If you are thinking of expanding your family of pets, take some time to evaluate the personality, training and history of your current dog(s) and the one that you are considering adopting.

Make Sure You Choose the Right Pet for the Right Reasons

Adopt a dog with similar qualities. If your dog is active and outgoing, rescuing a dog with the same personality traits will be best for everyone. Check to see if your local shelter and rescue groups have temperament testing to evaluate dogs available for adoption.

Steps to Introduce New Dog To Current Family Dog

1) Adopt a female dog if you already have a male dog, and vice versa. Dogs of the same gender are likely to fight.

2) The dogs should first be introduced on neutral territory.

3) Each dog needs to be handled by a separate adult and kept on their leashes. Maintain control. The dogs may feel less anxious, fearful,or defensive when both dogs think you’re in control of the situation.

4) Your first dog sees your home as his territory and may feel threatened that another dog is on his turf. Until the dogs accept each other, all interactions should be supervised.

5) Some dogs may never get along well, but some may take a few hours to become fast friends. Please remember to be patient. While the relationship will probably improve over time, it can take weeks or even months for the dogs to accept each other.

6) Use a baby gate, screen door or other barrier that neither is able to jump over to let the dogs spend some extended time getting acquainted. One dog won’t feel threatened by the other’s space and therefore this can help them gain interest in each other.

7) Make sure each dog has his own space, den, or room to run away to in case of a confrontation.

8) Not everyone wants a new sibling, so take it slow.

Here are some things to remember if the dogs get into a fight:

• Don’t stick your hand in the middle or grab a collar – you may get hurt!
• Distract the dogs by spritzing them with water from a spray bottle.
• Make a loud noise, like shaking a can of pennies.

When they have stopped fighting, separate them immediately and put each in his respective space to cool off.

If you just can’t seem to resolve the issues, then it may be time to call a local dog trainer.

When bringing a puppy home, however, the rules are slightly different.

Puppies usually wind up bothering adult dogs to no end, mainly because they are still learning. Also, they don’t realize that their actions are bothering adult dogs.

Most adult dogs, if they have a good temperament, will growl or snarl at recklessly playful puppies in order to show them the boundaries of acceptable behavior. This is a positive thing, and actually normal. For the safety of both dogs, while they are still getting to know each other, never allow a puppy and an adult dog to be left alone together. It’s also important to give your adult dog plenty of time away from the puppy.

When it comes to food, never allow the adult dog and puppy to eat out of the same bowl as it can lead to resource guarding. At least to start, feed each dog in a separate dog crate. It’s a great way to keep food fights to a minimum.

Please do not punish your dogs if they are not getting along. It may hinder their progress to punish them for their normal reactions to each other. The best thing to do is to contact a professional dog trainer to help you.

Peace and Love are present in my world now,