Tips on Introducing a New Dog into the Family...

[Roxyluvsme13]

Yeah you definately do not want to rush things, if you are going to adopt from a shelter or a private adoption such as craigslist, bring Lily with to see how the dog does before bringing the dog home which would be my advice to you.

About the cats, take it VERY, VERY slow with them. Cats are very different and not all of them care for dogs. My boys love the dogs but Angel can do without them.

Maybe try going with a dog Lily's size or not much bigger than her? She could just have been intimidated by Duke's size. Do you have any idea what breed or in the mix range you are looking for? Maybe get a mellow adult lab from a shelter or something?

Well, we always take Lily to meet potential dogs, but she usually is overwhelmed by other's enthusiasm since she is pretty chill. She eventually adapts though; and she was fine with Roxy when they lived together and Roxy was definitely exuberant.

The cats love Lily, especially Domino, I guess it will just take time to adjust for them.

Lily thinks she's a Rottie (LOL), so she tends to lean more towards bigger dogs. Even though she has some issues meeting any dogs (which I still don't completely understand sometimes) she dislikes the little ones moreso than the big ones. She tolerated Duke, but if he was in her space, she didn't like that at all.

We've been looking at several different dogs, everything from Pomeranians to Pit Bulls, though I'm leaning more towards things on the larger side like Pits. We'll just have to see how everything goes :/.

I do much as has been discussed.

When I got Lacey from the shelter, they insisted I bring Sugar down to meet her, first. They brought Lacey out into the walk area and had me bring Sugar over.

Since then, I put the pups on leash, Dad will hold them one at a time, while I have the newbie on leash and they meet in the driveway. Once I'd shuttled everyone through Dad's hands, they would all go in the back yard and I'd take the newbie back there too. Off leash, letting everyone roam, sniff butt, smell the ground etc.

After about 10 minutes, I'd take the newbie in the house on leash, to walk around, see the layout, find the water bowl. The others remained outside.

Back outside, all off leash, and eventually we'd go indoors. Mine would sort of do a double take as the newbie followed, lol. Now that we have regular play dates, my dogs are used to other dogs being in here, so that helps.

As for the cats, any dog I accept must already be known to be OK with cats. I already have 3 baby gates in place, so the cats have safe places and know where those are, so they can get away from a dog anytime they want. I never really did anything otherwise as to the cats. I know I'd see them up high (counter, tables, fridge) studying this newbie, or peering through a baby gate. And mostly, we wouldn't have any cats coming around sitting in our laps for a few weeks, until they adjusted to the newbie.

This sounds like a potentially good idea. Let the dogs meet in the driveway, walk outside or something (we don't have a backyard, so we can't just let them run loose or anything), and then take the new dog in, let my mom hold Lily outside and then take both inside and see how things go from there.

I agree with the already cat-friendly thing. I've only been looking at dogs that are already cat friendly or live with cats presently. The cats have plenty of safe places without baby gates, so I guess that's good. I'll just have to see how they take things.