My boy is now 1 1/2 years old. We are thinking of taking in a 2 year old female lab that needs a home. She is playful and sweet. We feel like our boy will love having a playmate. He is very active and a bit reactive but getting better as he gets older. We are all positive all the way. My question is how to introduce this new girl to our home and our boy. We want to start off on the right foot with them and we want her to know this is her new home. She has lived with her current owners since she was 8 weeks old so all this will be a shock to her. Our boy plays well when he goes to the kennel so we hope he will play well with this new girl. Any advice will be appreciated.
Having experience in rehoming , my main advice would be to relax ! Also , give them both a little space and don't expect too much too soon ! Both dogs will find it strange at first , but keep your routine and the new dog should fit in well , Labs are very adaptable and amenable , it doesn't usually take long for them to find their feet ! As they are close in age , it should be quite easy as they will have the same requirements re exercise etc . My lad is very laid back and just accepts new dogs coming into our home , but your boy might feel a little put out at first , just try to keep relaxed , everything just normal , so that he will know that life goes on pretty much the same as it did ! I wish you much luck with your new addition x
Just to add , get them out and about together as soon as you can , even if its just in your garden , this gives them both space to do their own thing . I always take my newbies out for a walk as soon as I can , on lead, but with Sam who is off lead , I find this helps to ground them and accept coming home to being their home x
Consider introducing them on neutral ground, so your boy won't see his home being invaded when they first meet. We often have other dogs in our home and visa versa with no problems, but meeting on neutral ground might sidestep some problems.
Thanks! Its the simple things that I am trying to figure out. We have a routine with our boy for dinner time. How to add a new dog into that without throwing off everything we have worked on. He has been such a bad counter surfer we have this routine that has mostly solved that problem. He has to be on his bed before he gets fed and while we are cooking. He eats out of a wobble kong and sits for that. I don't want to encourage any food issues between them, so how to manage that. Do you feed them both in the same room? I hope all this fretting is for nothing!
Don't know whether this will help. We bought home an 8 week old Lab puppy earlier this year. We have a 10 year old Lab. Both female. So not the same situation as you. It has taken 6 months of hard work getting the two together but they are now together all the time except at bed time. We have always fed the older one first - I was anxious to keep her routines the same so she didn't feel like she was being usurped. The puppy who is now 9 months knows the older one's food goes down first and she then gets hers. She will sit and watch whilst I do this and then follows me to get hers. I feed the older one in the utility (her usual place) and the younger one in the kitchen or outside if I am doing training with her. What I am trying to say is - keep the routine going for your boy you have established, as much as possible and your newcomer will learn your routines. Good luck - two dogs can be hard work but double the pleasures .
If you're using the kong wobbler it's probably best to have the new dog out of the room. I don't know about you, but when my boy uses the wobbler he manages to move it all the way around the kitchen, and spreads kibble everywhere, and sometimes he has to double check the whole kitchen after to make sure he found all of it. This might not work so well with two dogs in the same room! I'd either feed them from bowls in the same room, or if you want to keep your boy's routine the same, feed him alone with the wobbler, and either feed the new dog at the same time in a different room, or after your boy has finished with his wobbler.
I feed my dogs in different rooms. Fred has his in another room, because he eats slowly. Annie eats in the kitchen. Although I put down Fred bowl first and Annie waits in the kitchen while I do this, she has always finished first. Then goes and sits outside Fred's room until he has finished and he comes out. Then she nips in to see if there is anything left, but of course the isn't. At first the door to Fred's room was closed, but now it is open and she doesn't go in until Fred has finished. We have never had an issue, but I want Fred to eat at his own pace.
Another question is, the new dog, who I get in two weeks, is used to sleeping in the bed with the owner. My boy sleeps in a crate next to my bed. He isn't above chasing my cat and the kitty needs to be able to go to her litterbox without being chased at night. Things would be so much easier if he would ignore the cat! Anyway, the new dog can't sleep on my bed so, there isn't room for another big crate next to my bed. They would both have to be crated downstairs. A change I don't really like. The new dog is cat friendly, supposedly, but that will have to be proven so until that proves out, do I put both dogs downstairs? I could put the new dog downstairs and leave my boy next to the bed but not sure thats a good idea. ARRGGHHH.
If the new dog is cat friendly why not just let him sleep on a dog bed in your room? I think moving your old dog downstairs would be pretty upsetting. Cooper, our 2+ year old sleeps on our bed most of the time, while Tilly sleeps on the floor. For what it's worth, we feed both dogs at the same time, pretty much side by side. I have to make sure that they are both there, but they don't try to eat the other dogs food, as long as both are around. They share well when we have treats, or let them pre-wash the dishes.
