Second Dog Advice/Tips?

So with the new girl coming in soon, I figure I should see if there's anything I'm missing. Plus, general advice is always appreciated!! As most of you know, Trent is my first and only dog...so I'm really not sure what I'm in for! On paper yeah maybe, but in practice not so much.

Right now I either already have, or have on my list include
- extra leashes
- extra makeshift bed (actually an old futon but it works!)
- extra food and treats
- more tug toys (waiting until Black Friday to buy more toys)
- a spare room and dog gate in case we need to separate her and Trent for a while

She'll come with a crate and collar, and I'll save up for a fancy collar eventually. Oh! And I do need to check to see if she's got a microchip, but I'll get a tag made either way. Probably something from Petsmart while I shop around on Etsy. Favorite Etsy/inexpensive tag makers??

Anything else? Advice? For those who remember going from one dog to two, how did things go? AHH WHAT AM I DOING.

HOLA

Just a thing I thought of, I'd take them on walks separately in the beginning! Just for being safe's sake... you can learn the quirks and habits of the mal (and if she's particularly reactive to anything??) before dealing with two on a leash. Not jinxing the mal, but when Lancer became super fearful/reactive out of the blue and my mom brought both dogs on a walk together (while I was not home to stop it, dangit), Rara pretty much copied his fear/reactivity to whatever stimuli it was within a day, when she totally wasn't before. But she's also always sensitive and easily influenced. It took her a few months of walking alone to get over it. :yikes:

ETA: I found that dogs living together are more likely to copy each other's negative behavior than good behavior.

Awesome!! So glad you shared And yeah, definitely doing separate walks in the beginning, and seeing where to go from there. Trent's actually the reactive one - he's gotten much better now, but I'm expecting the worst. His only bad habits are his reactivity outdoors (and general obnoxiousness, which I don't mind), and alert barking at the door. Going to work with that so it doesn't get too crazy.

I imagine she'll be much higher in prey than he is though, and we have about a bazillion squirrels on campus. Trent's gotten good at leaving them alone, but I'm going to have to work with both of them more individually before venturing onto campus with them together.

Oh and he's a possessive a-hole so I've got cleaning and organizing to do!

That is so exciting you are getting another one! What kind of dog and when does she arrive?

I don't have 2 dogs, but I do have quite a bit of experience from fostering and volunteering at the dog rescue. One thing I see a lot people make the mistake of doing when they get another dog is giving the new one too much attention and the old one not enough. Make sure they each get their alone time with you in the beginning as well as supervised time together with you. Trent still needs to know you love him and you didn't ditch him for the new puppy (or is she an adult?). Also I would say to not rush introductions. Too much in one day can overwhelm the dogs, and you do not want them to have their first experience with each other be negative.

I hope everything goes well for you guys!

Really appreciate it!! Definitely good to get advice from someone who's had plenty of experience introducing new dogs to the household. Thanks!

She is an adult female Malinois If all goes well, she may be here as early as this weekend. If not, maybe next week.

Great advice to keep in mind - I'm actually a huge sap though so I think Trent's going to get extra spoiled LOL One of the top reasons why it took me so long to commit to a second dog is because I've always worried about Trent's feelings on the matter. He's very much an only child so it's going to be an adjustment. I value the relationship we have greatly though, because it's taken a lot to get to where we are today. He'll still get a ton of one-on-one time, to balance out his disappointment when he learns he has to share me

How do you normally do introductions? I plan just to do an introduction in a neutral area (probably a nearby park) and walk back home. I don't plan on leaving the two together unsupervised and uncrated...ever LOL

You must post many many pictures once she arrives

I normally take the two dogs for a nice long walk together to introduce them. I don't pay either of them any attention and I try to avoid nose-to-nose sniffs in the very beginning. Walks are nice and neutral and there so many other things going on that they won't really zero-in on each other. I personally don't even like to let them loose in the house together on the first day, but that is really up to you. I do introductions at a snails-pace, mainly because there seem to be less issues when they are given time to warm up to each other.

They will eventually figure out they you are a precious resource and must be shared for each dog's survival. Make sure they each get plenty of independent love and play as well as playtime together and you will be good as gold. One thing I don't ever separate out though, is walk time. I always walk the two dogs together because they learn that whenever they get to go on a wonderful walk, they get to see each other as well! They start associating the positive experience of walks with seeing their new house mate, which is exactly what you want.

