I need to introduce my vetenarily alterated, 12 yr old, very energetic Black Lab Male who is extremely possessive and understandable jealous to a new pet: presumably a 3 yr old not vetenarily altered small white male Chihuahua mix as a result of the neighbor being put in jail and will not be out for 6 months. There is no choice to keep the dog in his natural home as the house is beimg sold and the dog goes to me or to the humane society and I want him. He is a great dog but my dog is not going to be happy about this. Any suggestions for introducing old pets to new guests?

-- Dee (drebai@yahoo.com), November 13, 2001

Answers

keep the new dog in a travel cage for a day or so,, till the other can get used to it

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 13, 2001.

Also make sure that the first handful of times that you let him out in the presence of the other dog, you are there 24/7 to make sure nothing touchy sets of a fight. Solve this by only letting him out with other doggy when you're home after work, and don't forget to take him into protective custody when you leave, shower, go long potty, so on. At this stage, a baby gate over a doorway would allow for continuing adjustment, while seperating them from each other. It only takes one good fight to kill a small animal, so don't rush it.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.

Neutering the chihuahua would probably help. Vetenarily.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), November 13, 2001.

Keep the New Dog in the Crate. Its the old dogs house and this will set the pecking order for them. Your old dog can come up and check him out at will. You might be surprized. I brought home a kitten and put it in the dog crate thinking my 3 big cattle dogs would eat the little thing. Instead the three dogs would sleep by the crate and try and clean it through the bars. Once in the middle of the night the kitten got out through the bars (did not know she could) and when I woke up she was curled up with the dogs sleeping. They were all best friends.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), November 13, 2001.

Do it VERY CAREFULLY :) !! We have several dogs of various ages, and each one reacts differently when a newcomer moves in. Just like people, some dogs are more tolerant than others, and some dogs are more "annoying" than others! (for lack of a better word) Keeping the new dog in a crate and monitoring the introduction period 24/7 is very good advice. There really isn't much else you can do. Just remember to reassure the old guy with lots of positive reinforcement. Use common sense... don't feed them next to each other, don't kick the old guy off his favorite chair so the little dog can lay down, don't give the new pup the old guys chew toys, etc.... I know it sounds stupid, but it's been done!

Good luck... hope it all works out.

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.

Best way to break up a spat, should one occur, is to dump vinegar on them

-- Dianne (yankeeterrier@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001.

Also, be sure to give the older pet lots of attention.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001.

I have six dogs ranging from a 7-pound little guy to an 80 pound oldster. Admittedly, none of mine are un-neutered. When I bring a new dog in, I get a can of tuna in oil and rub tuna oil under everybody's nose and around everybody's anus. Then I take it VERY slowly, using a crate and/or a room with a child gate for the new one. I think the strong tuna smell eliminates the us/them problem for just long enough for everybody to kind of relax a little bit. It's always worked pretty well for us.

-- Catherine (cathdv@aol.com), November 17, 2001.