Properly Socializing Your Canine for Dog-to-Dog Introductions
How to safely introduce dogs to one and other. Proper dog-to-dog introductions is key to safe dog walking and interacting.
You’re contemplating the addition of another canine family member
to your pack. You’ve thought it through and are convinced that it’s the
right time. Perhaps you have your eye on a homeless dog at your local
shelter or a rescue dog staying temporarily in a foster home. Maybe the
long-awaited puppy from that carefully researched breeder is due soon,
or a friend or family member has asked you to take in a dog that they
must rehome. However you plan to acquire your new canine companion, if
you already have dogs in your home, you’ll need to prepare for the
potentially stressful process known as “new dog introduction.”
Such was the case for us recently when my husband Paul, director of
the Humane Society of Washington County, Maryland, warned me that he was
falling for Missy, an eight-year-old red merle Australian Shepherd who
had been surrendered by her owner to the shelter. Even before our
decision to bring her home was final, knowing the importance of dog-dog
introductions, I began planning the introduction process.
You
may not always have the luxury of a safe fenced yard for introductions.
Do on-leash greetings this way – with leashes loose. Both dogs appear
reasonably relaxed about the greeting, although the Border collie is a
little worried.
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There are a number of factors to keep in mind that can increase the
likelihood of a positive outcome when introducing a new dog into your
home. A peaceful first introduction sets the stage for long term
relationships. The more heavily you can weigh the odds in your favor for
that first encounter, the greater your chance for lifelong peace in the
pack. The factors to keep in mind include:
• Timing
• Location
• Number of skilled handlers available
• Knowing and understanding – to the greatest extent possible – the personalities and histories of all the dogs involved
With four dogs already in our family, including Dubhy, our
dog-reactive Scottish Terrier, new-dog introductions aren’t simple.
Fortunately, we’ve done it enough to know where the high-risk danger
zones are with our pack, how best to avoid or overcome them, and how to
make optimum use of the above factors.
TimingIt’s best to add a new dog to your home
when things are otherwise calm and reasonably stress-free. Allow ample
time for a leisurely introduction process and a low-key adjustment
period with adequate supervision. You’ll also need time to be able to
iron out any wrinkles that may appear. This may mean taking time off
work, in case your dogs don’t hit it off instantly. Holidays are
generally not the ideal time for introductions unless, for you, “home
for the holidays,” means lots of quiet time spent alone with your
fur-family.
Of course, you can’t always control the timing. Many breeders and
adopters have a fairly inflexible preconceived idea of the appropriate
age at which a puppy should be transferred to his forever home. A friend
or family member may be under personal pressures – landlord dictums,
relationship issues, risks to children in the home, or municipal limit
laws or breed bans – that require prompt rehoming.
Introducing MissyA shelter or rescue dog may be
facing a ticking clock that dictates a speedy adoption. An outbreak of
parvovirus at Paul’s shelter meant that Missy had to come home
posthaste, to avoid her exposure to the very contagious disease.
The timing could have been better. I was two days away from hosting a
Reactive Rover Camp at my home. This meant that it would be out of the
question to temporarily keep the barking Aussie in a stall in the barn –
where my training center is located – in order to facilitate slow
introductions over a several day period with Paul in attendance. I knew
Missy’s barking would render the training environment too stressful for
reactive dogs to stay sub-threshold and respond well to our
counter-conditioning and desensitization program. We had to get the job
done quickly, in order to transition the new girl into our family and
our house.
Location, location, locationIt’s best to
introduce dogs in neutral territory – ideally outdoors, in a large,
open, safely fenced space. The more trapped a dog feels, the more her
stress will push her toward defensive aggression. Plus, when you do
introductions in one dog’s territory, it gives him the home-field
advantage, and you risk displays of territorial aggression.
Two-on-one
is not such a good idea: The Border Collie is looking more nervous and
offering appeasement behaviors, with her ears pinned back and a hind leg
lifted.
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Optimum options include a fenced yard other than your own, an
off-leash dog park at low-use time (as in no other dogs present), a
tennis court (caution – many tennis courts understandably prohibit
dogs), or a large, open, uncluttered indoor area such as someone’s
unfinished basement.
Introducing MissyOur only large, fenced, outdoor
open space is our backyard, to which our dogs had, naturally, already
staked a territorial claim. Our next best choice for introductions was
the training center – a 20' x 80' space with very little furniture. We
opted for that space for Missy to meet three of our dogs, and the
backyard for the fourth.
