The Art of Introducing Dogs (4 page)

It is important to note that just because your dog has lived with another dog all of its life, does not mean that it is well socialised with other dogs. This is a common misconception and has caused many owners stress when attempting to bring a new puppy or dog home after the death of one of their dogs. The older dog may react aggressively to the newcomer or cause injury. The reason for this is that while the older dog did live with another all of its life, the dog never actually interacted or played with any other dog. So while having two dogs does provide each with company, they still need to be meeting a variety of new and unfamiliar dogs throughout their lives. Regardless of how many dogs you have, each and every single one must be put through the same vigorous socialisation program in puppy hood. You must also continue to socialise your dog throughout his adult life to ensure that he is, in fact, well socialised with other dogs.

Bite inhibition

An important part of each dog’s socialisation history is their level of bite inhibition, also known as acquired bite inhibition.

Excellent bite inhibition
= a soft mouth even in a fight

Poor bite inhibition
= punctures or trauma from a bite

No bite inhibition
= a possible human or animal fatality and euthanasia for the dog.

The best source of information about bite inhibition comes from Dr Dunbar’s books (listed in the resources section). Bite inhibition needs to be learned in puppy hood before 18 weeks of age. Puppies learn bite inhibition by playing with people and dogs. As Dunbar says “puppies bite — and thank goodness they do. Puppy biting is a normal, natural and necessary puppy behaviour”. Only when a puppy mouths or bites (us or doggy friends) while playing can they receive feedback on the bite. The more they mouth or bite, the more opportunity we have to teach them what is appropriate and the safer his mouth will be once he is an adult.

The puppy that does not mouth or bite or is punished for doing so, will not learn how to appropriately use his mouth and as an adult could bite and cause severe trauma or worse a human or animal fatality. It is important to note that biting or mouthing in
play
is normal. A puppy that growls or bites because it is guarding a resource from you needs urgent and immediate help from a qualified dog behavioural trainer. Likewise seek help for the puppy that is biting with the intent to cause injury.

There are two steps in teaching puppy bite inhibition:

1. Inhibit the force of puppy bites via feedback

2. Slowly decrease the frequency of puppy bites until the puppy is preferably no longer mouthing by 16–20 weeks.

This coincides with the time that milk teeth begin to be replaced by the larger adult teeth. Certainly by 6-8 months of age, all dogs should no longer be mouthing.

As an illustration, imagine a puppy who is allowed to mouth his owner or other dogs during play but is told (via a high pitched yip) or given a short timeout if a bite hurt. Puppy learns first what is too hard and second, that only soft mouths keep play going. Now 12 months has gone by and the owner accidentally steps on puppy’s tail—pup is startled but his teeth or mouth never connects with his owner’s skin. As a comparison, imagine the pup that was never allowed to mouth or was hit, yelled at or had an elbow shoved down his throat to stop him. Fast forward 12 months, owner steps on this dog’s tail — and WHACK—the dog bites the owner on the leg and leaves punctures and severe bruising. He now risks ending up in the pound or being euthanased. The next family he goes to will have no idea that he has poor or no bite inhibition and the cycle could repeat or worse, next time he mauls a child or causes a fatality. The moral of this story is that a little bit of puppy mouthing with good appropriate feedback goes a long way to having a dog with excellent bite inhibition.

Does your dog or the new dog have good or excellent bite inhibition?

Before you think about introducing your dog/s to a new dog you must consider the bite inhibition level of both dogs. If dogs with good to excellent bite inhibition fight, the likely result will be both dogs displaying to each other and performing ritualised aggression (body postures, shoving and vocals) - the equivalent of a human shouting/shoving match. In this case, issues can be resolved without either dog having any significant physical injuries. Without this level of bite inhibition in just one of the dogs, any fight could quickly turn into a full blown aggressive attack where one or both dogs intends to maim or kill the other. Depending on their level of bite inhibition, results can range from a few shallow punctures or skin tears to severe trauma, multiple deep punctures, internal injuries, fractured limbs, disembowelment or death. Sounds scary and it is, lack of bite inhibition is
very
scary.

Play that turns into sparring on hind legs can quickly erupt into full scale fighting.

Fight to bite ratio

The other important point to consider is what Dunbar refers to as a dog’s ‘fight to bite ratio’. At some point in your dogs’ lives, they will have had one or more canine disagreements with their friends, siblings, housemates, unfamiliar dogs or down right enemies. The outcome of the fight is totally dependent on each dog’s level of bite inhibition and socialisation history. Dog fights are frightening to watch, stressful for the dogs and owners and can put an end to continued socialisation for the ‘fighter’. We tend to get highly emotional about dog fights but often they are canine versions of teenagers yelling and shoving to see who is the biggest and bravest. Alternatively, fights can often erupt when one dog is clearly telling another to go away and the message is not getting through. In order to determine whether a dog has a more serious problem with dog to dog aggression you need to establish the dog’s fight to bite ratio by asking two questions:

1. How many times has the dog been in a fight?

2. How many times has the other dog had to go to the vet for treatment?

For example, a fight to bite ratio of 5:0 = five full contact fights with zero trips to the vet, indicates that this dog has excellent bite inhibition. Make no mistake though, even with a great fight-bite ratio, a dog that often finds himself initiating or getting into fights needs retraining and more appropriate feedback as he is on his way or may already be a bully, obnoxious or just plain rude in doggy terms. Dr Jean Donaldson
²
adds an extra question to the fight-bite ratio. She asks how many dog to dog encounters the individual/s has had. For the dog above, if he has met 100 dogs, then 5 fights is not alarming but if he has met 10 dogs and fought with 5 of them, then you have a serious socialisation problem that needs urgent attention by a qualified dog behavioural trainer or a veterinary behaviourist.

