Roger, Mrs. R, and myself are spending the Christmas holiday @ my parents' house in CT. I have two separate doggie intro situations I need help with.

To replace the late, great Czech working-line GSD I often talk about, my Mom has made a very risky and un-Leerburg-like decision: she bought two showline GSD pups recently. I think it was extremely unwise, but it's done.

They are around Roger's age (6 mo) and are both females. My brother says they are "in the shallow end of the gene pool." I have never met them, don't know much about them.

My brother also just recently got a puppy--a 16-week male Dutchie. He already has a 10-year-old Akita/Pit mix, who is sweet and dumb as a rock.

So, to sum it up: how best to introduce Roger into these two situations? We will be staying @ my Mom's, so I want to make sure the pups all get along.

My general idea was to have them all meet in a 'neutral' location before bringing him into 'their' house. No toys. Not a lot of face-to-face contact, perhaps some walking to get them used to being in each other's presence. Am I on the right track? Please feel free to correct, or expand.

Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays.

Ross, I'd be more likely to take my dog's kennel (crate), set it up in the room in which I was staying and just keep him seperate from all the confusion for a few days. Three 6 mo. old GSD's running around a house regardless of where they fall in the gene pool sounds pretty chaotic to me. If her dogs aren't strong in obedience, it could be a mess. JMHO.

Merry Christmas to you too and have a safe trip!

The crate is definitely coming, for absolute certain. We need it for travel, and for sleeping. Roger is quite obedient and stable, but still chews.

But man, I don't know if we'll be able to stomach keeping him in the crate much when we're there. My mom just fenced off her back yard so there is a small (to most of you, large to me) enclosure for the dogs to run around in.

Her dogs are in a training program already, but who knows how good it is. From what she told me, it sounds like Roger's got a huge jump on them in terms of OB and socialization.

Well, even if I did decide to keep him in the crate most of the time...how would you do the introduction?

Personally I wouldn't do introductions. Too much going on with 3 6month old pups, and a 16wk old DS. Crazy, Crazy! Since you already admitted that you don't know how good your Mom's training program is, why risk it? A pup could get physically hurt, or become fearful in new situations.

I'd keep Roger in his crate while your in the house, and just make sure he gets LOTS of exercise, walking, and marker training. Maybe bring some extra yummy RMB's to keep him happy in his crate.

 Quote: kelly byrd

Personally I wouldn't do introductions. Too much going on with 3 6month old pups, and a 16wk old DS. Crazy, Crazy! Since you already admitted that you don't know how good your Mom's training program is, why risk it? A pup could get physically hurt, or become fearful in new situations.

I'd keep Roger in his crate while your in the house, and just make sure he gets LOTS of exercise, walking, and marker training. Maybe bring some extra yummy RMB's to keep him happy in his crate.

Pretty much no question in my mind that this is what I would do.

"so I want to make sure the pups all get along." They don't have to get along for any reason at all. What a miserable visit this would be if there was a fight, an attack, an injury, even an "almost" that changed a pup's confidence forever.

It's really not much different from an off-leash dog park. JMO.

For what it's worth you are on the same track that I try to stick with for introducing new fosters into my home.

Well, guess I'm dumb as a rock myself, but I'd do some leash walking on neutral turf with them all first just to see if anyone was
instantly cranky then I'd let them play. If anyone starts not playing nice, i'd pick that one up for a minute, then set it down to play again. They can be taught to "play not mean" at this age. I'd keep old grandpa out of it.
You can always move to crate mode.
Dogs can get into friendship; at 16 wks no one's go much ammo.
They might just have a ball, form bonds that they remember next Christmas.
Or, it could be a wreck. You'll just have to see.

I like betty's advice and I would like to add a little extra.

I would go to the home, get your crate in, get your dog in it and leave him there while scope out the situation. You said you have never met these dogs, even if they are at the "shallow end of the gene pool" to someone might mean they are not working quality, but maybe nice house pets.

So watch your mothers two and see how they are, temperament wise, manners wise and listening wise. You can't expect too much from 6 month old dogs, but they should at least be mindful of situations.

Then if you think that everyone seems nice enough then I would take everyone for a nice long walk, leashed, together. Then once away from home and they are a little tired, do the introductions.

If everything goes smooth walk them home and intro in the back yard. If everything again goes smooth move to the house. One thing that should be agreed upon by everyone prior, is that #1 everyone watches their own dog, #2 outside is for playing, inside is for quiet and #3 no shared food or toys.

Hope everything works out for you - it should be a very eventful Christmas!

I just listened to Ed's podcasts and he gives a really good description of using the crate to introduce dogs and ensure everyone is safe. I would definitely try a pack walk outside first, to see how they walk together. If there is a park nearby, that would be a good place to see how they introduce themselves to each other (playful? fearful?). If they look good in that situation, they could all try walking into the house together, with the handlers going in first, and each dog following separately. Then, you could have an obedience class in the livingroom, making sure each dog is paying attention to their handler and learning the new rules of being in the house together. If none of this works, you can have a crate handy, to put one dog in, at a time, to give them a safe place to sniff and be sniffed by the other (3?). My gosh. What a handful! I would make sure every dog is on leash and has a handler assigned to keep an eye on them. At the first sign of dominance, I would separate them all and let them have a rest away from each other.

If I was taking Jethro into a situation like this I would plan on putting him in his crate the moment we got there with lots of treats, after a good long walk before going into the house. It wouldn't hurt to have a blanket available to cover the crate so he can have his own sensory deprivation experience. I wouldn't let him out without being on leash and with me. He would be knocking things down with his tail, anyway.

Well, for me, it sounded like too much off-leash "playtime" with unknown dogs.

But that's just me. Not a big fan of up-close meet-and-greet with strange dogs.

And IME, there is always one owner who says "Oh, let them work it out."


But, maybe the O.P. will be lucky.