Introducing a New Puppy to an Older Dog

If you are like most people you’ve probably bought a new puppy without really thinking about how to introduce it to an older dog. It’s not enough just to buy the same breed, or even size, as the older dog – much more work has to go into the successful integration than that.

The very first thing you should do if you can – is to bring the scent of the new puppy home. Buy bedding for the new dog and rub the smell of your new puppy (hopefully still with it’s mother or in the pet store) all over it. Then bring the bedding home and put it in a corner of the house. Reward your dog for sniffing the scent. If you have the scent on your clothes be sure to give extra attention to the older dog. That way you are reinforming a positive reaction to the smell. Keep the smell around as often as possible before the puppy arrives.

On the day the puppy is due to arrive then it’s a good idea not to have any visitors or children around. They would tend to fuss over the new puppy – immediately upsetting the older dog and his understanding of his social group. So allow just one or two adults to be there for the introduction. Let the older dog sniff the younger dog. Then take the younger dog to a safe area of the house – perhaps into a closed bedroom or laundry. Allow the two dogs to sniff at each other under the gap between the door. This may often be enough contact for the first few days.

Don’t try to soon to feed the dogs at the same time. The puppy is likely to want to sniff or try to eat the older dogs food and this could cause an aggressive response. Instead, when you are ready to let the puppy out of the “safe zone”, let the dogs be together in a netural environment without food – say why the family is in the backyard, or watching TV. Make sure to pat and pay attention to the older dog first – maintaining the pecking order, before paying attention to the younger dog.

Doing this slowly means you older dog will start to get used to the younger dog being a part of the family – but on the lowest rung of the pecking order. At any stage if you notice the older dog playing or sniffing the younger one feel free to reward them with a treat – again, reinforce the positive behaviour.

Apart from reinforcing the positive behaviour, you need NOT step in for the negative behaviour, within reason. Some growling or hackle raising is normal, and event the odd paw across the head from the older dog to the young dog is nothing to be concerned about. This is just the two animals working out their rank in life. If you step in at this stage you are really telling the older dog that you rank the younger dog more important and that you (the alpha of the house) are protecting the puppy – thus changing the rank of the animals. This can lead to more aggression, not less.

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