Bring a new dog home

• Posted on November 5, 2013
• by Rochelle Fisher
• in Training
• No Comments.

Introducing a new dog into your household.

Bringing a new member into the house is no easy task. Time and effort should be considered before bringing in a new dog. Resident dogs should be well crate trained or used to being in a separate room prior to a new dog addition. This will help relieve some of the stress for your resident dog. Adding a new dog can be wonderful if done correctly. Follow these guidelines to make the transition as easy as possible.

• Dogs should meet on neutral ground before coming into your house. A group walk can be the best way.
• If all seems well on the walk the dogs should be allowed to greet one another for 3 seconds.
• Greetings should not be head on.
• If greeting goes well the dogs should be allowed to greet again.
• The leashes should remain loose. If the leashes are tense that can add tension to the situation.
• When you bring the new dog home, resident dogs should not be allowed to rush the new dog at the front door. Keep resident dogs in crate or safe space upon arrival of new dog.
• Dogs should again go on a walk together. Greetings are fine as long as both dogs appear to enjoy them.
• When entering the home you can drop both dogs leashes and let them interact. If the interaction goes well you can remove the leashes and let the dogs be loose in the house together for a short amount of time. (5 minutes max)
• If interaction does not go well you can easily pick up each dogs leash and separate them.
• If the interaction does not go well, keep dogs separate for the rest of day 1. If interactions continue to be unsuccessful seek help from a qualified positive dog trainer.
• Once the dogs have been loose together in the house for 5 minutes put each dog in a safe space, crate or baby gated room. We don’t want to rush things each dog should be allowed ample time alone.
• On day one of new dog in the house make sure you are giving each dog plenty of breaks from each other.  You can increase the amount of time the dogs are together as you and your resident dog get to know your new addition better.
• Until you know your new dog well, keeping dogs separate when you are not home is a must in order to keep all dogs safe.

Rachel Laurie, A Good Feeling Dog Training

New Basic Manners and Re-call classes are starting every month.
Check out www.agfdogtraining.com for details!

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