By Sally Bradbury
Copyright Jack and Billy Puppy Tales
Introducing a puppy to the existing dog(s) needs to be done slowly and carefully, while ensuring that they both get lots of one-to-one attention and that the puppy is not allowed to be a nuisance to the older dog. First impressions and experiences are going to shape their future relationship.
A lot will depend on how sociable the current dog is and his/her experience with puppies. Some dogs just don’t do puppies. Occasionally, an adult dog may be scared of a puppy.
Use stair gates in doorways or a puppy pen so that they can see each other without interacting. Then you can be guided by how they react to each other. If you have more than one dog, then they should meet the puppy one at a time initially.
The initial introductions may be successfully accomplished the first day puppy comes home, or it may take longer. It pays to take all the time you need to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not advantageous to have the adult dog ‘tell the puppy off’. It’s not fair on either of them. There are very few suitable teaching dogs and those that are, are able to teach and guide puppies without using their teeth and frightening the puppy.
A new puppy needs to spend 24/7 with his humans in the early days and limited, supervised time with the other dog(s).
Always feed dogs separately and apply the same rule to chew toys or indeed anything that either dog may not want to share.
