New puppy introductions

[CissOff]

My DM is getting a new pup after our family dog passed away.

I have two DDogs and we live on the same street and have a very close relationship e.g. seeing each other a few times a week.

My two came after my DM’s so were (mostly!) respectful of the fact he came first and acted accordingly.

DDog2 is a Velcro dog and tends to get jealous of even DDog1 getting a cuddle. Both are fine with dogs outside of our home, though apart from DM’s old dog, they’ve never had another dog come in to our house.

Any tips on how to successfully introduce them to each other would be appreciated. New pup will be staying here when my DM goes away.

My first plan of action is to see the puppy a few times and allow my two to smell him on me, but beyond that…?

First introduction of neutral ground - I.e not until the puppy is fully vaccinated. Park or somewhere like that. Adult dogs on lead and puppy off lead - you don’t want leads getting tangled, and adults are more unpredictable than puppies. That’s assuming adult dogs are not reactive on lead.

I’d do that a dozen or so times over the course of a few weeks or so before I introduced them to longer encounters - walks together etc. only then would I progress to home visits (after a few months).

You’ve mentioned your DD1 getting jealous, so you need to handle this very carefully and slowly - lots of older dogs do not like puppies and will react to them.

It’s better to do these things slowly than rush it, particularly with a puppy and with an adult that displays jealousy - because puppies need lots attention and giving that puppy attention in front of an adult dog prone to jealousy will make it worse. The worst thing you can do is rush it, because if it does go horribly wrong it can take years to undo the damage.

Start with scent swapping, so bring some puppy bedding to your home and let them sniff gently, reward them for being gentle and direct them if they’re too forceful.
then you’ll need to start introductions, preferably on neutral territory and certainly not in your home.
can your mum put a child gate or something up to safely separate while they sniff?
you may well be overthinking it 🤞 I’ve introduced a puppy to my clingy dogs twice in their own home (as in we got new puppies with an existing dog) and both have been without a hiccup, dogs tend to give a ‘puppy pass’ it’s just important to relax and let them suss each other out but of course intervene if dogs or puppy are pushing their luck too much.
enjoy the new pup 😊

Thank you both. I’ll do the scent swapping more consciously- I’ve got a couple of blankets I can use.

Ill also do a neutral ground introduction for the first couple of times.

I may be overthinking it, as you said @Flipslop - DDog1 didn’t have any issues accepting her sister and now they are the best of pals.

I think they’ll give him a ‘puppy pass’ (love that term!) if he oversteps but is it OK for them to put him in his place? Providing it’s not aggressive, obviously

Yes I totally let mine teach pup some manners

I think they’ll give him a ‘puppy pass’ (love that term!) if he oversteps but is it OK for them to put him in his place? Providing it’s not aggressive, obviously.

Yes, that's fine!

Adult dogs should 100% instil boundaries for puppies. Mum will do it with a litter when they are being irritating, or pushing their luck (and it always looks incredibly vicious when mum does it, even though it's not). BUT, remember, that puppies are predominantly used to playing with other puppies - who are a lot more willing to put up with painful chewing or inappropriate behaviour - rather than adult dogs (mum is essentially a food source and comfort source to them).

That means they go into meeting new adult dogs all gun's blazing and treat them like they would their littermates - hard biting, jumping up in faces, sucking the other dogs private parts (young puppies can confuse male genitalia for teats, for example), all of which will annoy the adult dog.

As long as you stop the puppy doing that as much as is humanly possible, all is usually okay - it's failing to stop the puppy from being an irritating little grotter that causes problems.

You could do the neutral ground intro in the garden of dog-less friends, if you have some. We've done this with new puppies and it works very well.

Thanks again all. Pup arrived home yesterday so we’ve started scent swapping - my two don’t seem remotely bothered by what they’ve sniffed so far.

New pup also had a successful night in his crate in DM’s bedroom, sleeping through until 6am so fingers crossed that it’s a sign of things to come.

He’s a confident little chap which I think will go in his favour as mine aren’t backwards in coming forwards. Hopefully, they’ll be happy to welcome him in to the fold 🤞