Abo Meets the Pack

There is a saying that "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression." This is as true for dogs as it is for humans and as the guardians responsible for our dogs' welfare, it's up to us to be very thoughtful about how we introduce dogs to each other.

Abo really took to Frodo and likes to hang out near him. Frodo, never a huge fan of foster dogs, has given Abo the thumbs up because Abo is able to be close to Frodo without invading his space. 

Because we regularly have new foster dogs sharing our home, my dogs are pretty good at introductions, however, I still never leave things to chance. That first meeting can set the tone for how two dogs will get along and there are ways that we as humans can put a little extra effort into setting up the intro so they have a better chance at success.

I'm always careful with intros between Frodo and other dogs because Frodo is pretty soft in his personality and I don't want him to get bullied. Happily Abo is not at all the bullying type.

The first step is to know the dogs you are introducing. Observe their behaviors, their confidence level, how they react to new information in their world. This will help you know how fast or slow to take things. With some foster dogs I've taken up to 3 weeks to do a full intro where I felt comfortable leaving the dogs together without ultra close supervision. In that case one of the dogs was somewhat reactive and also incredibly socially awkward. Many times I'm able to comfortably introduce dogs over the course of a day with a few days of watching very carefully that all dogs are showing body language of relaxed, happy dogs.

In this photo Abo is retreating, trying to get back behind Frodo so he can get away from Chima and Salinas who were overdoing the butt sniffs. This was a sign to me that it was time to distract Chima and Salinas and get them interested in a game that was away from the boys. 

A new dog should NEVER be dumped into a group of dogs and left to fend for themselves. In my house, I currently have four dogs who know each other very well and have set behavior patterns that they are comfortable with. It would be really unfair to a new dog to just set them down and let the poor guy get mobbed by four unknown dogs. That's really stressful and even if it doesn't end up with dogs fighting, it's pretty mean to make a dog endure that stress when there are easier ways to do intros that just take a little extra time.

Chima is the pushiest when meeting new dogs so her intros get the closest supervision and usually take a few sessions with breaks in between. I think this comes more out of her insecurities and lack of confidence than truly being a "bossy dog".

Typically we start out with the new dog meeting one of the dogs in the pack - usually the one with the best social skills - and giving them some time to get to the point where the other's presence isn't a novel thing. For nervous dogs having two people take the dogs on a walk together is a great way to do this since the dogs are facing forward and don't have time to obsess over each other. Bring lots of treats and that will provide even more distraction and time for the dogs to get used to being in each other's presence.

After Salinas gets a couple butt sniffs in the novelty is gone and she really could care less about the other dog unless they are invading her space. She has great body language and is good about "telling" the other dogs when she feels they are getting too pushy.

If after meeting the first dog the new dog is still showing by their body language that they are relaxed then the first dog can be put back inside and an second dog can be brought out for introductions. If the new dog appears stressed at anytime then take a break. It only takes a little extra work to take things slow but it will take a lot of work to try to fix a relationship if you move fast and a dog's first experience with another dog is a fight.

Once all the one on one introductions happen then you can let multiple dogs be together but while the dog is still fairly new then all interactions should be carefully supervised and dogs given breaks when someone seems stressed. After a couple days, the new dog becomes old news. The dogs know what to expect from each other, good or bad, and life can proceed.

After the dogs spent some time with each other Abo was still relaxed enough to kick back next to me and ask for a belly rub, a sure sign that he was feeling safe and comfortable.

I can never really take photos during initial intros since I need to be focusing on the dogs and not the camera. Sometimes during intros I use treats to distract dogs and change their focus or I need to walk between dogs when eye contact between them gets too close to a stare. All these photos of Abo interacting with my dogs and fosters are from his first day after their initial one-on-one intros were done and the dogs were starting to feel more comfortable with each other.