so how do i do this

    • Gold Top Dog

    so how do i do this

    so i am getting a boxer pup  but i have 2 males and 1 female  doby (the black one)is alpha  and doesnt really like other dogs  but  just barks and some times attackes   i am worried that he will scare the pup so how do  i  intrduce them  i need some help because everyother time i have put a dog in the family i have done it in my living room and i want to start  the relsionship  in a none alpha way
    • Gold Top Dog
    I'm not an expert at this but here's an idea that hopefully helps.  Wherever you are getting the pup from whether it be a breeder or rescue shelter see if they have a blanket or some other piece of cloth (bedding) that the pup has used.  This way you can bring that home first and let the other dogs sniff it and become familiar with his scent.  Not sure when you will be bringing home the pup but if it's in a few days or so it should give the dogs time to adjust.
    • Puppy
    A dog habitually barking and potentially attacking other, non-familiar dogs, is not properly socialized to accept foreign dogs. That is not a dominance issue but a problem that would require remedial socialization. For this and the introducing a puppy issue you probably should get yourself a good training book, as it would be much too wide an issue to cover here in a post.

    The most important thing, however, is to keep the puppy safe and give the dogs - all dogs - time to get used to one another. For that purpose, I would not let them have direct contact at first, but keep the puppy in a separate room for a day or two. The dogs will smell one another and get used to it a bit. Then I would introduce them via crates for a few days, then out of the crate while being very closely monitored for brief periods.. and so forth. If one of your dogs is prone to biting, think about using a muzzle for a while as this can cause severe injuries in pups.

    As I said, this is a wide field and much too involved to do justice in a few paragraphs. The best thing to do is reading up on the respective literature. :)
    • Bronze
    This can be a scary situation.  I currently live with my in laws in a two family house.  They live upstairs, we live downstairs.  My father in law has 2 dogs, a beagle/lab mix, and a mountain dog/rottie mix.  Lets just say that the mountain dog/rottie took care of the neighbors dog.  He does NOT like other animals anywhere near his yard.  So when my sister in law and I decided we wanted to get dogs, we were both very nervous, considering we were getting small dogs.  What worked for us was introducing them VERY slowly.  My father in law would hold the puppies for his dogs to smell, but only for a minute or two.  Never would they be placed on the floor to run around with the older ones.  The older ones just can't handle the crazy behavior of a puppy.  I would say it was at LEAST 2 months before we let them interact on their own but still with us right there to stop anything dangerous.  To this day, the mountain dog doesn't like the puppies near where he sleeps or things that are exclusively his.  We have to respect that.  It's just a very slow process.
    • Gold Top Dog
    well we just moved and have only been here a few monthes would the fact that doby hasnt tottaly  claimed his  place in this house would that help
    • Gold Top Dog
    I guess my first question would be if you don't know canine behavior well enough to assess this yourself, then why are you courting trouble by getting yet another dog? 
    If you are set on doing it, you should know that while most adult dogs tolerate puppies, the pups run out of "puppy license" at about 5-6 months of age.  That usually involves the adult dogs "telling them off", and there's seldom any bloodshed, just not as much rough play.
    But, when pup is about a year and half old, he will be trying to figure out where he fits in the pack.  That can lead to more serious tiffs sometimes, and with dogs that are very similar in status, it can get ugly, or at least remain a constant pain in the a$$.
    Dogs of different gender and widely differing ages tend to get on better with one another, but that isn't written in stone either.
    Bitch fights are the worst - the males (like humans) are mostly just bluster, and rarely do serious damage to one another.
    Introductions should take place on neutral territory (friend or relative's house perhaps, or a local training center - somewhere your dogs don't regard as theirs). 
    Hopefully, you are buying from a reputable breeder or adopting from rescue so that you can return the pup to a safe situation if things don't work out.
    Grab a copy of "Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy Your Multi-Dog Household" by Patricia McConnell.  That may help.