I have a new prospective working pup coming into a house with 2 other dogs. I am curious about seperating the pup from casual interaction with the others and what peoples experiences have been.

In the past, I have let the dogs hang out together. I don't anymore. Our dogs are both house and kennel dogs. Our newest addition has never been allowed to play w/the other dogs. My bitchling is hard core dog aggressive and would have had him for lunch by now.

My working line male is very nice to the pup, they visit thru their kennels, ie when one is out in the yard w/one of us, he will wander over to say hello to the kenneled one, they seem to get along very nicely. They play a bit that way. But, they don't play together. Nor do we allow our dogs in training loose in the yard unless one of us is there to interact with. The 2 boys are not especially interested in other dogs, overall which is nice. The bitchling is pretty much a pet.

Each dog gets time in the house w/us as well, and everyone sleeps in his/her respective crates at nite inside. So, they have learned to tolerate each others' presence but they are more focused on the humans.

I've done the play together let the dogs work it out thing and I think that it takes the spirit out of the puppy being dominated. It doesn't stop the dog from working but I think the difference between one that will work for you, and one that likes to work.

What I mean by this is a puppy thats never dominated by anybody but you. Is a proud dog, I compare him to a fighter that has never lost a fight, he thinks he tough (to steal a quote from Ed's tape). A puppy that has been dominated will work for you and enjoy working but he/she doesn't have that "And whos next attitude".

I agree with Joys comment if they inter-react let it be from inside a kennel one or both.
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What I really like about the interacting from inside/outside the kennel runs (one in, other out and vice versa)is not only does it avoid brawling, but I've noticed the 2 boys (both young) have developed the habit of pretty much not paying a lot of attention to each other at training, they are both more interested in what we're doing. I think they've figured out it takes a human to throw a Kong . . .

I decided a long time ago that quality of life was more important to me than salvaging a few trial points, so my dogs are allowed to be together; this allows all three of them to spend a lot more time out of the kennel (2 are kennel dogs; one is a house dog). Any two of the three males can be together, the third is separate. None of them is interested in other dogs; none of them has eyes for anyone but me (unless it's the helper!) during training. It works out great for my gang.

Thank you all for the responses. So far I have just let them meet under controled situations and all is well. My 2 year old is no menace to the pup and I will keep it that way. They have done the meet through the kennel routine and they seem to be fine. Thanks again for the opinions.
Bryan

Lee:

I'm very interested in what you say about 2 of your males being OK together - any tips for how to acheive this, or at least get it as much as possible? We've just introduced a 7-wk old male pup to a house with a 1-yr old male, and we want them to do as well together as is possible. Any insight much appreciated! One of the reasons for getting the new pup was as a companion to the older dog.

They seem to get along fine with each other now, (play tug together, lots of tail-wagging, much greeting when they've been apart) but we want to avoid any problem later on as they grow up together.

Mike

Each of mine has at least 2 yrs of age difference between them, so each new one was introduced as a pup to the older dogs. So obviously there was no conflict between them for at least the first year cuz the older dogs didn't feel threatened or challenged by a pup. Because the adult could accidentally get too rough with a pup, their time together was always supervised until the youngster got to be around 9 mos. old; by then, he was strong, fast, and heavy enough to not be at a disadvantage. But still the relationship was clear cut becuz the pup was raised in a subordinate role due to the age difference. The worst you'd see would be a snarl and feigned bite if the younger would try to take a stick away from the older. But by and large, they got along great. One thing that can provoke a problem is having a toy/ball in the yard; that will stimulate some possession aggression. I never allow them to have toys when they are together. Right around one year old, my youngest took over the dominant role with the middle dog - no fight, he just started testing the waters by putting his head over the other's shoulders, shouldering him away from me at times, etc. The middle dog didn't want any part of it and gave ground. Now the younger can stop the middle dog in his tracks with just a slight turn of his head and a hard eye. But they've never had a physical confrontation of any kind. BTW, the middle dog does not suffer in his bitework or his relationship with people due to this one relationship with this younger dog. Interestingly, the middle dog took over the dominant role with the older dog about a year ago as the old one got a little arthritic. They did have a quick spat - lots of noise, not a tooth touched anyone, no cuts, no bites, no damage, just the older postured with the middle and the middle dog said nope, not anymore. He chested the older back and they exploded into a noisy pretend-battle. It ended in about 4 seconds with the middle standing with his foreleg over the older's neck and the older froze. That was it, and ever since, the middle has the older one's number. Could it have gotten really ugly and someone injured seriously? Yup, it could, but that chance is hugely reduced by the fact that these dogs are together for part of every single day. Their relationships are very stable. They don't just get together once a week or something. I've had as many as four males at one time, and any two of them can get along fine. Introducing them early, when the roles are absolutely clear cut is probably one of the keys, and allowing them to be together frequently enough that the relationships are stable is another, and not trying to protect the subordinate dog is another. If you feel sorry for the subordinate and correct the dominant one or show preference to the subordinate, you are interfering with the stability of the relationship. And in the 12 yrs. I've been doing this, I've never had a dog injured and I don't believe it is a detriment to their protection work.

Lee:

Thank you *so* much for the detailed and very helpful reply! Our dogs are also together for a good part of each day (carefully supervised!), and seem to be off to a good start. We'll try to be careful not to screw up what seems like the start of a good relationship between them! We're definitely only planning on the two of them (more than enough of a handful!), so hopefully the dynamics between them will be fairly straightforward. We'll be sure to keep a careful eye on it in any case.

Your advice will be put to good use - thanks again for helping out a novice!

Mike