Introducing New Puppy To Adult - Keep Inside Or Outside?

[Fozzie]

I have two labrador retrievers, a new puppy that arrived a week ago who is 9 weeks old and a 4 1/2 year old adult. I took the first week off from work to try and get the puppy settled in to his new home and to monitor the interaction between puppy and adult dog.

I have been crate training the puppy. The crate is in a pen which I have in the laundry. So whenever I am away from the house, the adult dog and puppy are separate. I am going home at lunchtime to feed puppy, let him out and have a little play currently and will probably do so for the next month at least.

Poor puppy hates the pen, but he is too small to run around with my adult dog during the day. I was thinking I could create a small puppy run outside so he has a bit more space than in the pen to move around outside during the day. This way I can keep the adult and puppy separate while puppy is growing but hopefully he will be less anxious if he can see the adult dog.

What are people's thoughts and experiences in this regard? Should I keep puppy inside during the day when I am at work? Will puppy get more upset if he is outside and can see the adult dog running around or will he be less anxious? Ultimately they are/will be outside dogs during the day but inside at night when I am home (and for sleeping)

[penny A]

I wouldnt let the puppy run be in the garden too much until he has had all his vaccinations.

I would keep the puppy inside until then. once ready you can try them on the weekend together in the garden for a hour at a time whilst you go shopping etc start of slowly then build it up.

[tracylacy]

We are going through this exact thing at the moment. Our dogs are almost exactly the same age as yours. I look forward to seeing some comments about this.

[ZEPING]

i would say that the puppy needs to say indoors untill all the vac have been completed

even then on it might be a tad young to just leave outside ! unsupervised

[Blue Fox 001]

We are doing this at the moment with our new standard poodle, 11 weeks now, and our older GSD, 9 years. Puppy sleeps in his crate upstairs with us but during the day he is in the yard with the big dog, both have access to a run and via a doggy door to an inside sleeping area. We have not actually shut them in the kennel together as the smaller space might be a bit much to ask for the older dog to put up with a hyper pup for extended lengths of time.

I really think it depends on the nature of the two dogs and how they are getting along. Our older dog just loves the pup, sees him as his own personal plush toy I think. Only when we are playing with toys does the older, spoilt dog get a bit mouthy with the pup. Somedays I am unable to come home at lunch time, so it is not an option to leave him crated during the day.

[lilypily]

I think it's fine to have your pup in your secure backyard before all his vacccinations. I mean how many stray/unvaccinated dogs get into people's backyards? None really.

My pup is 10weeks and he loves playing outside. During the day he plays outside with my older dog (weather permitting) I leave the back door open and they have access to the laundry. I havn't got a crate, I use my son's portacot for him to sleep in. When I go out during the day, he always goes in his cot. I won't leave him outside if i'm not home. I'd worry about him to much if he was outside. I know he is safe in his cot and can't get into any mischeif or harm, and his cot is his 'safe place' he feels secure there.

Do you have a pic of your new baby to share?

Edited September 25, 2008 by Lilypily

[Fozzie]

I think it's fine to have your pup in your secure backyard before all his vacccinations. I mean how many stray/unvaccinated dogs get into people's backyards? None really.

My pup is 10weeks and he loves playing outside. During the day he plays outside with my older dog (weather permitting) I leave the back door open and they have access to the laundry. I havn't got a crate, I use my son's portacot for him to sleep in. When I go out during the day, he always goes in his cot. I won't leave him outside if i'm not home. I'd worry about him to much if he was outside. I know he is safe in his cot and can't get into any mischeif or harm, and his cot is his 'safe place' he feels secure there.

Do you have a pic of your new baby to share?

My baby is growing quickly! He is 14 weeks old now and weighs around 14 kgs!

In the end, pup spent the first 4 weeks inside and I would come home at lunch to feed him and let him have a little run about. In the 5th week, he started spending the day outside and I would come home at lunch to feed and see how things are going. Now pup and his big brother are outside all day together. I know they have a little rumble about during the day but they spend a lot of it snoozing so there isn't too much trouble. I was comfortable they were getting along well and had monitored their time together both outside and inside before I decided to leave him out during the day.

Photo of pup and big brother attached

[lilypily]

They are soooo cute!!!!

That's great it's working well with the pup outside during the day. I'm just a paranoid mum My pup is fine outside during the day while i'm home, so it wouldn't be any different if i'm not there.............but i'll keep him inside while i'm out for a bit longer.