The Schnauzer Forum

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I'm interested in any hints and tips for introducing my new puppy to my existing dog, Synnu. Just a bit of background - Synnu is a year old, recently neutered male. He is very happy being with other dogs (partly why we're getting a second) and is very sociable. Our household is just me, my husband and Synnu. Synnu and I are very close - he's like my little shadow and follows me everywhere. As my work is from home I spend a huge amount of time with him. I'm saying this because I'm not sure if dogs get jealous but it's clearly possible in this situation.

My new pup will have her own crate and I'm planning on giving her lots of sleeps during the day - especially when I walk Synnu (which is usually twice a day) - so they'll have time apart. Synnu doesn't use a crate but we'll all sleep in the same room at night while she gets used to her new home.

I've done a lot of reading about this and, not surprising, there is conflicting advice. So, in your experience, is there anything I can do to help things go smoothly? In particular, I was planning on having Synnu in the car when I collect the new pup (in a divided crate) - I've heard conflicting views on whether this is a good thing. If it isn't, how should I introduce her when we get home?

PS - I pick her up tomorrow.

Well, I can't claim that what I tell you here is expert advice, but I can tell you how we coped with it when we introduced Buttons. We had already had Harvey and Oscar from puppies and we picked them both up at the same time, so they had a very close bond. In addition to that, I too work from home and so am there most of the time with them.
On the day itself, we went to the place we bought Buttons from and took Harvey and Oscar in the boot of the car with us. We left them in the car while we went in to collect Buttons and then brought him out and just showed him to Harvey and Oscar so that they could have a sniff.
In the car on the way back, OH carried Buttons on his lap on the basis that it was probably a bit traumatic for him having just been taking away from his mother etc.
When we got back home, I then spent a bit of time with Buttons, but in the same room as the other dogs and OH gave them a bone each as "compensation" for the new arrival! The downside to this tactic was that Buttons went to investigate Harvey's bone and got short shrift from him in the form of a big bark - oops! Buttons squealed like mad, even though Harvey hadn't touched him, so I gave him a bit of a cuddle and he soon settled down.
For the rest of the day, we divided our attention between H&O and Buttons. I can't remember exactly, but I think I took them off for a walk as well and left OH with Buttons to bond a bit more.
For the first night, Buttons went into his crate, which was in the same room as H&O. This, for us, seemed to work pretty well and Buttons was very soon accepted as part of the pack by the other two.
As you can see, we didn't get it 100% right with Harvey's big bark at him, but they all get on absolutely fine now and did pretty much from the start other than that little blip. I just wanted to be honest with you about the good things and bad things that happened in our experience.
I hope that's helped a bit. Feel free to ask if you want to know anything else about what happened with our specific situation...
Good luck with the new arrival - I'm sure it'll all work out fine though!

I wouldn't have considered that bark a blip, but more of an introduction of the good manners Harvey and Oscar expected from Buttons to become an accepted pack member; you stay off MY food and I'll be nice to you. Good socialisation, innit?

I've done it both ways, I've had a dog with me when picking up a puppy and I have also done the 'oh look what i found in the garden', after one particularly long trip involving me getting home after midnight, I just dropped off the crate with pup inside in the front room, let the others in to have a look and then put them all outside for a last wee and then all went to bed!

I'd just say to keep it all calm and matter of fact and keep out of the way anything you dog could resource guard (I wouldn't have had bones out for the other dogs until they were all more used to each other)

Thanks everyone - very helpful. Oskypops thanks for letting me know what you did, very interesting. Sadly I'll be on my own tomorrow as my husband has to be away with work so there won't be a spare lap for her to sit on. I will let you know how I get on.

when we got apuppy we were a bit worried how murphy would react to her .murphy was not the most friendly dogs about he loved been top dog.within a few hours he had accepted her a few growls and grunts when she hung off his beard but we thought he knew she was a just a kid and of no threat to him. my advice is to watch over them for a while till they bond a bit and am sureaftera short while every thing will be fine.