Introducing A New Dog To Your Existing Pets 

When introducing a new dog to your existing pets, you must try and look at it from a dogs perspective.

Dogs will instinctively try and establish their own social order – often referred to a s a ‘dominance hierarchy’. By clearly establishing who is in charge, and where each dog is positioned in the pecking order, a pack of dogs will be far better equipped to co-habit both calmly and co-operatively.

When a new dog is introduced to the pack, some dogs may take the opportunity to try and improve their position, and so the dominance hierarchy must be re-defined and re-established.

Dogs can also be extremely territorial, and will defend their territory against a perceived intruder.

It is important that you keep this in mind when introducing a new dog to your existing pets as it will help you to anticipate potential problems which this instinctive behaviour may present.

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Take some time to learn a little about canine body language – you may be familiar with what your existing dog is saying with his body posturing, but your new dog may be less (or more) dominant, and will therefore display different body language.

Introducing a new dog to an existing dog.

Choose a location that neither dog is particularly familiar with. This will avoid your existing dog seeing the new dog as an intruder.

Make sure both dogs are kept leashed at all times, and that you talk in calm, encouraging tones.

Allow your existing dog to approach your new dog from the side, let them briefly have a sniff of each other, then separate them, giving them lots of praise and a reward for their good interaction. Break off and have a little walk apart before coming back together and repeating.

If either of the dogs show aggression, separate them and calmly but firmly tell them “No”. Bring them together only once they have become calm again.

They should eventually begin to ‘ignore’ each other – this is a good indication that they have started to accept each others’ presence.

Introducing a new dog to more than one existing dog.

It is vital that this is done one dog at a time, otherwise the existing ‘pack’ will be tempted to ‘gang up’ on the new dog. Let them establish who the pack leader is for themselves though – if you try to impose your choice they will just end up confused and continue to challenge each other.

Introducing a new puppy to an existing adult dog.

Initially, it is a good idea to allow the puppy to explore the house without the existing adult dog being present. Slowly let them come together –both leashed- while they get to know each other. 

It is a good idea to let the puppy fall asleep before allowing the adult dog to approach for a proper investigation.

The puppy may not yet have learned the essential body language skills it requires to interpret when the adult dog wants to be left alone.  A well mannered adult dog will give plenty of warning growls to the puppy to convey his disapproval, but a less well socialised dog may become aggressive very quickly. For this reason, the two should not be left alone until you are confident that a good level of communication between the two has been established.

Introducing a new dog to a cat.

Integration between cats and dogs can be a slow process – in fact it’s quite possible that they will never be the best of friends! We can still aim to have them live in relative peace under the same roof however, as long as we provide for both of their needs.

A cat will always look for its escape route, and feel safe secure when they are at high up, so ensure that the cat has a shelf or somewhere high up to run to that the dog cannot reach. If possible, locate the cats’ food, water and litter in an area which is not accessible by the dog.

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