Interactions between dogs can look and sound scary. If both dogs have excellent bite inhibition and are well socialised, disagreements can be resolved without injuries.

As far as the severity of fighting goes, in normal canine combat, bites (whether inhibited or not) are usually directed at the face, neck, scruff or muzzle. These are the usual areas that dogs will target during a fight. For dogs with excellent bite inhibition, there will be no injuries at all. On the flip side, when the attacker targets and causes injury to the legs and abdomen of the other dog, fighting is serious. This is a dangerous dog for whom rehabilitation is unlikely
³
.

Dog preferences

While socialising your dog, you will notice that they may show a preference for the size, sex, sex status (desexed, not desexed) breed, shape, coat colour, coat type or even eye colour they prefer in their play mate. Often this occurs due to positive early experiences and exposure to the different types of dogs the puppy encountered. Take note of your puppy/dogs’ play mate preferences as this may assist you when deciding which dog would most easily integrate into your family. Equally take note of the types of dog that your dog/pup does not feel comfortable around, actively avoids or tries to intimidate or initiate a disagreement with. For example, my desexed male Siberian Husky felt threatened or uncomfortable around Boxers (all colour phases and sexes), medium to large black dogs, German Shepherds and medium to large entire males. I can pinpoint the socialisation problem that occurred during puppy/adolescence with each of these breeds or colours of dogs. For the Boxers, it was one scary incident, for the German Shepherds and black dogs, it was several harassing/bullying events between 4 and 12 months of age (hindsight is a wonderful thing). Where entire males are concerned, it is not uncommon for desexed males to actively seek out and harass entire males especially if the latter are around 7–13 months, which coincides with the onset of sexual maturity and subsequent high testosterone levels.

Resource guarding
- Is your dog a resource guarder from other dogs? (Note: if your dog resource guards from you or other people/children you need to seek the assistance from an experienced dog behavioural trainer or veterinary behaviourist as resource guarding from humans is serious and requires immediate action). If your dog resource guards food, toys, furniture, locations, you or any other item, then you may need to talk to a behavioural trainer about how to best retrain and/or manage your dog before bringing another dog into the home, or consider refraining from adding another dog to the household of a ‘guarder’. The new dog may be harassed, bullied or attacked for encroaching on the other’s resource. Mild guarding of resources from other dogs is fairly normal but severe guarding is not. An introduction of a new dog/pup to a mild guarder can work provided the guarder is well socialised, has excellent bite inhibition and can be effectively managed so that the new dog/puppy is not overly stressed by the guarder. Keep in mind too that your new dog may be a resource guarder! Careful screening for behavioural issues of any dog you propose to add to your household will assist to minimise the introduction of a resource guarder into your home.

Assessing the new dog or puppy

If you are getting the new dog from the pound, you should be aware that presently, there is little to no behavioural assessment done at the majority of council pounds. I recommend acquiring your new juvenile or adult from a rescue group or shelter that does stringent behavioural assessments and has someone employed for this purpose (ask for the assessors’ qualifications as they should have some form of dog behavioural training certificate or potentially a diploma/degree). Behavioural assessments should include reactions to different situations, people of all ages, sexes and nationalities but of course also to dogs and other animals. Find out if the dog you have in mind has been housed with another dog either at the shelter or in a previous home and what happened to the other dog. Get as much history as you can. For example, did it ever attack the other dog? If yes and there was damage — move on, this is not the dog that you want to integrate into your family. Before you take the dog home, you need to take your dog/s to the shelter to complete the assessment before making a decision. It is best to leave your emotions at the door. You need a level head to make the best decision for everyone concerned.

Juvenile or adult dogs that are rehomed via breed rescue groups will more often than not have a good behavioural history taken so that you can assess what level of socialisation they have had. It is important to know the reason they need rehoming — is it a case of poor owner commitment or does the dog have a serious behavioural problem that was not addressed? Most rescue dogs spend time in a foster home with or without contact with other dogs so the foster carer is in a good position to tell you all the nitty gritty things about your prospective dog’s temperament and the likely challenges you may have. If you have any concerns, consult a good dog behavioural trainer (see
resources section
) before proceeding.

A puppy is an easier choice as there is less likelihood of ‘socialisation baggage’ to deal with, although some people don’t want to go through the puppy stages and the intensive management and training that a puppy can sometimes present. The main factor when choosing a puppy is to do your research on the breed. Become familiar with any genetic diseases common to the breed and ensure any breeder you decide to go with has done the necessary tests in the parents (and grandparents) to prevent passing on any genetic diseases. Meet the breeder and the puppies’ parents — often the male will have been borrowed for the mating so you may not get to see him first hand but certainly look at photos of him and ask about his temperament. Even better, phone the males owners to discuss his temperament. Genetics can play a part in temperament traits like shyness, anxiety, phobias or aggression which is why meeting the parents is important. Check the breeder’s environment for the dogs. Is it clean? Do they have good knowledge about early socialisation and training? When visiting the pups, remain with the pup that the breeder chose for you (or the one you chose) for several hours so you can see as many behaviours as possible (this is also important for juvenile and adult dogs) before making your decision. The puppy should happily approach you, accept gentle handling and restraint and have a loose relaxed body and mouth. A puppy that shies away, fails to approach, is tense, growls or snarls during your meeting is not the right puppy. Again, leave your emotions at the door and be prepared to walk away empty handed if something is not right. Trust your instincts.