Number of skilled handlersIdeally, you’ll want
one handler per dog. One skilled handler, that is. Someone who panics
and intervenes unnecessarily can botch the whole job by adding stress to
dogs who are still sorting out relationships.
Barring skilled handlers, at least find handlers who are good at
following instructions and don’t succumb easily to hysterical behavior.
If you can’t find those, you’re better off with fewer handlers, although
you should have at least one other person present, if for no other
reason then to help you if the situation gets out of hand.
Introducing MissyLife is rarely ideal. Because
of our truncated time frame for introductions with Missy, our options
for multiple handlers were limited. Paul had to work, my other trainers
weren’t available, so it was up to me and my full-time associate,
Shirley, to play referee for our pack introductions. I was only really
worried about Dubhy’s reaction to Missy; it’s difficult to predict how
he’ll respond to a new dog, but we have added two canines to our family
successfully since the emergence of his dog reactive/aggressive
behavior, so my hopes were high.
Personalities and historiesYou may not know much
about the newcomer, especially if she’s a rescue or shelter dog. You
should, however, have a pretty good sense of your own dogs’ canine
social skills. Do they play well with others at the dog park? During
playtime at good manners class? With their own packmates? How do they
act with doggie visitors to their home? During chance encounters with
other canines on the streets?
If you have reason to believe that your dogs are anything less than
gregarious with conspecifics (others of their own species) due to a
history of aggressive behavior with other dogs, or if you just aren’t
confident about refereeing the introductions yourself, you might do well
to engage the services of a qualified behavior professional. She will
be able to help you read and understand your dogs’ body language, and
optimize the potential for success. (For more information about
translating canine body language, see “
Say What?” Whole Dog Journal November 2005, and “
Can We All Just Get Along?” December 2005.)
I hope you’ve already given great consideration to good personality
matches when you selected your new dog. If you have a dog in your pack
who likes to assert himself, you’re wise to choose a new dog who’s happy
to maintain a lower profile in the hierarchy. If your current dog is a
shrinking violet, she’ll be happiest with a new companion who doesn’t
bully her mercilessly. If you have one of those canine gems who gets
along with everyone, then you have more adoption options.
If you want your gem to be able to be “top dog,” then look for a
soft, appeasing-type dog. If you don’t care where your easygoing dog
ends up in the new hierarchy, then you have the entire canine
personality continuum to choose from.
Introducing Missy
We knew our personal canine
characters would present some challenges. A quick analysis revealed the
following about the dogs we wanted to mingle with Missy:
- Fifteen-year-old Katie, a very geriatric, arthritic, spayed,
45-pound Australian Kelpie, with a long history of asserting herself
with the other members of the Miller pack. Literally on her last legs,
Katie was approaching the last few weeks of her life, and had difficulty
getting around. Her crankiness was exacerbated by her physical
problems, but her mobility was so limited that she presented a low-level
threat.
- Seven-year-old Dubhy, an assertive, neutered, 25-pound Scottish
Terrier, the loner of the group. He gets along well with the rest of the
pack, but rarely engages in play with them. His reactivity developed
when he was about 18 months old. I’ve worked with him to reduce his
reactivity threshold distance to about three feet, although he’s better
with small dogs.
- Three-year-old Lucy, a lively, assertive, spayed, 35-pound Cardigan
Welsh Corgi, who is the only one of the group who challenges Katie
(regularly). She tends to act submissive when meeting a new dog, but
guards certain places, objects, and me.
- Two-year-old Bonnie, a soft, appeasing, spayed, 35-pound Scottie/Corgi mix who gets along with absolutely everyone.
- Eight-year-old Missy, an appeasing, 40-pound female Australian
Shepherd, possibly intact (not spayed), mild to moderate lameness in her
right hind leg/hip. Missy had lived with other dogs before and has had
at least four prior homes.
Introduction processI prefer introducing a new
dog to the easier dogs first, one at a time. Assuming all goes well with
the one-on-ones, I try a threesome, adding an additional dog as their
behavior allows.
The process I use and recommend to clients is to start with dogs on
leashes on opposite sides of an enclosed space. Try to keep leashes
loose, if possible. Watch the dogs’ behavior. They should seem
interested in each other, alert without excessive arousal. Ideally
you’ll see tails wagging at half-mast; soft, wriggling body postures;
play bows; ears back; squinty eyes; no direct eye contact. These are
clear expressions of non-aggressive social invitation.
