Tops tips please

[Suzanne H]

Any tips/experience on introducing Rudi to Otto and vice versa and how to manage this first few weeks.

We get him on Friday evening, so was planning to tire Otto out and feed him before bringing Rudi home. Let Rudi sniff about the garden then the kitchen and interact with us without Otto about...then introduce Otto to him for a short period of time.

Planned to have the puppy in his crate with us for a week before moving him down to the kitchen to sleep with Otto (though Rudi will be in his crate). By that time they will be used to having the other one around and that will get Rudi into Otto's routine (albeit with more peeing and eating).

Otto met the puppies and just sniffed them, he's generally not that interested in dogs smaller than him and I think as long as we don't let him be over-exhuberant and spend time with him separately, he will be ok.

The puppy is also used to running around with 4 other adults dogs so won't be that phased by him. He's also a cheeky, confident wee chap from what the breeder has told me and what I've seen myself. He was happy to be sitting on my knee trying to pinch my tea!

she reckons he'll thrive with a mucker...

[Lisa/Colin]

When we first got Hektor we also had our old boxer Ollie. I found that he settled better being able to see Ollie (through the crate) at night than he did when we had him upstairs. He still cried for the first night but thats to be expected.

I'm not sure whether you'd be better just starting him in the kitchen with Otto right away...that way you are straight into the routine and there's not another change in a weeks time. He's probably going to cry no matter what... (Actually I spent most of the first night on the couch with my fingers through the crate mesh... I'm sure thats NOT the way to do it). I only had Hek in the crate for the first 2 nights, after that I gave him free reign of the living room along with Ollie, I felt after watching them together and knowing how good Ollie was I could cautiously 'trust' him not to 'eat' Hektor, they were great together!

Good luck whatever you decide, its so exciting getting a new puppy!

Lisa

[steve young]

Exciting times indeed!

We've recently experienced this, 4 months ago when we got Mylo and already had Sasha who's 9.5 yrs.

Best thing to do is get them to meet on mutual ground and walk them together for a bit.

When we got them home we kept Mylo in a different room from Sasha and spent the evening introducing them for a wee bit at a time. Trying to anticipate when Mylo was going to pee was the trickiest part! Sasha was very wary for a couple of weeks, then they played well together.

Sleep-wise, Sasha has always slept on his bed which is beside ours, but didn't want Mylo sleeping in our room long term because we knew he'd be huge. So, we had Mylo in a crate at the foot of our bed for the first few weeks, then moved it out to the landing for a week or so, then down to the utility room where he sleeps today, albeit in a much bigger crate:)

Puppy bladders are tiny, so the toilet training was the biggest trial at the start. Letting him out every hour, lifting water up after a certain time so he wasn;t going to bed with a full bladder. At the start I had to get up through the night to let him go for a pee. I think Mylo was toilet trained pretty quick, maybe about 3 weeks. Best thing I bought was a 'Wet n Dry' Dustbuster (hand held vac that sooks up 'spills').

The other tricky thing was figuring out exactly what and how much to feed him!

Hope everything goes to plan and you keep your patience
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Steve Young
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Dogs: Sasha (10 yr Lurcher, male) and Mylo (1 yr Shepweiler, male)
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[John Thomson]

Suzanne,

You are right about having Otto drain of some energy before you introduce them.

I have always introduced a new dog away from the house ( Ottos territory) and then brought them in together rather than meeting each other head on.

Best of luck and let us see plenty of photos.

john
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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[Suzanne H]

As with Otto the breeder has started a lot of the work for us ie starting to get him used to toileting outdoors, used to bigger dogs and people, used to being picked up. He'll be crated from the get go as Otto was.

I was thinking about meeting on a mutual venue but was worried as he won't have his jabs so thought that at least at home, Otto's innoculated.

Other alternative is to take Otto with us to the breeders (he's been there before and recently met the pups) but to have only him and Rudi potter about for half an hour before we take them both home.

Another thought was, the books tell you to guard against the puppy bonding more to the dog than you...any tips on that one? Pointers are very people oriented and I just envisage 2 shadows instead of one, but is that a real issue if you are a good leader?

We have no issues with Otto now, even outdoors he is very reliable - will he regress?

[Isabel]

I would agree with Lisa about having him downstairs right from the start so he does not get used to sleeping in the same room as you. Hope it all goes well, how exciting

[Lorna]

I would agree with John. Having done this many times I would walk Otto; get them together on neutral territory; walk them together and bring them home together. I would sleep the new puppy down stairs from the start if that is where he will be going.
You need to observe and judge how well they get on in order to make decisions re them being together. I tend to have them spend loads of time in the garden under close supervision. Danes generally get on with anyone straight away but you will know your breed better than I do.
My concern has always the wee one being trampled by an enthusiastic new friend.
Good luck and enjoy!
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Regards,
Lorna, Basil & Poppy
Great Danes are not substitute children. They are much more important than that!

[Suzanne H]

We couldn't walk them together as he hadn't had his jabs and there wasn't a neutral venue - so he came in, ran around the garden and the kitchen before we introduced him to Otto.

He's a very confident and feisty little boy

He keeps climbing into Otto's bed, and Ottos just gets out.

I don't know whether to remove him from the bed or just leave them to sort it out. Otto is fascinated by him - I wouldn't say he was relaxed by he's not being aggressive.

They've been playing together.