How To Introduce A New Puppy To Your Dog

You’ve got a brand new puppy and everyone is excited – except your other dog. Discover how expert dog trainer Mike Stewart introduces puppies to the other dogs in a household, and learn how you can make the transition smoother for everyone in your family.

Introduction To Other Dogs The Wildrose Way : Video Transcript

Mike Stewart: Well, welcome to the new home. We've got a new pup. We need to introduce into our home, and there's a proper way to do that. We've got everything set up. We have the proper dog food. We've got dog bowls. We've got a new crate. A new mat. Everybody's really excited. But what about introducing the puppy into this home when Stella thinks it's hers? We could have a territorial problem. Maybe Stella will see this puppy as an invasion, and be jealous. Let's take a look at the steps that you need to consider before introducing this pup into that home.

As we began to plan for our first meeting, we made sure the yard is clean from any waste. Also, that we have all our shots in order for both the puppy, and the dog that we're going to introduce to. Here we have our dog now. She's out in the neutral territory. She's not in her turf. We're invading with another dog, and we want to make sure she's going to accept this new little guy, so we're going to have to do this in a controlled manner. The way we're going to do this is this dog is under control on a lead. I'm going to introduce the pup, and Danielle is going to reward her dog for doing the right thing. She's going to show that the affection is equal. Danielle shouldn't show all the affection to this pup and under her. Then I'm going to sit on the ground. See, there we go. Look at the new puppy. Yes. I have control of the pup. Danielle has control of Stella, and they get acquainted.

While our first introduction went really well between these two dogs, and we're going to progressively move that closer and closer to the home with an introduction on the porch, with an introduction inside. Now, there's some rules once we get inside. We're not going to let them rest together in a crate or on a dog bed initially. Never let them get involved in a tug of war, or a scuffle over any chew toy, or a ball, or something that this dog might think is her possession. Never feed them together. Feed them separately. Once we get the house established, later on, they can become closer and closer, and do things together. But initially there should be a little bit of separation between the two. You want to set your plan up, and your home up to control the situation for the initial introduction into the home between your dogs.