CANINE BEHAVIOR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer

Q: While on vacation last week we came upon a small brown puppy that appeared to be homeless. We made inquiries and calls and posted signs--all to no avail. So now being the softy that I am the puppy has come home with us. The vet says he is about 3 or 3 1/2 months old. Here's the problem: I have a 13-year old Miniature Schnauzer, who is the love of my life. She will be coming home Friday. I need to some how get these two together peacefully and see if they will live together ok. I am feeling guilty for "cheating" on my Schnauzer and troubled by this little cute puppy who seems to have had a pretty awful life so far. Any helpful suggestions or hints? My ultimate dream is that they both fall in love with each other and live happily ever after but that never really happens does it?

A: He's a boy, she's a girl, there is potential there for "Happily Ever After," So, yes! It does happen. I have 2 who are great together. However, when they first met, it was like the theme from the old "Hart to Hart" series on TV: "When they met, it was murder!" They fought like 2 cartoon dogs, lots of noise and rolling around, no one hurt. You will probably be spared that drama, since he's a puppy.

Okay, here are things to do to maximize safety and minimize risk and stress:

1) Separate them for all feeding, including treats and highly desirable toys. Dogs who would otherwise get along great can go into a survival mode over food. Don't put them in this position.

2) Do crate training with him, and do not give him the run of the house until he's ready for that responsibility. Meanwhile, she will have time off from him when he's in his crate and you're not supervising.

3) Don't leave them alone together until he is a minimum of 4 months of age (older is better) and they are obviously getting along great.

4) Spend individual time with each dog away from the other dog and preferable away from the house, every day. Later you can reduce it to less frequency, but keep it up forever. Each dog needs that one-on-one time with you. It causes the puppy to bond to humans rather than just to other dogs, and it helps avoid the older dog being jealous of him.

5) When you reward one dog, reward them both whenever appropriate. This builds a team spirit. Occasionally (but not yet) you may want to make a point by rewarding the dog who does right and not rewarding the one who did wrong. But whenever the other dog is just standing by, include that other dog in the reward, even though it was not the one asked to do the command.

6) When both dogs are with you, pay attention to both. If you talk to them a lot, eventually you will be able to pet one dog and give the other one a loving look and loving words, and find that dog feels loved at the same time. At first, though, try to just get one dog under each hand so they both get loved. Don't push one dog away so you can love on the other one. However, you can engage one of them in a game of fetch the toy while you love on the other one.

7) Take the puppy to a training class and teach him good manners. This will help you to control him around your older dog, and give her less reason to be bothered by him.

Date Published: 3/5/2003 12:32:00 PM

    

Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior or a local behaviorist.