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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on January 13, 2009 at 11:10am

Hey MaryRea. Just like human, you corgi may or may not adjust well to a new puppy. There are many contributing factors: First of all you'll need to figure out what kind of personality your 1 year old has. Is he the dominating type or is he the submissive easy going type? Is he a food hog or toy possessive? How does he behave in a dog park situation? May be is a good idea to visit a friend who also have a dog or have them sleep over to analyze and see what his behavior like and how well he does.

Just like human, your corgi will need time to adjust to the new puppy, it is common to take at least 2 weeks to 2 months to "settle in". Your corgi may see distant, or un-interested at first and slowly warm up to the new guy, or he could also be a social butter fly and welcome him with open arms.

Some corgis just love to play, my Vienna and Skippy can just play and play and play, but my Mocha is more the independent type and rarely engages in group play. So if you can find one that matches your home dynamics, that will be the best. Corgis are herding dogs and they need metal stimulation, if not challenged, they will find a job for themselves and when you have two, the older one can relapse in potty training and behavior training as well, so make sure you have a solid foundation before adding a new comer.

We take in foster corgis and the proper way to introduce your new pup is this: Go pick up the new pup with just the 2 of you, leave your 1 yr old at home. When you are almost home, have your husband and the new dog dropped off at the 1 mile mark, start walking your usual route. You on the other hand can proceed to drive home and start walking your 1 yr old, meet your husband and the new pup at the half mile mark, then both dogs walk side by side for 1 mile, this will drain their energy and excitement. when you get home, walk both of them inside the house and introduce each room. Make sure you clean up all the previous urine stain before this. After a home tour, then you can release them off leash. Go ahead and setup your separate food bowl, you can put the bowl in the new puppy crate and that will give him a safe and happy place for himself.

If you 1 yr old is not fixed, you may want to consider that before brining the new addition, marking can be a problem and fixing will help that somewhat.

You'll find a lot of tips in the search box, you can find most answers there, let us know if we can help you with the specifics :)

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Permalink Reply by MaryRea, Dougy, and Rudy on January 13, 2009 at 2:35pm

Thanks for your advice. I will definitely try the meeting on a walk thing, Great idea. Luckily, the 1yr old is fixed so that will help with the marking and territorial issues. I think they'll be fine and probably play each other to death. The 1yr old could play all day and is very good with other dogs at the park and we have other dogs come over to play and he is never very possesive. I'm sure he'll be a little jealous but that's natural, I would be too.

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Permalink Reply by Ross on January 13, 2009 at 4:23pm

If your corgi is anything like mine, he is going to absolutely love having a sparring partner.
That being said don't ever leave them alone together. Even though Atlas and our new puppy Scout love tumbling around with one another, we have had to break up some fights over bones and covetted toys on several occasions.

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