Warning signs include stiffness in the body; standing tall; ears
pricked hard forward; growling; hard direct eye contact; stiffly raised,
fast-wagging tails; lunging on the leash; and aggressive barking.
If you see social behavior, proceed with an approach until the dogs
are about 10 feet apart. If they continue to show unambiguous signs of
friendliness, drop the leashes and let them meet. I prefer to let dogs
meet and greet off-leash; leashes tend to interfere with the dogs’
ability to greet normally, and can actually induce dogs to give false
body language signals.
For example, a tight leash can stiffen and raise a dog’s front end,
causing her to look more tense and provocative than she means to be,
which in turn can cause the other dog to react on the offensive. A
defensive dog who wants to retreat may feel trapped because of the leash
and act aggressively because she can’t move away.
Initially, leave the leashes on, dragging freely on the floor, so you
can grab them and separate the dogs easily if necessary. Monitor the
greeting. You are likely to see some normal jockeying for position and
some tension, as they sniff and circle, and then erupt into play. As
soon as you can tell that they’re getting along, remove leashes and let
them play unencumbered. Watch them! You want to ensure that the play
doesn’t escalate into excessive arousal (which can lead to aggression),
but remember that it’s normal and acceptable for dogs to growl and bite
each other in play. As long as both dogs are enjoying the action, it’s a
good thing.
If you see warning signs as you approach with the dogs on leash,
you’ll need to proceed more slowly. Most commonly you’ll see behavior
ranging somewhere between completely relaxed and friendly and outright
aggressive. You’ll need to judge whether the intensity of the behavior
is high enough that you need to stop and seek professional assistance,
or low enough that you can proceed with caution.
If you do decide to proceed, interrupt any of the dogs’ prolonged,
hard eye contact by having the handlers divert their dog’s attention
with bits of tasty treats. Continue to work with the dogs in the others’
presence, watching for signs of decreasing arousal. Keeping the dogs as
far apart as possible in the enclosed area, walk them around on loose
leashes, gradually bringing them closer together until they are walking
parallel to each other.
Stay calm!It’s important that you stay calm and
relaxed during this process. If you jerk or tighten the leash or yell at
the dogs, you’ll add stress to the situation and make it more difficult
for them to relax.
Say you see signs that the dogs have relaxed with each other; this is
where your experience and instincts come into play. You may decide to
proceed with dropped-leash greetings. Or you may choose to end the
introduction for the time being. It’s better to err on the side of
caution, and do several more on-leash sessions to make sure the dogs are
comfortable with each other. Meanwhile, you’ll need to manage the dogs
so they don’t have free access to each other. If you’re not confident in
your judgment about body language, you may choose to enlist the help of
a professional at this point in the process.
If tensions between the dogs escalate or maintain at the same level
of intensity despite your on-leash work over several sessions, the wise
choice may be to look for a different dog to adopt into your home.
Alternatively, you may want to do ongoing work with a behavior
professional to try to make the relationship work, knowing that
management may be a large part of your life for the foreseeable future.
Be careful if you see no interaction between the two dogs you’re
introducing. What appears to be calm acceptance of each other may in
fact be avoidance, where neither dog is comfortable with the other and
they deal with it by not dealing with it. The problem with this is that
sooner or later the dogs will interact if they’re both living in your
home, and the discomfort may well develop into aggression. I really want
to see some interaction between dogs in order to make a decision about
adoption.
Introducing Missy
I chose to introduce Lucy and
Missy first. Shirley held Lucy on-leash at one end of the training
center, while I entered with Missy on-leash at the other end. Both dogs
appeared relaxed and interested in each other. We approached to a
distance of 10 feet and dropped leashes. The two dogs sniffed and
circled, with Lucy offering appeasement behaviors: ears back, lowered
body posture, corners of mouth slightly pulled back, and squinty eyes.
After a moment we removed the leashes, and the two engaged in some
half-hearted play. Then Lucy walked over to the rack that holds dog
toys, asking for me to throw her ball. I complied, and she happily
chased the ball while Missy stayed at my feet. When Lucy raced back with
the ball, Missy growled at her. Note to self: Missy has been here less
than 24 hours and she’s already resource-guarding me. This could be
problematic, especially since Lucy also displays owner-guarding and
space-guarding behaviors. Hmmm.
Missy continued to display occasional mild guarding behavior while
Lucy played. Her behavior didn’t escalate and Lucy didn’t take offense. I
decided to table my concerns for the time being and proceed with the
next introduction.
