is a great place to introduce a new puppy. The puppy on lead with older dog free (perhaps trailing a lead if the people are anxious).

It’s important that little Bailey doesn’t experience provoked aggression or anger from Fen at this crucial stage in her life. She needs to know that other dogs are nice and she should grow up to be a gentle and sociable adult dog herself. A little later when the two are freely together, any play that becomes too rough should be interrupted immediately for the same reason.

I shall go back soon when puppy has settled in. We are already working on toilet training and will look at some clicker training and introducing a new puppy to walking on lead.

We will also do some basic work with Fen on walks, to make sure she’s not put into a position where she is forced to react to other dogs by being too close and unable to escape.

I love jobs where it a case of introducing a new puppy.

Here is a cute video of Bailey. I had given him my puppy toy to keep him busy. Is it alive?

 

NB. For the sake of the story and for confidentiality also, this isn’t a complete ‘report’ with every detail, but I choose an angle. The precise protocols to best use for your own dog may be different to the approach I have worked out for Bailey and Fen. Finding instructions on the internet or TV that are not tailored to your own dog can do more harm than good as the case needs to be assessed correctly, particularly where introducing dogs to one another is concerned. One size does not fit all so accurate assessment is important. If you live in my own area I would be very pleased to help with strategies specific to your own dog (see my Get Help page)

Rehomed Older Dog

Oldies Club Border Terrier

Max

As is often the case with a rehomed older dog, it’s impossible to know how that dog will be when he has had time to settle into his new home and a totally different lifestyle. When a dog has probably spent his recent years shut indoors, it is hardly surprising when there are issues around other dogs.

Dear little Max, age eleven, has been rehomed by Oldies Club. Like many older dogs, he has been the loved pet of a person who through age or infirmity has no longer been able to look after him properly. Max now has a new lease of life living with an active couple and their other Border Terrier, thirteen year old Katie.

Elderly Border Terrier

Katie

Because there were dogs that he was fine with, it was assumed he would be okay with all dogs. The new owners got a shock when, soon after they had brought him home, Max and a relative’s small dog, as soon as they clapped eyes on one another, broke into a fight. Since then there have been some other incidents resulting in walks not being enjoyable and the couple now having to curtail some of the previous activities they had enjoyed with the placid and dog-friendly Katie.

Having asked lots of questions to get a good feel for the situation against a background of the great many dogs and people I have been to, I got a clear picture of what needs to be done.

Like so many dogs, the issue may be of other dogs on walks, but there are things to put in place first at home in order to optimise their strategies when out. I likened it to a tripod – three ‘legs’ to hold firm and ‘other dogs out on walks’ to then be placed on top (house built on rock, not sand).

The first thing is to address the barking at dogs from his own home. There is a truly aggressive-sounding dog the other side of the fence so there is a lot of boundary running and barking from the two of them, filling Max with fear and honing his dog-aggression skills. He also is on watch at the front window from the back of the sofa. Not only can the couple take responsibility for danger and lookout duty, they can also do some serious desensitisation and counter-conditioning work in their own garden.

The second thing is that both dogs are overfed with food left down all the time. We preferably want to be able to work with food so Max has to be a bit more hungry and food needs more value – so they have work to do rationing food and making it harder to come by.

Thirdly is to keep his general stress levels as low as possible. They have already noticed that his ‘aggression’ episodes have taken place after a run of minor things has occurred that will have gradually stacked up – loading the gun so to speak.

With these things in place, they can now work on the ‘other dogs’ issue. We have a step-by-step plan.

NB. The precise protocols to best use for your own dog may be different to the approach I have worked out for Max, which is why I don’t go into exact details here of our plan. Finding instructions on the internet that are not tailored to your own dog can do more harm than good. One size does not fit all. If you live in my own area I would be very pleased to help with strategies specific to your own dog (see my Get Help page).

Older Chocolate Labradors in their New Home

2choclabs1 2choclabs2.jpgLily, 9, and Jack age 12 do everything in tail-wagging tandem! It is such a good thing that these two older dogs were rehomed together and hopefully they both have quite a few years left in their wonderful new home of just three months.

They must have been well loved in their previous life as they are friendly with all people and adore children. They walk beautifully on lead and come back when called.

This job was a real delight for me. The people want to make sure that the rest of their new dogs’ lives are as good as they possibly can be whilst ironing out one or two problems.

They bark at 5am for the day to start and, until I suggested they were ignored, someone has come down to them so that inadvertently they were teaching them to keep barking early morning.

They also jump up at the lady in particular and she is bruised. Again, their reaction is reinforcing jumping up and not showing them what to do instead. So long as they are consistent and patient (which they are) jumping up will soon be a thing of the past. Excitement and jumping is also rewarded with meals and walks, so they will wait for calm and feet on the floor now.

There have been some problems with indoor toileting in certain strategic places – marking possibly – and I’m sure this is just due to their settling in to their new life after a time in kennels.  Jack is on some medication which is upsetting his tummy.

The retired couple are absolutely in love with their new dogs and their family and grandchildren adore them. They really are the perfect family pets.

By the way, the couple found their dogs through the The Oldies Club.  If you would like to give a dog a home for the latter part of his or her life, take a look.