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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 5, 2011 at 12:38am

Yes, Natalie I would take that as a good sign:)  I am sure Tucker has been through alot so for him to jump back would be normal. Another thought that I had would be if you have a hallway near your livingroom,dining room or kitchen that you could put him  with a gate so that if you are busy doing things he could observe all going on around him without being in the middle. I have had many rescues in my laundry room hall and Wiley still prefers this area when there is lots of activity going on:) My guess is that if you take things slow...they can be best of buds! I bet you are so excited!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on March 5, 2011 at 12:52am

We can gate the kitchen off, and he will still be able to see whats going on around him, so that will work good :)  So when he comes to stay with us, if we do get Tucker, do we let them play first for a while and then gate Tucker in the kitchen? 

 

So we brought Lances old kennel downstairs after it was upstairs since he outgrew it and guess who was really curious about it and had to go lay in it, lol.  He also paws at it when its locked.  I hope he will share his old kennel with Tucker and not mind Tucker being i there, lol.  We do have a bigger kennel for lance that he still uses but the other one seems appealing to him now.  I guess we better move it back upstairs for now?

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Cindi & Twinkie on March 5, 2011 at 9:53am

Good luck to everyone.  I hope this works out well for your family.  You are doing such a wonderful thing!

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Permalink Reply by Beth on March 5, 2011 at 11:40am

We brought home Maddie as an adult.  She wasn't a rescue, but rather a retired show dog, so we knew a lot about her.

First we met at a totally neutral place (a mall parking lot halfway between us and her breeder's house, about an hour and a half away:  I was very impressed that the breeder was willing to drive that far to meet us.  She was also quick to tell us, though, that bringing a male to a bitch's house and meeting there is a recipe for a bad first impression; the female will be more likely to see the male as a threat). 

 

Maddie more or less ignored Jack.  Jack tried to mount her and the breeder said to let them sort it out.  Maddie politely growled and that was the last time Jack tried that!   We walked them together and hung out for awhile and played with Maddie.  My husband and I went home and discussed and decided we would take her.

 

We left Jack home when we went to pick up Maddie.  When we brought her here we put the car in the closed garage before letting her out.  We put a slip lead on her so there would be no escapes.  Shawn stayed in the garage with Maddie and I went and got Jack and took him to the park by our house, out of sight of the house.  We waited there and my husband walked Maddie up to us.  We did not allow sniffing/greeting at that time and we both just ignored the dogs and walked together.  After a few blocks we then allowed them to sniff, but honestly they were not that interested (Jack takes his cues from other dogs, and it's normal for an intact female to be stand-offish with strange males, though many are not).

We then came back to the house and penned Jack while I took Maddie on a leash to explore the whole house.  I watched for any signs of marking (she was bred once and came from a multi-dog household, and she WILL lift her leg and mark, though not way high like a male would).  I then let her loose and let Jack free; the breeder had evaluated them together and felt the risk of fighting was quite low.  I had already removed any high-value toys as a precaution. 

 

We set a pen up in the kitchen for Maddie and for the first week we also gated off the kitchen so Jack could not reach the pen.  Whenever we could not be right there watching, Maddie went in the pen.  She ate in the pen.  She would get short stretches in the pen while we were home in the evening so both dogs could relax and not worry about their respective roles.  Per the breeder's instructions, even though she was housebroken and had free run of her prior home, we treated her like a puppy and kept her confined whenever we could not watch her closely.

 

After a week or so we removed the baby gates but kept up the pen.  After another week or so, we started letting her loose at night (so we could hear any sounds of fighting).

I don't recall the timeline but it was probably a good three weeks to a month before we left her loose while we went to work, and the first few times was only for a half-day (just like we would handle an older puppy/ young adult earning its freedom).

 

It was weeks after that before we left them loose together at feeding time.  

It took longer than expected for them to play together, and she was here a full year before I caught her sleeping on her back.  She is, though, a very submissive bitch and that made a huge difference in how long it took her to reach certain milestones.

