How should I do this?

[MariaM]

Ok well on the November long weekend my mom really wants us all to go down to St. Louis so see her mom who is doing very poor.

I think what we're going to do is take Major to my dad's friend's farm. He has another dog, and Major has never been with another dog for over a few minutes. I think they'd become friends, they actually act quite the same. (It's rather funny, they both curve themselves into your legs and have a couple other similiar traits)

But they haven't met eachother yet. Buddy, the other dog, is my guess, an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever/Bloodhound mix...7 years old or so I believe.

I am thinking its a good idea for them to meet at least 2 times before we leave him there for the 5 days. But do you have any suggestions on what I should do? How the meetings should go?


Any opinons/advice at all would be great! I'll give a pic of Buddy...

[pitc9]

First you need to ask them is if Buddy is territorial, or has ever acted aggressive towards other dogs in his yard.
If not, then I would take Major there, and have both dogs on leashes, and introduce them slowly to each other. Some dogs don't care who's dominate, they just want to play! But some dogs, want to figure out who's in charge first... then they'll get along. (or not)

If Buddy is territorial, then it would be best to let them meet somewhere on neutral ground. Like a dog park, then they can become friends, then you can try him out at Buddy's house.

I hope it works out!! I'm sure Major would have fun running around on a farm with a "Buddy"!!!

Let us know how it all goes!!

(How funny is it that for Thanksgiving I am going to be in Missouri too!!) But I'm going to be in the VERY South West corner of the state)

[aly]

I would take them to a neutral territory that is semi-near the farm where Buddy lives. Keep both dogs on LOOSE leashes and let them approach each other. If the leash is tight, it can really cause fights (I've seen it happen time and time again at the shelter and in training classes and videos). Sometimes the other dog will read the tight, rigid leash as a threatening body posture. Also, the dog on the tight leash may feel the tension of the leash and become threatened. This will cause them to react negatively to each other and could escalate to a fight quickly.

Be sure to have all of the people act very neutral and emotionless. If one of the dogs tries to hide behind someone's legs, that person should ignore the dog and walk away. Try not to be nervous or the dogs may sense the nervousness and get nervous too.

If the meeting on leashes goes well, take them for a walk back to the farm. This is important additional time for them to become friends and walk onto Buddy's territory together instead of Major just coming into Buddy's territory right away. If all of that goes okay, then let them off leash. Be sure to have a hose or something that will make a VERY loud noise nearby in case you have to break up a fight. At the shelter, we throw a metal fold-up chair onto the ground. The noise usually interrupts the scuffle and startles them enough to give us time to leash the dogs back up. Its pretty rare that we have to do that, but we ALWAYS keep it on hand just in case.

If they're doing good off leash, have the people start interacting with them and see how one dog feels when the other is getting attention. Also be sure there are no toys laying around initially, but introduce them later on to ensure they are okay around toys and things together.

[MariaM]

Thanks! I wish it were all that simple though

pitc9 - They have only had Buddy for maybe one or two months because they took him from somebody who was going to put him to sleep. He doesn't *seem* territorial, but I supposed you never know for sure. I only met him once, he seems quite laid back.

Also, this weekend is our Thanksgiving And we aren't doing anything special But the weekend I was talking about is Rememberance Day...if I'm correct.

Aly - Do you think a pop can with pennies would work? I highly doubt they'll get into a fight...but like you said, you never know.

I'll do my best to follow what you guys have said but I think it may be harder to convince my dad...he doesn't know as much about dogs as I do and think most of what you said is pointless, but I know it isn't.

It all pretty well makes sense to me, thanks