Getting a new puppy is an extremely exciting, new life adventure. Your puppy’s transition into your life should be as smooth as possible to ensure a loving, forever home is created with trust built by all parties. But if you’ve already got a dog, how can you make sure the transition is smooth and positive for everyone?
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Gradual introduction into your family is key
If you have an older dog, you want both members to accept each other. These dogs will hopefully be spending a lot of time together and their initial meetings should not be forced or rushed. Older dogs will have less energy than younger dogs. They may also struggle with arthritis making them slow down sooner which can affect play. Be careful the puppy does not overwork your older dog. Tired, agitated animals are much more likely to show signs of aggression making it difficult for trust to be rebuilt. This aggression may be displayed directly to the puppy but could also be shown towards other humans.
We advise that you control the length and intensity of ‘play’ time between your dogs. And ensure they have bonded well prior to allowing play. You can monitor how long it takes for your older dog to become fed up with playing. Young puppies do not understand social triggers very well; so they may not understand behavioural warnings from the older dog that they have had enough. Gradual introduction to children and other pets is strongly advisable too.
When both pets initially meet, ensure you have the ability to restrain each pet well
Having both pets on leads allows you to control how close they can get to socialise freely; but also allows you to pull the dogs away from each other should you need to. Leads are recommended so you personally, do not need to get too close to them, reducing the chance of putting yourself at danger.
Supervision is key when pets initially meet and should be continued as much as possible throughout their life. To start with, you should be able to restrain them. As you build trust within your pet and your pets begin to trust each other, you can remove leads then allow them to play freely. Having already owned the older dog, you may be able to pre-judge how they will react. But even well-known dogs can be very unpredictable in a new situation, so always be careful. Make sure everything is done step by step. The speed at which you move onto the next step will be very case dependent; analysing your pets’ behaviour and responses to each other is vital.
When can they be left alone together?
When deciding whether you are able to leave your pets alone together, there are a few things you should do beforehand.
Firstly, you should leave your dogs in a room together whilst you are in the house
This allows for distant supervision and monitoring of noise – trialling this with them both wearing leads to begin with could prove handy.
Once this has happened without incident, you can remove the leads
Having a set room that your dogs go in when they are left alone may help with routine formation, but please ensure your dogs have food and water in this room. Young dogs should not be left alone for longer than 4 hours at a time compared to adult dogs who may be able to go up to 6 hours alone.
It is important to reduce the amount of competition between pets
Separate beds allow each pet to have their own space should they want to. Older dogs and puppies need more sleep than average adult dogs, so allowing this difference is important. Some research suggests having more accessories (water bowls, food bowls and beds) than the number of pets is useful for developing positive relationships.
Having separate water dishes and food bowls limits competition and allows you to feed different nutrition values to each pet, allowing for specific dietary benefits. If one dog is starting to steal the other dog’s food, getting a microchip scanning feed bowl could help. These bowls scan the microchip on your pet, so they only open for the specific animal they are meant to be feeding, keeping others out.
Try to treat both dogs with a similar amount of attention
Your older dog will be used to getting all of the attention and, when a young, new dog arrives, undoubtedly it will be a challenge to receive the same amount of attention. Exercising your dogs together is a great way for both dogs to learn to love each other. Younger dogs learn so much from older dogs, from common commands to manners. With their key learning phase being up to 12 weeks of age, as soon as your puppy is able to go on walks (once they have had their vaccinations) we recommend you take them out.
If progress between your dogs is not being made, we recommend seeking advice from veterinary behaviourist sooner rather than later. They will be able to analyse the problems and create a personalised plan to follow.
To conclude, introducing a new dog to an older dog needs to be a gradual process. Both dogs need to accept each other and create a trustworthy, loving bond. Patience is required, and almost always rewarded!
Further reading:
- Introducing your new dog or puppy to your current dog – Dogs Trust
- Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians
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