Multiple Dog Households

[jaybeece]

I've been away for a couple of months and in that time have acquired another dog from a friend. She wasn't getting along with their baby and they asked if I knew anywhere she could go, I said if she fits in here then she can stay.

Soooooo that was a week ago and so far so good, my dog's been very good with her despite sometimes being dog aggressive and she's settling in well.

Details:

Exhibit A is a male 4 year old bullmastiff x something skinny

Exhibit B is a 4-5 year old female border collie

Exhibit C is a 10+ year old male foster terrier who is just happy he has another dog to bark at

All fed seperately, no toys left out, seperated when not supervised, training Exhibit A to understand "Settle!" means stop playing as he's overwhelming her, NILIF in full force and lots of training going into Exhibit A & B both individually and together. Exhibit C is let off the hook for training because I think he's a lost cause

The point of this thread is that I'm just wondering if anyone has any general tips about managing dogs that are new to each other or know of any good resources, books or online? Anything about multi dog households in general would be helpful too. There has already been much Googling done, I'm more interested in what people here have found useful.

Stories about your own experiences would be awesome as well, I'm just trying to soak up as much info as possible so I can pull useful stuff out of my brain when needed.

Ta

EDIT: forgot to ask, anyone know if there a border collie thread in breed discussion? I only saw a photos one there.

Edited February 20, 2009 by jaybeece

[squeak]

I haven't read this book but I have heard that it is very good.

http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB1009

[sandgrubber]

I'll be interested to see what others say. I think 'multi-dog' situations are as varied as families . . . not sure you can generalise.

Here's a sketch of my multi-dog scene

I stick to Labs. Four girls, mixed ages - three entire, one fixed - plus occasional visitors. Apart from occasional humping and other rucus they get along well, groom one another, play a variety of games that don't make sense to me, don't squabble over food. When a 'newbie' comes into the yard, they all gang up on him or her for five minutes or so. Then if it's a pup or playful, the youngest and the newbie go for a romp or a splash, and soon they're all happily chewing up dog toys, or sleeping in the doorways, or the other things dogs do to pass time.

[Just Midol]

When introducing Lily and Gizmo I took it pretty slowly, as Gizmo is dog aggressive.

I started with one outside and one in, they'd swap around on a regular basis. Then in crates next to each other (but not visible to each other) and after mixing those two up for a week, I started letting them meet on the leash in neutral territory (mums area or outside, strangely enough outside is neutral territory in my home). After another week, I let them run together inside under my supervision only. Any unwarranted fighting was stopped, any warranted fighting was left. Warranted fighting for me is either dog telling the other dog off for doing something unacceptable such as stealing a bone, or pestering the other dog. Gizmo is guilty of pestering, he does it to Lily all the time.

After about 6 weeks, I started leaving them alone and sitting on the other side of the door for 30 mins. I finally took the plunge after about 8 weeks letting them run together when I wasn't present.

Introducing Gizmo and Montu has been hell. Gizmo does NOT like big black dogs, so it's been a nightmare. Lily and Montu are fine, but Gizmo. Sheesh. Dunno if I'll even bother getting them used to each other as there is no reason to do it.

What I did is a combination of leerburgs method, things I read on here & some things I just thought of myself which I thought would be handy (no doubt they're on here but I didn't read them.)

[jaybeece]

I haven't read this book but I have heard that it is very good.

http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB1009

Ta, I'll get a copy of it :rolleyes:

Ta for the run down Midol, it's interesting to see how different people manage different doggy combinations.

The terrible trio here are all doing well still. The terrier barks at imaginary things over the fence and the border collie doesn't have the sense to question if he's barking for a reason or not. Thankfully the large brown one is actually using his brain for once and not jumping on the "hey let's go bark at crap that's not real" bandwagon.