The Art of Introducing Dogs (10 page)

Angela and her 3 females, 1 male

Angela started off with a female Belgian shepherd, she then added a male Border Collie once her female was 2 years of age. Once the male reached 18 months of age, he began to show aggression at the dog park, she decided to leave him at home and continued to take her female. When her Belgium Shepherd turned 9 years of age, she decided to adopt a shelter dog, a 1 year old female Boxer. The male Border Collie was not happy to welcome a newcomer. A slow introduction was required. Angela, set up a series of protected contact introductions where she kept the Boxer behind a glass door so the others could see her but have no contact. The male showed immediate aggression — body tension, baring teeth, lunging. Over several days of rotating dogs in and out of the house and yard so they had no physical contact and only scent contact with each other, the males aggressive behaviour decreased so Angela progressed to introductions through a security screen door. Several more days went by and then finally full physical introductions occurred - first with the aged female and then once accepted by her, with the male Border Collie. All went well. Another year later, Angela decided to add yet another female — this time an 8 week old Cocker Spaniel pup. She followed the same introduction procedure as she did with the Boxer but this time she also limited the time the puppy was with the adults even after successfully introduced to allow the adults to have time out from the puppy’s exuberance—a successful introduction.

Sabrina and her 3 males

Sabrina got two male puppies at roughly the same time — a male German shepherd and a male Border Collie mix. Neither dog was ever properly or purposefully socialised and by adulthood, both dogs showed some forms of aggression or bullying behaviour to other unfamiliar dogs. The behaviours were generated more from fear and anxiety than from a desire to injure another dog. Both dogs had excellent bite inhibition and had never made contact with another dog’s skin. Regardless, they now only go to the dog park at times when no other dogs are present. Sabrina decided to add a male Kelpie cross Shepherd puppy to her pack. She found the puppy on the street, it was homeless with no identification — so she decided to keep him. She, like Angela, used protected contact to introduce her puppy to the adult dogs. She kept the puppy in the house with her for the first 14 days, allowing her dogs to become familiar with the puppy’s scent and limited contact through the security screen door. After the first 2 weeks and once her dogs had little interest in the puppy, she did a fully supervised introduction in the yard with one dog at a time. She went slowly and after about one month, all 3 dogs were happily co existing.

Justine and her 2 working dogs

Justine had an aged Pug who recently lost her other Pug mate to old age. She decided to get a working dog puppy — a female Kelpie mix to keep the pug company. The puppy played roughly with the old Pug, dragging her by the cheeks and generally making the pugs life stressful. Not a good mix of breeds or play styles. After the death of the pug from aged related health issues, Justine decided to get a second working breed — a male short coated Border Collie mix. This male was 10 weeks old and was reared on a farm with little to no socialisation outside of his puppy pen. Justine brought the puppy home and placed it in the yard with her female Kelpie. The female was a little tense and stressed (growling, limited playing, protective of resources) at the new addition for about 3 weeks but then both settled in and are now the best of friends, playing and resting together. This combination of working dogs was far better than the combination of aged Pug and kelpie mix puppy. In this situation, a younger Pug may have coped much better with the puppy.

Sue and her female Cattle mix

Sue and Pete had a female Cattle Dog mix pound puppy who developed noise and thunderstorm phobia by 2 years of age. This female was a food guarder against other dogs. She aggressively guarded the kitchen drawer (where her treats were kept) from any other dog. She also had some dog to dog issues at the dog park which they thought was as a result of being attacked by dogs when she was a puppy. Her bite inhibition was not good. She had punctured other dogs in the past while protecting her resources. When the female was 3 years of age, they decided it was time to get a second dog. They went back to the pound and brought home a young male Boxer. The female played with the male in the yard but when entering the house, the female attacked the male and a fight ensued. The owners were shocked and returned the male. A year later they tried again with a female Maltese mix. The introductions went much smoother and all was going well for the first 6 months but then fairly serious fighting began to occur over toys, food and sleeping spots. One day when the owners had tied the females to a pole while they stepped into a shop, a sudden noise frightened the noise phobic dog. Unable to flee she redirected and she attacked the Maltese — causing several punctures and a fractured hind leg. The owners decided to rehome the Maltese and decided not to attempt any further introductions.

Louise and her Siberians

Louise had a male desexed Siberian Husky who had been a dog park visitor since 16 weeks of age. A well socialised dog with a soft mouth. He has been exposed to a huge variety of breeds and was particularly good with small breed dogs. At 6 years of age, Louise decided it was time to add another Siberian to the home. A male puppy was chosen since most of this Siberians dog park friends were desexed males. A series of introductions were set up. Louise visited the puppy once a week from 3 weeks of age taking a scented item home from the puppy to her dog and vice versa. At 6 weeks of age, while at the breeders’ home, the puppy showed signs of guarding food from people and also fear of men. At 7 weeks, the puppy snarled when he met Louise’s Siberian and showed signs of body tension in his presence. Louise saw all these signs but was too emotionally invested and thought that training and socialisation would rectify the problems. Louise’s home was set up with crates, baby gates, DAP, ‘Through a Dogs Ear’ music and had Rescue Remedy in the dogs’ drinking water. Once home, the puppy seemed to relax with the older male dog but the older male appeared stressed and went off his food for several days and stopped toileting in the yard where the puppy was toileting. The puppy was put through a socialisation program, body handling program and food bowl exercises. Within 3 weeks, he had bitten two different men when they attempted to pat him (one was the puppy class assistant) and the relationship between the pup and older dog had deteriorated with the puppy now threatening and snapping at the older dog. The puppy had a behavioural assessment done and was returned to the breeder as an unsuitable pet for this particular home. Three months later, Louise embarked on a new introduction of a male Shetland Sheepdog puppy to the Siberian, following the same procedure as before. This time, Louise was prepared to walk away if any warning signs were seen. The introduction was a success and the dogs lived and played together peacefully and happily.