dog behavior training

Introducing a second dog into your home needs a little care. Initially, in almost all cases, your first dog, as the current incumbent, will make sure that he or she is higher in the pack hierarchy than the “intruder” into the territory. This is perfectly normal and the new dog and you as the owner (and as the alpha) should both be able to get along with it until things settle down.

Some behaviors from your original dog may include fighting, some rough and tumble, possibly taking everything the new dog shows an interest in, including food, and all forms of dominating behaviors such as trying to stand over the new arrival at every opportunity while it establishes the pecking order, or nestling alongside it then when looked at, the first dog deliberately looks away, to signify its superiority.

It is unlikely that the new dog will react too strongly to any of this. Any prospective second dog that takes a prolonged and/or violent exception to this is going to give you problems and you might wish to reconsider your plan in some instances if the dog behavior training actions described below are also clearly failing.

The actions you should take to help ease the new introduction include:

• Separate the dogs for a little while, e.g. in different rooms. They will each know the other is there through their sense of smell. This gives them space and a little time to acclimatise to the new situation.
• Treat both dogs equally when they do meet. Favour neither of them over the other and this sends them both the right signals both immediately and for the short-term while they get used to each other.
• Take them separately for walks if necessary for a short period, observing the same practice with each while the other can see how his “rival” is treated.
• Use separate bowls of food and water for each dog, but give your original dog hers first, reinforcing her position.

By following the above guidelines, after a relatively short time they will settle into a routine and any competition that occurs will be relatively minor as they sort it out between themselves. It is advisable not to leave them both together unobserved for a little while, so that any friction doesn’t escalate but generally, don’t get involved or over-react unless there is a very clear problem. Eventually, they’ll become friendly with each other and even though their rank in their own hierarchy might change over time, the preparation outlined above will normally work well.