I would avoid moving your dog out of your bedroom. That will be stressful for him. Do you have a door on your bedroom that you can close to keep the dogs in? Can they both sleep on dog beds on the floor?
Since the new dog is used to sleeping on the bed I doubt she will stay on the floor once we are asleep. That was why I wanted to crate her with my dog. I don't want to move him out really, just trying to figure it out. Although at some point I will start to feel like I am sleeping in a dorm room.
Thanks. no door on the bedroom at all. The issue is the cat does sleep on the bed and needs to feel like she can go to her litter box and food and back on bed without doggie interference. A lot of moving parts, I know. Thats why both dogs being downstairs crated would be a good solution but I am not wild about moving my boy downstairs,. Although I am not sure he would really care. He is pretty independent. I don't like the ldea of the new girl being along. Better the two dogs are together. IDK!
Could you put a baby gate across the entrance? That way, the cat can move freely but the dogs are confined. To be honest, my boy sleeps on the bed, but my two girls tend to sleep downstairs, through choice. They don't seem to mind being separated at all - if they did, they would move
I know things will evolve and I am fretting about the details but when she comes home I want her to feel as comfortable as possible. I hate taking her from a home she has known for 2 years but she has to be rehomed so we are glad to have her.
She has been here two days. The good is my boy loves playing with her and she seems happy too. They are having a good time. He is a bit confused by this dog in his house but overall its been good for him. She is very sweet, she knows nothing, not sit or any other commands. I can work on that but the one big problem is her barking. The owner told us she barked at some people if she didn't know them. What she is doing now is barking at my husband every time she sees him, even if he is just standing up from sitting down and she is very attached to me. If i leave the room she barks. If I go outside, she barks and barks and barks until I come back in. If I crate her she is ok if I am in the room. Otherwise she barks. He owners said she was good with being crated so Idk if this is just anxiety over being in a new place or if they were painting an overly rosy picture but I do know I can't sit in the house, in the same room, just to keep her from barking. My cats are in hiding. I have never had this kind of problem and any advice would be appreciated. My husband is walking her and trying to feed her and gives her treats if she gets close enough to take them. I am less worried about that as I think she will become used to him but more worried about not being able to leave her without her barking.
I'm glad the dogs are getting on well! It can definitely take rescue dogs a couple of weeks, or more, to settle in and show their real personalities! Do you have any kongs? You can get some stuffed kongs ready and leave one with her when you leave the room. I adopted my boy at 7 months, and he did the same - if we left a room, if one person left the house, and if he was alone in the house he would just bark constantly. We just left all the doors open in the apartment so he wasn't scared, and when he was finally ok with doors closed and one person leaving, we started to work on leaving him alone. I have to say, that with him it took a long time until he was ok alone, but that initial stress of being alone in a room or one person leaving the house only took a couple of months. Hopefully she will settle in much quicker - and the barking is just because she is stressed and confused by the change. With your husband, it's best if he doesn't make eye contact with her or move towards her. With the treats, I would recommend he start by throwing the treats for her - or if throwing them scares her, placing them slowly on the ground a meter or so in front of him, and then gradually building up to him holding the treat for her to take. You might find that once she's settled into the house, and used to your husband, you will need to do the same with any male visitors you have in the house.
It sounds like she's suffering a bit from separation anxiety, so I would approach this in the same way as you would with a young puppy; leaving the room for a few seconds at the time while she's occupied with a tasty kong or similar and build it up very gradually.
I think she will get used to my husband although if I am not home he says she has her tail down and is skittish. I think that will go away but Loud sounds are not my friend anytime and this barking at anything and nothing is very hard to take. We tried kongs, bully sticks, she isn't interested. She is alert to any move so if I try to go out when she is sleeping, she instantly wakes up. 5 seconds out of her sight is all I get before barking starts. Even if I am just outside the yard gate but in sight she starts up. My dog already is attached to her and I want this to work. I have to work out of her sight and we both have to leave often. Her owners said nothing about any of this behavior so either it's all due to the change or they didn't want to scare us off. A friend wanted me to drug her (I am not going to) but it's me that will need drugs soon!
The new pup is settling in pretty well, all except for this alert barking. Every sound outside brings on barking. She was in a neighborhood before where she was exposed to all those sounds and the former owner says she was fine and didn't bark so this is new. I don't know how to respond when she barks. Say no? Say her name? Asking for a sit isn't working yet as she is too jacked up to sit when barking. She is just learning to sit anyway, at 2. Turn our backs on the barking? We just don't know how to respond.
