Introducing A Puppy To An Adult Dog

Bringing a new puppy into a household that has an adult dog takes time, patience, preparation, and thoughtfulness. I strongly suggest that the adult dog be obedience trained, if she has not already been trained, before the new puppy is brought in. One reason for this, other than the obvious, is that your puppy is going to learn her social behavior from your adult dog, and you want her to learn good behavior, not bad. For information on obedience training go to http://trainyourfirstdog.com/obedience.html.

There are three things you should be aware of before bringing your new puppy home.

The first is that, like a child who gets jealous when a new baby arrives, your adult dog can become jealous of the puppy. To avoid this, you must make sure that you give your adult dog just as much or more of your undivided attention as you give the new puppy. It's also a good idea to get your puppy her own toys, so she's not trying to play with your adult dog's toys.

The second is that your adult dog may not have the energy or the desire to cope with the energetic playfulness of a new puppy. The puppy is curious and inquisitive, and will try to investigate everything about your adult dog. This can annoy your adult dog, which may react by growling, barking, nipping or biting. Until you know that your adult dog will tolerate the puppy's antics, they should be closely supervised when they are together. Your adult dog should also be given some time to be away from the puppy. That could mean that the puppy is in another room, or in a crate where she can't get at the adult dog.

The third thing you should be aware of is that you want your puppy to bond with the humans in the household before she bonds with the any other dog. One way to do this is to keep the puppy in your lap while you watch TV, read, listen to music, or whatever you do for relaxation, for the first few weeks. The adult dog can be in the room with you, but don't let the puppy interact with the adult dog. When you do this, don't completely ignore your adult dog. Give her some attention even as you hold the puppy in your lap. Your puppy should spend most of its time with the human members of your family for the first year. By then there should be firm bonding between your puppy and the humans in your family.

The training of your puppy, especially house training, should start as soon as you bring it home. For information on housetraining, go to: http://trainyourfirstdog.com/housetraining.html.

For information on puppy training, go to: http://trainyourfirstdog.com/puppy-training.html.

For information on obedience training go to: http://trainyourfirstdog.com/obedience.html.

A trained dog is a happy dog and has a happy owner.