I really think one on one time with you is always important, not just initially.

I would introduce away from your house at a place that you don't frequent. So that Trent doesn't consider it "his."

Good idea to rotate them a bit at first, so each gets time with you and a little time together and then some downtime away from all the new. Helps keep the pressure and arousal down really nicely.

Reactivity will rub off, especially since it is just unavoidable that your attention is divided unequally when one has a more challenging issue than the other. And just the breed type, they can feed off the other's reactivity.
It takes time to work on that individually and then slowly build the skill with both together. It shouldn't be too bad I wouldn't think!

On that vein, prey drive is amplified about ten times as they feed on each others prey drive. Lily doesn't really give a crap what Scout is doing unless it is impeding her adventure time, but if Lily sees something or if Scout THINKS Lily sees something (squirrel primarily... or cat!) she gets all high alert, tall girl prancy.

I would say be aware if they are both possessive and adjust accordingly for happy times. I do always feed and potty Scout first, as Lily is very, very possessive of me and it was important that she see Scout as having a legitimate position in our household. I do not think Lily would tolerate living with another bitch that close in age that wasn't as willing to give as Scout is. Scout will always concede because she has such a co-dependant tie to the dogs' she has bonded to.

It will be a lot easier for you I think because you have dogs with solid nerve. Once she's settled in and you two have a bond, it'll probably come easy. They might be a bit possessive, but goes away fast once you get your routine down.

Toy/play time, food time, etc. all seperate at first. Once they are acclimated, having doubles should be fine. Its one of those things that depends on the dogs' involved.
Chicago can get possessive over toys when he is here, so often the toys end up on top of the fridge until I get one down to play with. But his household is chaos and he doesn't get real dog toys often so you can't blame the guy. He is very good, when I remind him that he is getting too possessive he will hand me the toy and kennels himself for a bit to calm down. He so sweet and conscientious! He's actually been in our lives longer than Scout. Lily helped raise him. Having Chico staying here is zero adjustment.

So freaking excited for you!!!! Lots of pics please!!!!

Babygate is a great idea, separate crate..you seem pretty covered

can you have someone walk her next to you and trent? This seems to be the most effortless intro technique.

As for cheap good tag makers, these are $10 including shipping. Nothing fancy but they are very well made and you can pack A LOT of info in there
http://www.boomerangtags.com/store/list.php?A=G&ID=4&k=h

We moved into a home with a dog already established, so it was a little different. But for a while it was just kind of having two of some popular toys and LOTS of toys so there was never an issue of "zoning in" on the same thing (her dog was a resource guarder but wouldn't bother if there was other stuff you know?)
and she got treats any time she **** near walked by Merlin without grumbling lol

Love those!

Woah, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much, great, great things to think about!! Also I am so excited and your excitement is making me even more excited and omg what is happening.

First things first, everyone rest assured there will be a ton of photos!

That's a good tip about doing the walk first and not letting them sniff and pounce on each other initially. I can see Trent going overboard with that because of 1) how enthusiastic he is but also 2) how play police-y he can get.

I actually plan to have one dog tethered to me at all times, but haven't decided on which one yet. Intuitively I think it should be the newgirl, but we'll see if Trent behaves badly enough to need it more He should be okay though, he's a pretty easy dog to live with. I'm just worried he'll be too exuberant in wanting to get to know her, but the walk should definitely help. Luckily my sister is also my roommate so she'll be able to help me with the walk.

The following walks will likely need to be separate. Trent likes to lunge in front when he's walking with another dog, and newgirl supposedly needs a remedial course on manners as well (totally overrated, btw). Trent is selectively dog reactive and like monkeys23 mentioned, his prey drive will definitely be triggered x100 if another dog is fixating. Newgirl is high prey drive. It's too much for me to do alone, plus I really enjoy having one on one time. It's much more important that the dogs are bonded to me than they are to each other. And because Trent is not truly dog aggressive and newgirl is used to living with multiple dogs, I'll save the group walks for later (or if a problem does arise that group walks will help with).

