Adding a 3rd dog to the family...correct way to do it...?

I currently have a 4 yr old Bernese Mtn dog and a 9 yr old Husky. I am seriously checking into getting a Golden:) Both my dogs are well socialized and have obedience titles.





I know that I have to 1st introduce them in a neutral area, 1 dog at a time before they are brought together into the home and ALL dogs must be supervised.


Suggestions on what worked for you when you brought the 3rd dog home? Is there a way to make this easy for all concerned? How did you cope with jealousy? What other kind of issues did you run across that I am not thinking about?





I have heard of breeders rubbing the scent of the Mom/siblings on a towel for the new owners to take home with the pup. Would the reverse work? If I had the breeder put the pups scent on a couple of towels and put it down in the house (maybe click %26amp; treat them when they interact with it...make it a positive thing), do you think this would work in helping the established dogs accept the pup?





ThanksAdding a 3rd dog to the family...correct way to do it...?
I had the same situation here when I added a 3rd golden into my family!


My 2 older Golden's had been woth me for quite some time so I was very cautious about introducing the pup. I introduced them to each other outside in the yard by first having the pup in my lap the whole time. My dog at home are not dog agressive and they are also very well trained. They accepted the pup right away out side and were even playing with him for quite some time.


The next hurdle was inside. I allowed the older boys insode first then brought the pup in. There were not problems until feeding time can around and I discovered that the pup was a chow hound! He not only wanted his food but the older boys too! This did not go over well at all! We had some growing and some teeth beeing shown! I corrected not only the pup but the older boy's here too. I was not going to have any food issue's with now 3 dogs in my home. :) I also had some minor toy issues here too which also had to be addressed by corrections, to all the dogs. My pup thought everything was fair game! At one point I did ask for a trainers advice and after folling his advice everything settled down quite quickly!


It took about 2 weeks for everyone to know their place as far as feeding/toy's went. I too baby gated the pup into the kitchen and the older boy's had their free run of the house durring the day while I was here. The pup was crate trained so naturally at night thats where he was!


The are all now best buddies and they all can eat and play together with out any problems at all. I do still keep a eye on the pup who is now 8 months old just to careful! Pups will be pups! :)Adding a 3rd dog to the family...correct way to do it...?
Why not? At first the other two would feel a bit threatened by the newcomer but soon they will realize the 3rd one will there to stay. They will get used to the new one after a while and they will accept it as part of the family sooner or later. I know because we had the same situation years ago. It will be fine. The more the merrier.
If your dogs are well socialized and obedient, the chances are that when you introduce your dogs to the new puppy, they'll accept it naturally because it IS a puppy. The new puppy may irritate the older dogs - especially the 9 year old husky - because he is going to be very playful and will puppy-bite. He'll crawl all over the older dogs and want them to play with him. The older dogs usually let the puppy get away with this, with only a warning bark, until he's 6-7 months old - then his ';puppy license'; expires and he'll be expected to shape up and ship right! Meanwhile, you can be sure to short-circuit any jealousy problems by continuing to walk your older two dogs every day while leaving the puppy at home (he can only walk about 5 minutes for each month of his life, and your older dogs can walk for hours and hours if you'd let them). Be sure to continue to play with the older dogs and give them as much affection as always. Adding a third dog will take up a lot of time because you must pay closer attention to how much time you spend with the older dogs and how much time you spend with the puppy.
We just recently went through the same thing, and it was very stressful for me! What we found that worked was to let the dogs see each other from opposite sides of a baby gate. They could sniff, touch noses, etc. and they could see each other and interact over the top of the gate, but they couldn't really get aggressive. They were doing play biting and a little rough-housing over the gate, but that was about it. Now they're doing great. This was a week ago, btw. We're just letting them be in the same room together a little more every day and watching their every move like a hawk!
Well all the things you wrote up there are true. My Grandpa has 6 dogs ranging in all different ages. They allget along well. In the begging there was some rank stuff going on but that has settled. It would be a good thing to bring your dogs to meet the dog you are thinking about getting. So you know that they will reconize each other when you bring the dog home.
I have 3 dogs. Full blooded lab female, 7, lab rotty mix male, 1.5, border collie lab female mix, 8 months.





When I introduced Zim to Daisy, I made sure that Daisy was aware that she was still loved by having my daughter hold her and my son hold the pup. Zim loved her immediately, she was a little warey, and even today we keep him out of ';her'; room (my daughter's room) so she has her own space.





When we brought Doodle home, Zim loved her IMMEDIATELY and there was not even any need to get him used to it, he was happy happy happy to have a new playmate. Daisy, being an old fart by now, sat back and wagged her tail, but just took her own time in getting used to her.





Daisy will now actually let Doodle in her room, let her lay with her, and will let my daughter hold her and not even act a bit jealous. She still chases Zim away.....lol. He thinks it is fun.





I realize that I probably just have dogs that get along easy, but really, Daisy doesn't put up with Zim much, and just tolerates him, so we've made adjustments for her.





Try not to worry about it too much. If your dogs are well socialized, it is just a matter of time until you get the new one to learn to be a polite dog also. Dogs are just like people, some will get along and some won't. If they dont get along, you aren't going to be able to make them get along no matter what you do. Period. You can try to make them tolerate each other. The main thing is to keep the new pup out of the old pups stuff (just like kids) so they don't get jealous, and dont let them be ';rude'; and run all over the older established dog's territories without the older dogs permission. It is all trial and error and every dog is different.





Good luck!