Bonnie was next. I was pretty unconcerned about this introduction;
Bonnie gets along with everyone. My lack of concern was justified. We
quickly proceeded to off-leash play, and Bonnie’s very appeasing
attitude elicited no owner-guarding response whatsoever from Missy.
I then reintroduced Lucy to the pair, and all went reasonably well.
Missy seemed less concerned with Lucy’s proximity to me with Bonnie in
the mix, perhaps because her attention was divided.
We decided that Missy had probably had enough for one day, and put
off the introductions to the two more difficult Miller dogs to the next
day. The start of Reactive Rover Camp the day after that loomed large on
the horizon. We had to get Missy out of the barn and into the house!
Missy’s introduction to Dubhy was my greatest concern. I proceeded
with caution, and my fears were quickly justified. When I entered the
training center with Dubhy, I had a pressurized can of citronella spray
(Direct Stop/Spray Shield) in my pocket, high value treats in one hand,
Dubhy’s leash in the other. As soon as he spotted Missy at the far end
of the training center, Dubhy “turned on.” His head and tail went up,
and his normally soft mouth got hard – I could feel his teeth on my
fingers as he took treats from me. Happily, he remembered his “Reactive
Rover” lessons, and quickly looked from Missy to me for the treats, but
there was still tension in his body and arousal in his brain.
Shirley and I walked the two dogs around the training center,
gradually bringing the dogs closer together. Dubhy’s mouth softened and
his tail lowered as he grew accustomed to Missy’s presence.
We
eventually brought the dogs within three feet of each other, and Dubhy
continued to be reasonably relaxed. I could see that he was still
somewhat on alert, but I decided to make the leap, and told Shirley to
drop Missy’s leash. Shirley looked at me as if I was nuts, but dropped
the leash as requested. I dropped Dubhy’s, and he immediately lunged at
Missy’s face with a ferocious snarl.
My heart sank as I leaped forward and sprayed Dubhy with a long blast
of citronella to halt his attack. Missy had turned her face away from
her attacker, and the spray shoots a very direct, narrow stream, so I
could avoid punishing Missy for Dubhy’s aggression.
This was a deal breaker; I wasn’t willing to live with a lifetime of
management between these two. If I hadn’t been on a tight schedule for
integrating Missy into the household, I would have separated them with
their leashes instead of using the spray, and reverted to a gradual
introduction process. In fact, I wouldn’t even have gotten so close,
given Dubhy’s tension and past history of dog-related aggression. I knew
I was pushing the agenda already, by bringing them together quickly.
Dubhy stopped in his tracks and gave me a surprised look. The tension
immediately vanished from his body and he glanced at Missy, then looked
back at me. He stepped forward and sniffed Missy. She avoided eye
contact by turning her head away, then stepped away from him.
Her response to him was so appropriate, and his changed body language
so remarkable, that I stifled my first impulse to stop the
introduction, and let them continue. Good thing! The interaction
proceeded without any more aggression, and Dubhy has been perfect with
Missy ever since; go figure! I don’t recommend using an aversive to try
to make dog-dog relationships work. Any time an aversive is used there
is a significant risk of increasing the negative association with the
other dog: Dubhy could have been angrier with Missy if he perceived her
as the cause of the spray. I was lucky that it had the opposite effect
in this case.
My intent in using the spray with Dubhy was simply to interrupt the
aggression to protect Missy. I fully expected that his behavior would
preclude our adopting Missy into our home. I was surprised and grateful
that it served to modify his behavior, apparently permanently – a happy
accidental outcome of my crisis intervention.
As expected, Missy’s introduction to Katie in our backyard was
uneventful, due to Katie’s mobility challenges. The aged Kelpie snarked
at Missy briefly as the Aussie passed her on the back porch, but Missy,
bless her, just ignored Katie’s rude behavior and headed out to the yard
to play in the grass. One by one I released the other dogs to join
Missy in the yard, all without incident. Missy was home.
Now, a few months later, Missy is doing well. She no longer has to
deal with Katie, who passed away a few weeks after Missy’s arrival.
Missy and Lucy occasionally posture over favored spaces in the house,
but these incidents are minor and manageable. We’ve not had a whisper of
inappropriate behavior from Dubhy toward Missy since his citronella
experience – in fact, the two of them occasionally play together.
Bonnie, as always, is no trouble at all. I hope all of your new family
introductions go as well as ours did.
Pat Miller, CPDT, is Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor. Miller
lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training
center. Pat is also the author of The Power of Positive Dog Training and
Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.
