[vat]

I will be picking up Callan this Friday and wanted to share my plan on introductions. This will be the first time I have brought in an older dog, done puppies before.

Ok So Max is 10 mo and Callen is 7 yrs, they met at my breeders last weekend and got along fine. However Max has not had a dog in his home since we lost our female this past May, but he gets along great with all dogs outside home.

Since I will be alone here is my plan and please any advice is very welcome. I will pick her up (40 min drive) and when we get home I planned to walk her a bit to see how she is on leash. I then planned to take her in the back yard and introduce her. Then into the house where Max will be in his crate, I will crate her (next to him) and then let him out to sniff around. I am sure he will be barking his fool head off. From here I am not real sure, thought I would play it by ear. Maybe once he settles down I can get them both outside, I think I will put him on his leash and just let her come out?

My breeder also said to give them each a bully in their crates, if they can sleep together and chew together they will get along great. I do not worry about them getting along since they have met, just the first few hours maybe funky.

 

[APBTLove]

I personally would not even do a meet and greet the first day, she will be stressed... a -1hr drive to a completely new place with pretty new people, smells, sounds, sights.. I'd keep them apart and let her rest. Take a blanket or towel and get her smell all over it so he can check it out that night.

If you don't want to wait, either way -

If she is not reactive to him, one of you walk her and slowly bring him up from the behind and walk him letting him see she's not threatening, if she doesn't care let him get a butt sniff in after he and she are calm.

Move them so that they are walking next to each other, with humans in the middle, just let them get comfortable in each other's presence. Do this for a while - 15 mins or so is what I do.

Find a fenced place that he hasn't been to before and get permission to use it, and then if they're doing good let them meet and greet there, if they do well let them go play/explore.

Make SURE she is not food aggressive and neither is he, if you decide to give them bully sticks in crates next to each other... If one gets riled up it could really screw up their bonding.

I'd crate them next to each other while you're gone, night time ect. just keeping them together as much as you can is good.

And I'll tell you, them eating and sleeping next to each other is no magical sign they'll be buddies for life... Mine at together, played and slept together and the next second wanted blood.

 

[vat]

Thanks for the advice I will keep all of this in mind. I am hoping hubby will not be at work to late so he can help but I just can not be sure. Luckily they have met already and I think that will help a great deal. Also she is used to being around allot of dogs, right now my breeder has her separated from her pack. She said it helps with the transition.

 

[doggiedad]

since the breeder is so close i would
take my dog to the breeder so they
can get together a few times before Friday.
if you can't do that i would have someone
else there when i bring the new dog home.
i would hold (leashed) my dog and let the other
person hold the new dog. i would take them for a walk
and then bring them home and let them play in the yard
while supervised. once in the house i why continue to
watch them. if i had to leave them alone one of them
would be crated. maybe you should crate both of them
when you're not there. they definitely would be seperated
when i couldn't watch them. once you know they're ok
with each other then they can be together.

do you have two food bowls and two water bowls?
i'm not sure what to do about having toys and bones
laying around. you'll have to feel that out.

 

[vat]

I do have enough bowls. I have all the toys in a toy box. I have picked up any left over bones and thrown them out. Max is not a real toy hound, balls now that is another story. I will have to play this one by ear.

Thanks, I am loving all this advice, gives me lots to think about and ideas if I run into issues.

 

[ShenzisMom]

Question-I have always heard keep the dogs apart until completly trained(at least the basics) when it came to puppies. Why are adults best kept crated next to eachother?

 

[JKlatsky]

Here's the thing. Clearly you have time. There really is no rush to get everyone together on the first day. Every time I have a new dog in the house, I let the old dogs get used to the dog just being there- through crates and by smelling the new dog in the yard. I keep everyone separate for a couple of days. Once everything is nice and calm and everyone seems to pay no mind or is calmly friendly through the crates, I walk the dogs together. Everything looks good there that's when I start letting them loose- BUT I keep a careful eye on anything that could be a resource. Toys, Water bowls, favorite floor space, me...I try to monitor those situations and remove the problem before it becomes a problem.

I basically follow a modified Leerburg procedure.
Leerburg | Introducing a Dog into a Home with other Dogs

Again, it's not like you don't have time to make the introduction go as smoothly as possible. Take your time and don't be impatient to just see everyone together, and I bet it goes great.