Introducing a new puppy

I am looking for advice/experiences on bringing a new puppy to the family. Our excisting dog is a 2 year old neutered male and good natured. The pup will be a 8 week old bitch.

I am keen to hear experiences of inital introductions, sleeping arrangements and general advice for settling them in and on-going advice for bringing up two dogs.

Thanks.

I've never had any problems bringing a pup in, depending on the size of the pup I either sit with them on my lap and let the others have a sniff or with a tiny pup allow them to sniff each other while the pup is crated. Keep a watchful eye out but males and females usually get on brilliant together.
My pups are always crated initially, I find it makes life easier with house training etc. I sleep close to the crate until certain they are settled which has been anything from 1 night to 2 weeks, makes it easier for night time toilet breaks too. Once fully acclimatised I tend to put the crated pup close to where the others are sleeping.

As a behaviourist I'm sure you will have the instinctive knowledge on how to introduce your new puppy to your older bitch.

I simply collect my puppy/new dog & take him/her home & introduce my other dogs, it isn't rocket science .

I do use enforced rest periods for my puppies to give the adult chance to recover from the extra exercise they get

My OH walked in with our new puppy under his arm. The current dog was like "Hiya your home, your home, hiya, Im so happy" and running around. She didnt even notice the pup. He called her over and showed her the pup crouching so they could sniff each other. The old dog just wagged her tail so we pup the pup down. The pup rolled over. Was quite cute. Was a few days until the older dog could sniff the pup without her rolling over. Now the younger dog is the boss

Thanks Guys, Yes, I have no real concerns really I was just interested to hear peoples experiences.

My main interest at this point was how people have set up their sleeping arrangements, I use crates for young puppies, but was unsure whether to put the two dogs in the same room right from the start or to keep them seperate until the pup is more settled?

I know some dogs can get stressed if the new puppy howls/whines etc Plus I wondered if its actually better to accustom the pup to accept being on their own from the beginning to avoid any problems later on. My plan was to settle the pup on her own first, after a few days once she is happy the dogs can then be together.

I crate most of my dogs on a night-I can't be doing with being woken to play tuggy at 3 am

They all sleep in the same room, I would never leave a puppy/new dog on it's own

Hi All,

I was just looking back at this thread as new puppy is now "on her way"

My current dog, a 3 year old neutered male, very friendly, happy dog has his own room where he settles if we go out and also where he sleeps at night. Here are the sleeping options for introducing new pup...

I want the new pup (as all my dogs) to get acustomed to sleeping independently of the "Human family" I'm sure there will be a few nights of howling/crying but I want to settle both dogs as smoothly as possible.

Option 1. Put pup in her crate in the room with the current dog and keep the 2 dogs together (I am concerned that if the pup crys this may upset the older dog?)

Option 2. keep pup in her crate but move the current dog into the kitchen (next door) until pup is more settled

Advice/experiences welcome....

I've got three bitches of varying ages, and had no problems introducing them to each other as pups. I've also brought in older rescues (entire bitches) and have had a variety of dogs through the doors stopping for varying amounts of times, atm, I've got a young staffy staying with us while his owners are away on holiday, they were let down by a family member so I stepped in. If your own dogs are well behaved and socialised, there's not usually any problems, even so, I do put this lad away in his crate to give my lot a rest every now and then, he's very full on.

Edited to say, I've always crated in the same room initially, and then just played it by ear.

I picked up my new pup yesterday (nearly 8 week old border collie) and decided to sleep him in the study with my two youngest collies. They have always been in large crates but, as I haven't got room for three crates in there, they now have ordinary beds and the pup is in a crate with them. They weren't too sure when I put them to bed last night but were fine and no one woke me up!

Long term I think its important for both dogs to be happy sleeping both together AND apart, obviously my current dog is happy on his own and I want the new pup to be the same, they will sleep together the majority of the time and my plan is just to seperate them occasionally just so its not a big deal if they had to do it at any time in the future. I was unsure whether it was better to acustom the new pup to being on her own straight away (Like we did the first dog) or to let them be together and do this training later?