Trent is generally more complacent with female dogs and in the past, it has made things easier. I do still count on him being possessive though, so I'm stocking up on raw bones and high value treats for when he's not being a sulky old a-hole. I will probably give him something high value to chew on while I'm engaging the new girl at first. He's actually not that affectionate of a dog himself, but likes to insert himself in the middle when he sees me with another dog or a cat.

And Fran, yes!! Thank you so much for the boomerang tag link, I've heard about it a few times before but never looked into it. I LOVE that they have a slide on tag option, would work great while she's still just wearing a nylon collar.

I have just realized that one important issue has not been addressed: what is new girl's name?! Are you going to keep her current one or change it?

I'm actually not sure yet!! For a while I (and probably everyone else) assumed I'd keep it...but then I realize I won't be able to name another girldog for a long, long time. And I had so many names saved up that I wanted to use!! So we'll see. I'll ask her current owner for her opinion, though I'm pretty sure her name was picked by her breeder in Croatia or something

I'd just feel odd changing it because that's what a lot of people already know her by. But on the other hand...I want to name something!

Take a deep breath, everything will be fine. Don't freak out if there initial tension between them. You know dogs, you're very capable, and you have a better understanding of training and concepts like counter conditioning than most people. It will be fine.

I've been trying to tell myself to calm down and take a breath for a while now, so I didn't realize how much I still needed to read those words. But I really, really did, so much. Thank you!!!

SO EXCITING AAAHHH!!! So soon!!!

Chiming in with another "don't worry!", seriously - ALL of my puppy introductions were extremely rough. Jasper loathed Yarrow completely, and I actually think Yarrow would have happily eaten Onyx, he really seemed to want to kill her for the first week (ish?). Sure added a whole new level of stress to the already stressful (though fun) adding of a new puppy/dog.

Now they all live totally happily together!

So even if things don't go perfectly to begin with, everything will likely be totally fine. Sounds like you have all your bases covered!

Since she's going to be shipped to you, I'd plan on keeping everyone separate for the first 24 hours or more to allow her to settle in with no pressure. Flying can be crazy stressful and no one behaves normally when they are super stressed and confused.

Consider the Two Week Shut Down protocols. Keep things as low key as you can with a mal girly initially - she'll add plenty of her own excitement, no need to pile more on.

Ahh okay, that's good to know. I actually never would have guessed that Jasper didn't like Yarrow and Yarrow didn't like Onyx initially! I have a feeling I'll be referring back to this thread and pep talk myself if I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Of course, with how much of a brat Trent is, I am prepared for a tough intro. But once he figures out that she's here to stay, I'm hoping he'll like her. For now, if they come out unscathed I'm happy!! That's all I ask for! And if she doesn't eat the cats that'll be cool, too, but I don't want to ask for too much

I'm REALLY excited too!!! Still can't believe it's happening! You'll have to come meet her

I'll look that up for sure I've heard of it before but totally forgot about it until you brought it up. Thanks!! Definitely a fair point about keeping the first 24 hours (and following few weeks) low key. I will probably still do a walk with my sister and the two dogs but I'll keep the contact minimal.

Elsie and Zobby have tags from the mad stampers on etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/themadstampers) and we've been happy with them.

Second what everyone else has said! You will do just fine!!

The girls had possessive scuffles over the Rhodie mix boys and Chico kicked the crap out of Scout the six months she was there before I took her... thats why she has a scar on her nose.

When I finally took Scout, I was surprised at what an asshole Lily was toward her even with me policing her behavior. Took Scout finally losing it and throwing her down and holding her there. I was there of course and it only happened once. Guess the spoiled princess got the picture because she stopped being such a jerk.


I really wanted to change Scout's name to Violet when I took her! But having known her for a solid six months before taking her, I totally failed at breaking the habit of calling her Scout. It fits even if its not one I ever would have chosen, she is a lot like her namesake... her first owner chose well even if I can't stand that book. LOL.

Also it was way more alarming when Scout finally decided she loved the Missy cat and started awkwardly grooming her instead of just ignoring her. Cat hair and slime everywhere. Animals are so fun! :rofl1:

What names are you thinking?

I kinda agree on overrated. I kinda love it when Scout prances and leaps like a pony. And Lily's peacocking is hilarious.

Eeek, you will have so much fun with them both!!!