i'm following what ed wrote in introducing a new dog into a home with an existing dog, but - i have a question.

teagan is definitely more dominant than luc is (despite the fancy new manly collar i got him ). it makes sense to me that our pack structure will go: me - teagan - luc

if that's the case - should i be promoting this structure to help the dogs settle faster? by little things of course, like feeding her first? or should i leave it and allow the dogs to work it out on their own (who knows, maybe they'll surprise me). is this best a natural process or is it ok to manipulate?

Jennifer, it sounds like Teagan is a female sooooooo

Trust me, she will be dominant over him no matter what kind of pack structure you try to create Females, IMHO, ALWAYS dominate the male. My female runs both the four legged men in my family and it has been that way ever since the beginning of time in our house. Also, every female dog I have ever known has been the "top dog" in the house. Granted, the male is the Alpha male but she is the Alpha female and quite frankly that translates into "I'm boss until I tell you otherwise". I have read that this is so in most packs in the wild also. My female will allow the boys to be "men" when she decides they need to be and that's about it!

P.S. I didn't know you got a new pooch! Where's our pic???? HMM?? lol,

teagan is indeed female. so that + her being more dominant should definitely make her the beta (so to speak, i'm keeping alpha!) - do you think i should start reinforcing that as her position (feeding, maybe taking her for walks first) or just let them sort it on their own?

....i have pictures. but my internet at home is being slow about downloading them (i use a unprotected wireless network which, as my brother puts it, trespasses onto my computer....anyways, it's not always reliable, but hey, it's free).

she's a pretty girl though. dark muzzle, black and tan, bitch stripe, long coat (don't know how to tell if she's got a stock coat underneath), she doesn't slope or angle really so i think that's a good sign for her hips and elbows, she's a bit overweight but very muscular (i think i adopted a X between an ox and a tank!). she's settling in well. she's sort of the opposite of luc, so it's a lot of fun - she's very confident, very alert, has prey drive, and while she heels well tends to give off this 'looking for a collision' attitude. definitely a if you give her an inch, she takes a mile kind of dog, she's strongwilled - she initially fought the prong, which luc never did. she's accepted it now (or the past few times didn't fight it, so hopefully she has) but i have to admit i like her spunk!

As far as feeding, I put them in a down stay wait until they are both calm submissive then give them a release at the exact same time. However, my two can eat within 5 feet of each other w/o any issues. They respect each others distance and food bowls. However, this was established by me watching them eat standing between them and enforcing the boundary. Now I don't have to stand between them. That was all, pre Leerburg days..hehe I remember Caesar saying that whichever dog is calm submissive first he would reward with feeding first, it didn't have anything to do w/rank in the pack, so I guess it just really will depend on the dogs and their behavior around feeding time. Do you kennel feed them?

I didn't know you got another dog. You didn't say what breed she is or age, how big, etc.

I am a foster home for a breed rescue and I have one adopted female. I gave up long ago trying to figure out which dog in my house was the "dominant". I have never been able to do it.

My dogs get fed in the order of the distance their "feeding station" is from where I keep the food. (Yeah, I'm that scientific). I tolerate absolutely NO aggression (except I do allow the adults to correct the young puppies). All my dogs are fed separately (mostly in their individual crates).

I pet whoever I feel like petting whenever I feel like petting them. I don't worry about petting the dominant dog first (especially since I don't know/care which is the dominant).

Jennifer, if your dogs are getting along well and you are following Ed's instructions for introducing them, I wouldn't worry about rank and pack structure unless the dogs are.

I mean to say, if they aren't posturing or grumbling at each other, and you feed and play with each separately and give them individual time with you, and you aren't having any real dominance issues, I wouldn't worry about it so much. As far as I can see, the only time you need to enfore one dog's rank over another is when there is actually a rank problem with the dogs.

Just make sure that you are keeping these dogs separated when you are not supervising them, until you are 110% sure they are completely compatible.

that's right, i remember that too about how cesar feeds. i should get that book back....

teagan is crated, and fed within her crate. i have a great crate 5000 for her i think. her crate is in the kitchen, and luc is also fed in the kitchen.

luc came with a crate, but - he was so well-behaved in the house, that....i didn't keep him to it and he didn't really use it. i know that's the not recommended approach - from an emotional perspective, since he'd been in a shelter for years i didn't want to force him into a crate when he's trustworthy w/the cats, perfect w/his housebreaking, and non-destructive/well-behaved.

teagan - well, to introduce the dogs, i need a crate, also - it's going to be a slow process to trust her around the cats. she ignores them now, but since outside she seems to see anything under 30lbs as a potential snack, i want to make sure she is solid solid and more solid. i'm following ed's advice there as well.

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

i'm following what ed wrote in introducing a new dog into a home with an existing dog, but - i have a question.

teagan is definitely more dominant than luc is (despite the fancy new manly collar i got him ). it makes sense to me that our pack structure will go: me - teagan - luc

if that's the case - should i be promoting this structure to help the dogs settle faster? by little things of course, like feeding her first? or should i leave it and allow the dogs to work it out on their own (who knows, maybe they'll surprise me). is this best a natural process or is it ok to manipulate?

Never let them work it out on their own. There are many people on this forum that have several dogs in their pack and always have excellent advice on how they handle their packs. If you look up their posts you'll get a lot of the info you need. Maybe they'll post their advice again

angela - they get all separate time at this point. they pass each other in the hall (i heavily supervise), but all walks/runs/obed. is separate and one-on-one.

teagan is a GSD as well.

luc will growl sometimes when teagan comes in from a walk, though it's mild and he's wagging his tail. he's doing this less, i think a combination of me correcting him and him getting used to her.

thanks re: the rank comments and enforcement of structure. sounds like something i don't need to worry about.

edit: sandy, or maybe i do need to concern myself. i'll try doing some more searching.

edit again:....eesh, there's a whole forum on this! my dumbs!