Can anyone give me any advice on how to introduce my new puppy into our home? I have another dog that is 4 years old. He is very jealous of my new pup even though I try to show equal attention. They play well together but Manny (the older one) doesn't like Marley (the puppy) to get anywhere near me. I just don't want the older one to feel sad or upset. I am a dog lover and very sensitive to their feelings. I would save all the dogs in the world if I could. Help me if you can, please. Thanks
Answers:
Give it some time. The older dog will get used to the pup. Dogs are pack animals. And when ever a new pack member is introduced there is a feeling out process and a pecking order to be established. When you give one attention the other comes over and tries to get in the middle of it right? This is normal pack behavior and can't really be helped. Just keep in mind that you must be viewed by the two dogs as the alpha member of the pack. But also keep in mind that there will be a order among the two dogs as well. And no matter what you do they will have to establish this among themselves. If one day they have a confrontation and they more than likely will i.e Growling, teeth bared. You must emmediatly do what we call the (Alpha Roll) to both dogs and hold them on the floor by the scruff of the neck until they have calmed down and submited to you. This will re-enforce the fact to them that you are the alpha pack leader and that you will not tolerate this kind of behavior from either of them. As soon as they submit let them both back to their feet and give calm praise and affection to both. This is possitive re-enforcement and is a reward for showing proper behavior. I have 2 dominant natured dogs a German Shep and a Dutch Shep. Both are law enforcement trained and are extremly dominant natured because of their breeding. But they both co-exist in the same house. But I had the same issue you had and this method does work. Now they are fine with each other. But you must be consistant. Pretty soon they will be inseperable.
well try to put your dogs in a room togather but try let them be alone.
PLease let me know what answers you choose.. send it to me. I too love dogs, i have four.i have the same problem with two of them. right now what we do at home is seperate them, but it gets hard. we alternate the dogs (when two go out to the yard; the other two come in the house, and visa versa) i feel bad that they the two dont get along.
According to Cesar Milan (The Dog Whisperer) you should take the dog (the new puppy) for a long walk before bringing him into your home. You need to let both dogs know that you are the pact leader by having a posive energy. When/if the new dog acts unkind toward the new puppy, "bite" (grab with your finger tips) and roll the dog on his back to let him know you are in charge. You should watch The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic channel. There just so happens to be a marathon on tonight, so hurry up and turn to it!
I know exactly what you are going through. I have a two year old rotty male and a two year old jack russell male and my husband brought home a two month old rotty male. It was interesting to say the least. Both of my older dogs completely ignored the pup except to beat up on him. I tried to seperate them all and give attention to them to try and keep the jealousy down. Then i started to incorporate games like fetch that involved all of them playing. they slowly started to acknowledge each other, but still continued to fight whenever i gave them attention or food. I seperated them for food times, and tried to spread my attention between them all. I dont know if there is any easy answer to this dilemma. They all started to relax and enjoy each other, and now they are usually ok. Sometimes i cant give the puppy attention without the other two getting up for attention too. I gues all i can say is just do your best and leave the rest to them- they will slowly begin to accept their order in their life and then everything will be easier. Good luck!
You don't tell us if your two dogs are the same gender (boy-boy, boy-girl, girl-girl) so I'm going to presume they're both boys. You also don't say if the older one is spayed or neutered, and if they're large or small or the same breed, or how long you've had the new puppy. :) so there's a lot of options here. Some general advice is -
First.. is Manny being aggressive to Marley? I mean serious, bare the teeth, angry growling, possibly snapping aggression? If so, then you need to be with them as much as possible when they are together. You should ALWAYS keep an eye on them anyway. Sometimes a larger dog is playing and don't realize that a quick snap might injure or kill a puppy. MOST adult dogs have a built-in tolerance for puppies and if Manny isn't really being mean, then things will most likely work out with time. Encourage and praise Manny when he is tolerant to Marley and also when they do play together. Be sure Manny has a place to get away from Marley for peace and quiet as puppies tend to be pests at times!
Second. be sure to give Manny some private time with you. Put Marley up in his crate and do something fun with Manny. Then reverse things and have time with Marley without Manny. Don't play with one in front of the other one - that's teasing. But do give each some one on one time with you.
More than anything else, time will work things out. They'll discover how much fun playing with each other can be!
Your older dog, at this point, is alpha by default due to the new addition only being a puppy. As this is the case, you need to make sure your alpha is getting treated as such. The first crack at everything essentially. Feeding first, attention first, and play time first. Sometimes an alpha dog will react like this if he is not being reinforced by the humans in the home as to his status and he feels the need to defend that status as a result.
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