GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - The last thing you want when introducing your dog to a new dog or puppy, is squabbles or significant disagreements between them. Local K9 behaviourist and trainer George van Huyssteen has some tips for handling this situation.
Lower your expectations
One of the most common reasons for asking assistance from behaviourists or trainers are problematic relationships between dogs that share the same household. Unfortunately, such issues are not always easy to solve.
Dogs are straightforward and do not hide feelings and emotions and will instantly show you that they are unhappy with a situation. It is also an unrealistic to think all dogs must get along with all other dogs.
Therefore, the first step is to put ourselves in our dogs' shoes before we decide to add a strange dog to a household. Adding a dog into an existing family will change the household balance, so you need to make sure that you are willing to put some effort into ensuring that the introduction goes well.
Introduce on neutral ground
This is very important. Let the dogs meet at a place that doesn't have much value to them. Many dogs are very territorial and might not want strange dogs coming near the property. Once at a neutral place, have both dogs on leash. Ensure that they are not pulling towards each other as a tight leash might interfere with the dog's natural body language or calming signals.
If you see they are relaxed, let them sniff each other. This will allow them to gain much information about each other.
Make sure that they don't meet head to head as it might be perceived as confrontational. What you would like to see is them sniffing each other's rear ends. Keep this greeting short and sweet. If you notice stiff body postures or growling, increase the space between them. Do not correct them as corrections will suppress the growling, and they might go straight into a fight.
Have a backup plan should a fight break out.
After the initial meeting
Once the dogs have met briefly, you might want to take them for a walk. Have a someone assist you so one person can walk between the two dogs in case things go wrong. This will also provide a visual barrier between the two dogs, preventing direct eye contact.
Should you observe any tension, increase the distance between them immediately. As they become more relaxed, allow them to walk closer to each other until they walk politely and relaxed.
Positive associations
The goal would be to make wonderful things happen whenever your new dog is around. Your resident dog must feel special in the presence of your new dog. You can praise him but stop as soon as the new dog leaves. Again, associative learning is at play here.
Swap scent around
This you can actually do for a few days before obtaining the new dog. Bring objects home with the new dog's scent and put them down together with a few treats. The resident dog will form a positive association with the other dog's scent. The same can be done with their bedding.
Prevent fights
In many cases, dog fights take place in the presence of the owner. This is probably because dogs tend to compete for the owner's attention. To prevent hard feelings, each dog should be given separate but equal time. It's very tempting when getting a new dog to provide them with all the attention in the world, but this will likely upset the resident dog.
It won't always work out
In certain situations, two dogs might never "click," and should fights happen frequently, re-homing might be the best or only option. In such cases, a qualified animal behaviourist should assess the situation and make an educated decision regarding the best way forward for the dogs and owners.
Should the original resident dog experience stress because of a new dog, it might be very unfair and, in some cases, dangerous to force them to get along. We must always remember that dogs are dogs, and our human emotions should not make decisions that might be harmful to our four-legged family members.
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