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Bringing a brand new pet house is thrilling for you, however may be demanding for an older canine. Be considerate about your canine’ interactions. Up to now, the final recommendation was to introduce new puppies to older canine within the residence instantly. Now we all know that isn’t at all times one of the best method.
The 5 Steps for Introducing a Pet to an Older Canine
1. Create area
Giving puppies and older canine their very own area earlier than introducing them encourages constructive interactions sooner or later. There’s no cause to hurry greetings and interactions between canine; it’s oftentimes useful to maintain canine and puppies separated for just a few days and even weeks. Utilizing child gates, closed doorways, crates and different dividers within the residence creates area and lets them get used to the sound, sight and scent of the opposite canine with out immediately having to work together. Then, interactions are extra relaxed and stress-free, which fosters higher ongoing relationships between them.
2. Introduce neutrally
Relying in your canine’s temperament, the introduction might occur in your pet’s first day residence, or when you have a senior canine or a canine who has different well being or behavioral points it’s possible you’ll wish to wait days, and even weeks earlier than immediately introducing them. The purpose is to permit them to have adjusted to the presence of the opposite canine earlier than they work together. We would like these preliminary introductions to occur in impartial areas exterior your own home or yard. This helps scale back the probability of stress or battle. Begin by taking your canine and pet on parallel walks the place one individual has one canine on a leash and another person has the opposite canine on a leash to assist everybody get used to being shut. As soon as your canine and pet have met in a impartial space, and if that assembly went properly, begin to slowly enable them to spend time collectively in the home and yard.
3. Look ahead to indicators of stress
When you’ve launched your canine and pet, monitor the interactions. Watch the physique language out of your canine and pet carefully for any indicators of stress or discomfort.
Tricks to scale back stress between canine:
- Earlier than letting canine work together, take away excessive worth gadgets like meals, chews and toys from the realm, particularly if your older canine might need useful resource guarding tendencies.
- If interactions appear tense, or the canine change into agitated, separate the canine instantly to provide them a break.
- Preserve your canine separated for some time to permit them to only acclimate to the scent of the opposite canine.
4. Handle interactions
If you happen to can’t monitor your pet and canine whereas they’re collectively, maintain them separated. Even when the interactions are going properly, proceed to handle their playtime and engagement. Don’t enable your pet to hassle or harass your older canine. That is particularly essential when your older canine is sleeping and consuming. We by no means need older canine to be put ready the place they really feel like they should right or “inform off” the pet. Intervene in your older canine’s behalf and redirect a very enthusiastic pet; train the pet applicable methods to work together.
5. Go slowly
It’s tempting to hurry the introduction course of or encourage them to spend a number of time collectively instantly, however a greater method is permitting your canine and pet to study one another slowly and deliberately. It will assist construct belief. Be sure they’ve their very own non-public areas to retreat like a crate, mattress or a delegated space of the home, reminiscent of a canine room, that the opposite canine can’t entry. The purpose is impartial engagement and that may take time. Lengthy-term administration methods like child gates create a less-stressful home when interactions are tense.
Pet and older canine: Suggestions for achievement
In case your older canine has well being circumstances, behavioral points like reactivity, or is a senior with age-related circumstances like arthritis, be particularly considerate about the way you introduce your pet and monitor interactions. You could wish to maintain your pet separate more often than not. Seek the advice of with a canine coach who makes use of constructive reinforcement strategies when you have questions. A canine coach helps you to handle introductions and creates a coaching plan for future points.
Featured Picture Credit score: Melissa L Kauffman
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