[neupane00]

hey guys, need tips on adding a new dog.
1. current dog- small breed - male havanese- will be 10 months in August.
2. new dog - female german shepherd - will be 2 months old when i get him.

now my question is, since i dont have biggest of apartments. Should i send my current havanese to my relatives house for about 2 weeks? that i will give me more time to work with new german shepherd and bond with him? AND THEN bring havanese back? or should i introduce new dog and old dog starting day 1?

(will your answer change if i bring 1 year old gsd instead of 2 months old?)

 

[jasonGSD01]

I am going to be in the same boat come thursday,. Here is what i plan on doing. Since my little coton dog is not agrissive at all and loves to play. I plan on bring in the new 10 weeks GS, i will have a friend help me and have collars and leads on both dogs and let them sniff eachother. Im not worried that theres going to be a fight or anything but i want the leads on in case the GS pup gets to excited or vise versa and someone gets hurt by playing to rough. Then take them out in the back yard and let loose the leads and see what happens. To be honest Im not really worried and should go smoothly, its the next few days or so you have to watch out for. When one decides they want to domanate the other.

 

[neupane00]

my worry is that if there is old dog present, i wont get as much time to bond with new guy.. and atleast start teaching him some house rules. if alone with new puppy, i can devote more time to him. any thoughts?

 

[onyx'girl]

I would keep both dogs in the place, don't send your havanese away. You can still spend alone time with the pup. And you should spend time with the "old" dog as well, so he doesn't feel rejected.
I have 2 adult female GSD's and when I brought my 3rd in(male pup) the intro went fine. I formed a very strong bond with my puppy, and the other dogs got just as much attention as they did before he came to live with us.
Many times the older dogs help the pups transition and learn the ropes, I think it is valuable to have them around.

 

[Liesje]

My rule is that current dogs never have privilege they have earned revoked simply because of a new dog. The puppy is always the one that has to "learn the ropes". The adults still have free reign, couch and bed privilege, etc because they have earned it.

 

[doggonefool]

I agree...the first dog here rules the roost. The last dog here is the last. They are all loved equally. I think introducing an older dog to a pup can work very well...we introduced full grown dogs. We brought in the two huskies with Ranger as the established dog. Even though they are fairly aggressive, they are submissive to him. It was much more difficult introducing the fourth in..she's fearful aggressive. We kept the hose handy a lot in the early days...introduced them one at a time in the house or kept a couple in the dog run to let them get to know each other one on one. Over all, it worked well.