Introducing a new dog, with issues

im not sure this is a good idea but my friend has a heart of gold and she really wants to help this little chap.

L already has a staffy cross, jade. Jade is very calm and good natured but not very well socilised. This isnt anissue where they live as its one house in huge fields. Jade does livehappily with a male dog when visiting my friends parents.

Recently my friend has been trying to help a young staffy male who has been rescued by a teenager from his abusive owner. The teenager already has a dog and cannot keep him he just wanted to get him out of that bad situation. the dog s livinghappily ith thisother dog but is very timid as to be expected.

A rescue place may have been found but its not available yet, however my friend has since fallen for his boy and wants to help him herself. If you are still reading this essay (then thanks!) what advice would you give her?

There are no childrenin the situation just her and her partner.

Can she try introducing Jade to this boy out on walks and see how they get on? Sounds like both dogs have the potential to get on so the only way to find out is to introduce them. If L can walk Jade and her partner or a friend walk the rescue boy, they can start off with parallel walks at a bit of a distance, and go on a nice long walk, slowly decreasing the distance between the dogs. I'd probably recommend a few walks together if they can manage it before they bring the dogs home.
Can L manage if the dogs don't get on? This is probably the main issue. I fostered a dog at Christmas that didn't get on with my two, and as it was short-term, I could keep them seperate, take them to seperate bits of the garden, had time for seperate walks, etc. but L will need to consider the practicalities of keeping them seperate if necessary.

As neither has a history of agression I don`t see a problem. Just use crates or gates to give the dogs space if needed, keep them apart when unsupervised at first and don`t feed them together.
With a timid dog it is important not to push him into reacting. Ignore him as much as possible. Don`t insist on a greeting, don`t call him, walk him etc. Leave him alone to explore and relax. He will be very frightened, so back off.

Having read the replies you have already had they have covered most of what I would say but I had a dog come and stay who was (according to the owners) very scared of other dogs. She came for 3 seperate days firstly to introduce her to the pack (which can consist of 8-10 dogs) and at first she would not leave my side but once she arrived to stay for 3 weeks within 2 days she was off the lead out on walks and playing with the other dogs. Its important that the dog has somewhere to go to get away if it feels the need to and also important, as one of the other people said, for you not to react too quickly if there is the odd growl. I have learnt (and it took some time to learn!) that the dogs react much more if I do whereas if I am relaxed then they are. There are no guarantees particularly if the dog has been abused but it is always worth a try so Good Luck.

I'm going through that now, and yes I recommend crates, baby gates and lots of walks together to help them bond. Lots of praise & treats with your resident dog when the new go is around, and lots of patience.

Could take a few weeks, could take longer!

Hope this helps