 

We are very happy having two.  Good luck!  I hope he works out.  

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Permalink Reply by Beth on March 5, 2011 at 11:42am

I wanted to add that we also waited some time before playing high-arousal games (like tennis ball chasing) with both loose; Jack would be more inclined to fight over chasing a toy than over food, because he's VERY intense about his toy-chasing.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa B on March 5, 2011 at 11:53am

We bought my husbands english setter as a 4yr old. It was quite the challenge, she was used strictly for hunting and breeding. We housetrained her and she trained very quickly, but she HATED other dogs, esp. Corky and Paddington, my daughters bichon/poodle that grew up with Corky and is here all the time. It took a good 2 months of being the "pack leader". We kept them seperate when we were gone but when we got home they were all allowed to interact. Watch the dogs all the time you can tell by their body language when someone is starting to "fixate" and go in for an attack. I had an empty water bottle that i would "whack' Dot, the setter, with when she started that. She never drew blood on any of them but she was a "bitch" for awhile. But you have to be on them all the time. Im happy to say she now LOVES them. When we board them for a weekend I get a suite so they can all be together cuz they prefer it. She still despises other dogs and I need to work on that with her. But its very doable to get them all to get along. You just have to be a strong and consistent leader.Good luck  

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Permalink Reply by Ollie & Prie Misra on March 5, 2011 at 1:36pm

I just wanted to say that it may help if you also add in separate play time.. as in crate Tucker and let him watch you play with Lance for a while, and see that you are Lance's boss -- then switch and let crated Lance watch you play with Tucker and see again that you are Tucker's boss. In my personal experience with adult dogs, especially one who is shy, it helps if both dogs are reminded that you are dominant to both and that you will still dictate their interaction in the beginning. Once that becomes normal for a few weeks, they usually figure out a balance between each other.

 

We usually fed them in tiers as well.. separately but in order. So Lance would eat first, and then be crated as Tucker ate, and the hierarchy would be reinforced. Also, I would boil some hot water and pour it over the crate and clean it very thoroughly for any scents Lance can gather from it so that it will truly be Tucker's crate. It may also be a good idea to do an obedience class with Tucker and then perhaps a couple of sessions with both of them at once!

 

Good luck!! I know you are a great FurMom so I think you'll be just fine and transition well :) 

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 5, 2011 at 1:53pm

Natalie...I think Beth and others have given you great info:)

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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on March 5, 2011 at 2:54pm

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice!!  The house check is set up for tommorrow afternoon, we will take Lance and Tucker for a walk before hand and then bring them back to the house to see how they interact. I will definately let everyone knows how it goes tommorrow.  Fingers and paws crossed.  :)

 

I talked with the lady from the shelter and had asked her to discuss Tuckers medical condition with my vet, just because she will be able to explain it better than I would.  I would feel better knowing ahead of time if his medical issue is now fixed or its something that could cause problems over time.  His condition is called Paraphimosis.  He had this back in September when he was dumped at the shelter and then has had surgery twice to fix it. 

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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on March 5, 2011 at 4:19pm

Im wondering if I did the right thing by asking the volunteer from the shelter to call and explain the medical condition to the vet, she did have him for a month and was the one who had been with Tucker during the surgeries. She also is the one coming to do the house check tommorrow.  My head is just spinning with questions.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 5, 2011 at 5:05pm

My guess is that his condition could be and hopefully is fixed....I looked it up! Your vet could also ask the vet who did this to fax his info?

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Permalink Reply by Amy Freed on March 5, 2011 at 5:18pm

For what it's worth, I think it was wise of you to ask the person who knows Tucker the best at this point to talk to your Vet.  It's good to have the advice of many and then you can compact it down to make the best decision.  And will you have a good idea of what you will be dealing with.  As they say - "Knowledge is power"!!   Also, if you have time, write down your questions, it will take them off your mind.  You can ask them or not - depends on how you feel about it tomorrow:)

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