how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

just curious for people who have been there to share their experiences and advice...
we have a maltese who will be 3 in the spring and we are probably going to get another puppy in a couple of months.
he's pretty spoiled and i'm nervous how he's going to react.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

Luckily we had no issues when my dog and DH's dog had to live together. Nor did we have any issues when we brought a new dog into the mix (although they were all adult dogs).

We didn't have to do anything special, they just all got along pretty much from the get go.

Good luck!

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

Well we got Lucky who will be 2 in March when he was 6 months old. We had him for a year before we got our other dog Porter. Lucky is a toy poodle, Porter is a Pit Mix. Lucky is definately not a Porter Fan. My 6lb poodle snaps at my 60lb pitbull. It's quite funny but all in all sometimes they will actually cuddle and drink outta the same bowl. We introduced them outside and let them sniff eachother first. Then we brought lucky in and followed with porter. They got along in the beginning a little but lucky des not like when i pay attention to Porter. I am Lucky's mommy and that is it. It also doesn;t help that Lucky comes everywhere with me. But as long as they aren't killing each other i'm okay with it. I hated my brother too

Message edited 11/29/2007 3:58:40 PM.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

I have been fortunate not to have any problems adding dogs to the mix. The only one who sometimes gets annoyed is my 10yo lhasa but he still gets more of my attention and he is the only one allowed to sleep in our bed.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

I have a very spoiled little doggie (who I know loves other doggies though).

He loved it when we brought a puppy home for him to be friends with. They are best friends now.

He was a little over one and she was 10 weeks. Now they are 2.5 and 1.5 yrs old.

Best decision we made. But we KNEW overall he would love having a sibling/friend. We did worry he might the pup b/c he is rough, but he knew what he could and could not do instinctively. Plus the pup became his boss and he was ok with that!

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

My Dh was the one who wanted to get a "friend" for Jake. He felt he was too attached to me and worried about when we had children. I was worried because Jake didn't get along with other dogs at all. He was 5 and we got Henry as a puppy and it all worked out. The first few minutes were a little scary but once they sniffed eachother out they were fine. Henry was crate trained so they weren't left alone together at first but now they are like brothers...they play together and sometimes they fight. I think it was the best thing we could have done because Jake has become less needy; espeically now that we are having a baby.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

thanks girls, keep your stories comin!

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

It took a year and finally we can leave them alone in the house together. the older dog hated the new dog. She would try to bite him all of the time. She was acting weird for a long time, it was terrible. Its better now although you can still sense the jealously.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

Jessi was 4 years old when we added Morgan to the family.
At first she wanted nothing to do with Morgan...after a few weeks she warmed up and they are best friends now....that is them in my avatar
Then in June we added in Riley...Morgan and Riley became fast friends and Jessi once again wanted nothing to do with the new pup.
This time she was distant a little longer, but now all 3 of them play together and love each other. So now instead of having 1 spoiled dog, we have 3

Message edited 11/29/2007 9:19:05 PM.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

My first dog HATED the new puppy. It was shocking to us, because prior to getting him, she always loved other dogs! She'd play nicely at the dog park, stayed with a family with other dogs while we were on vacation... but we got the puppy, and she tried to attack him, which was scary and upsetting. I truly had no idea what we were going to do, but we didn't allow her to bully him, and eventually it got better. It was just really difficult for the first few weeks as they both adjusted to each other.

At first we had to keep them completely separated for a couple days, then progressed to monitoring them closely while they were together for about a week, then to only interfering when we had to (like if the older dog wouldn't let the puppy play with any toys) which took several weeks, and believe it or not, they eventually became the best of friends! Now they sleep together, play together nicely, share toys, and get all sad if the other is gone (like at the vet or something).

We made sure to be consistent in disciplining the older dog if she picked on the puppy, and praised her, petted her, etc. if she behaved nicely with him. It also helped a lot as the puppy grew bigger, gained some confidence, and started to stand up for himself.

Re: how did your dog handle adding another dog to the house?

Posted by MrsFlatbread

It took a year and finally we can leave them alone in the house together.

this is what i'm afraid of... because we won't have an option not to leave them alone in the house together