introducing new dog to current resident dog

gareth12121

Hi everyone, any tips on introducing a new dog to a home with one resident dog.
Current dog is a male nuetured collie cross, he is 2.5 years old, friendly and gets on well with other dogs,
He never has issues when in kennels when we are away. He goes to daycare 2 or 3 days a month to let him socialise with other dogs.
The new dog will be an 18 month old labradoodle from a rescue and we are picking her up on sunday.
She is also nuetered and the rescue thinks that they should get on.
My wife is off next week so there will be someone at home all day with them.
Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

aonb

Lovely to have a new dog coming!
If your resident dog is easygoing and sociable you will hopefully have no trouble
I would recommend that you take your dog to the shelter that you are getting your new dog from, and bring them both for a walk together, and maybe spend a little bit of time together - on neutral ground. Maybe do this on Saturday? If this isnt possible, maybe suggest to the rescue that you collect the new dog to bring her with your dog for a walk together someplace - not in your house.
Then bring the labradoodle to your house, once your resident dog has met her.
Remove any particular fav toys, chews etc before the new dog arrives.
When she arrives, I would wait outside with her, while one of you goes into the house, and picks up your resident dog, then go for a walk together, just to take the edge off.

Definitely feed them separately until you know that there are no issues around food. I would do this for a few days, to prevent any sparking or issue flaring up
Its great that your wife is going to be home for the first week
I would have them sleep separately for the first couple of nights.
Dont show any favouritism to either dog initially - lots of treats and lots of calmness.
Since your wife is home for a week, for the first couple of days it might be an idea to have a friend come to walk the two dogs with her. Then in the evenings when you are home from work, bring them out together again.

Hope all goes well. Lucky girl to have a new forever home, and lucky resident dog to have some company. A bitch/dog mix is usually quite good.
Post some pics!
good luck

gareth12121

thanks for the tips, I wont have a chance for them to meet at the rescue so will be bringing the new dog home and this will be there first meeting. i was thinking, when we arrive home my wife will wait at the front gate with the new dog and i will go into house and collect our resident dog and bring them for a walk together to get to know each other. then home and see how it goes from there, buddy(current dog) is very laid back, socialable [IMG][/IMG]and friendly, isnt aggressive with food or toys with us or with strangers so hopefully all goes well. i work evenings so will be around to walk them with the missus in the mornings. I have got a training line(15metre) so was thinking of putting this on her when shes in the garden (3/4 acre) for the first week or so until she settles in.