Introducing a pup into my home

Ok so i'm hoping the people who frequent this lovely forum can help guide me into bliss LOL

I previously had 2 dogs, a male & a female both desexed whom grew up with each other from pups also i must mention they were not related at all. So after about 3 peaceful years of my dogs getting along one day things changed & violent fights would break out daily & after seeking advice + training from numerous trainers we made the decision to part with the female (who was an American Staffy).

Since just having the one male english stafford things have been a bit rough, first there was the separation anxiety for the other dog, then separation anxiety from us when we were working & lastly the panic attacks when we have storm & we are not home. The separation anxiety was easily overcome by sending the male off to a kennel for a fortnight this cured him 100% but the storm panic attacks are a little more difficult to manage & i don't want to drug the dog up with ACP whenever there is a storm. Currently we have a run which we put him in when there is the possibility of a storm which doesn't calm him down but at least he cannot escape or harm himself. I must mention when we had the 2 dogs the storm freak outs were non existent as the 2 dogs would cuddle together in the kennel & provide comfort for each other.

So now 1 year after getting rid of the American female we have decided to introduce a new female into the home but this time she is a pure bred english stafford who's siblings have no history of freaking out when there is a storm & a very placid dogs by nature, i'm pretty confident this will assist with the storm freak outs our male is currently having but i'm concerned about ending up back at square 1, that is with 2 dogs that fight.

I would like to ask for your help & ideas about how i should go about introducing the new dog into the home (she is due to arrive in 4 weeks). At this stage we are planning on sending the male away to a kennel for 2 weeks prior to the introduction of the new dog so as that the both come into the home together. Can anyone suggest anything i should do to minimize the chance of aggression or jealousy?

Should i feed them together or seperate?
Should i feed them 1 in the house & one out?
Should they have 2 kennels or 1?
Should i play fetch with them at the same time or seperate
Which dog do i feed first?
How do we avoid jealousy? im sure my partner will smother the puppy with a little too much love LOL

Any feedback, guidlines, advice, help etc would be very much appreciated

For your troubles in assisting me here is a pic i snapped of the new puppy!!!

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If it's possible the dogs should be introduced before bringing the new pup home to see how they get along. It also helps if you can get something with the new dogs scent to bring home so your current dog can get used to it ahead of time. If not I would say not to fuss over the new pup too much because it could create jealousy. It's best to have two of everything. Soem people think the older dog should eat first but I don't see the harm of doing it simultaneosly. It's also a good idea to keep them seperate if you are going to leave them alone.

well i did write a whole long message on what i did but skye decided to stand on my keypad and rub it all out lmao. .. so il bullet point now ha!.

*Try introducing outside of your home so that your current dog doesn't have familiarity i.e his house and smells to protect .. if you cant then possibly introduce in the garden.

*I removed all toys at first to watch body language of both dogs while been introduced, after they got used to each other a little i added toys for them and watched there body language again while playing with them both (remember some pups wont play straight away as there surroundings are unfamiliar)

*I feed them both separate skye in her crate and vinnie in the same room but not in a crate as he dont have one .. This stops the older dog stealing food or the pup stealing food which can lead to jelousy and protective behaviour of food etc.

*As said above its best to have two of everything, HOWEVER this dont mean the pup will not prefer to have the older dogs things, pups will be pups lol.

*When ever your dog leaves the room and leaves you with the pup or your pup leaves the room and leaves you with your dog .. DONT make extra fuss of the dog or pup because then the other one will think oh well when they arent in the room i get more fuss! and then you will get jelousy.
I always do one walk with my guys alone so they have alone time and another together.

Good luck

staffy-lover89 wrote:well i did write a whole long message on what i did but skye decided to stand on my keypad and rub it all out lmao. .. so il bullet point now ha!.

*Try introducing outside of your home so that your current dog doesn't have familiarity i.e his house and smells to protect .. if you cant then possibly introduce in the garden.

*I removed all toys at first to watch body language of both dogs while been introduced, after they got used to each other a little i added toys for them and watched there body language again while playing with them both (remember some pups wont play straight away as there surroundings are unfamiliar)

*I feed them both separate skye in her crate and vinnie in the same room but not in a crate as he dont have one .. This stops the older dog stealing food or the pup stealing food which can lead to jelousy and protective behaviour of food etc.

*As said above its best to have two of everything, HOWEVER this dont mean the pup will not prefer to have the older dogs things, pups will be pups lol.

*When ever your dog leaves the room and leaves you with the pup or your pup leaves the room and leaves you with your dog .. DONT make extra fuss of the dog or pup because then the other one will think oh well when they arent in the room i get more fuss! and then you will get jelousy.
I always do one walk with my guys alone so they have alone time and another together.

Good luck

Ok thanks for taking the time to respond, so i guess feeding them separate is the go

jstaff wrote:If it's possible the dogs should be introduced before bringing the new pup home to see how they get along. It also helps if you can get something with the new dogs scent to bring home so your current dog can get used to it ahead of time. If not I would say not to fuss over the new pup too much because it could create jealousy. It's best to have two of everything. Soem people think the older dog should eat first but I don't see the harm of doing it simultaneosly. It's also a good idea to keep them seperate if you are going to leave them alone.

We have introduced the dogs already at the breeders house & in fact we are going back for a 2nd play date today, great idea about bringing a scent home i think i'll take an old shirt as a scent rag.