Getting new puppy ....

[Lisa-Marie]

Hi, I have an adult Male labrador he's 9 and I am getting a puppy this Friday a Female Labrador, from reading they say a male usually gets along better with the opposite sex, so I decided to get a Female, I usually get males but never had a Female, I hear I should introduce them on territory that is not my home so I am thinking my local park? Any feedback would be appreciated, also 3 yrs ago I tried a male puppy and Remington would bark NON stop so I had to give her back to the seller who is a friend of mine, so he didn't like the male too much at all..... TIA

[SunDance]

It does sound like female is the way for you to go, based on that previous time. Of course, he may just bark at puppy energy and sex will have nothing to do with it.

If puppy doesn't have all her shots already, I'd steer clear of grassy areas...they're more likely to have pathogens from passing wildlife/other dogs. Some place paved (and in the shade for tender paws). Both pups on leash....take someone else with you...so that they can be kept separate as needed (if puppy energy is part of the equation). If you drive to the rendezvous, have one or both in crates in your vehicle...or separate vehicles (see reference to "someone else").

That said, we have introduced both ways (in our yard with wonderfully mellow Brutus when we brought home wee Hershey) (on the sidewalk outside Brutus' previous home when we brought our Akita over to meet him) (at home of subsequent puppies with both Brutus and Kiku the Akita). All of those encounters involved Brutus...who wouldn't have barked at a puppy if his life had depended on it (after we had his 3-year-old self neutered, that is....we got him with horrible male dog aggression...revealed to us by a tiny male puppy in his owner's arms in the vet waiting room).

Good luck. Let us know how it goes and....you know the drill....pictures, please.

[smartrock]

We've gotten puppies twice when we've had dogs who were around 6 years old. We introduced them out in our yard rather than in some other random spot, mainly because I didn't want to risk exposing a new puppy to any germs or anything in a park or somewhere like that. Plus, our older dogs have been trained to an electric fence so we could let the older ones walk around or distance themselves from the new puppy if they needed some space.

The first time, we brought a female puppy (Lark) home to meet our male lab (Chase). He was such a softie we anticipated no issues with how he'd react and he happily accepted the new baby girl. She was a handful and poor Chase ended up on the receiving end of her sharp little teeth, once she started nipping, and he never once corrected her. We were careful to watch them but the intro and initial weeks went very smoothly. A nice Hallmark situation.

The second time, now Chase had died and we were bringing home a new little boy (Henry) to meet our girl. Lark did not take to the new baby as smoothly as she had been welcomed herself. Again, the introduction took place outside in our yard and it seemed to go fine for the first day. We discovered we had to be much more watchful that time around. Our first lab, Chase, never really corrected Lark for annoying puppy behavior. Lark on the other hand, was quick to let Henry know when she was annoyed and wanted to pin him to the ground, not in a playful way. We put baby Henry in his crate in the house and allowed Lark to be out so she could sniff him and look him over and get accustomed to him being around. When they were out in the house together,I was always right there to intervene if needed. Same outside, she didn't seem to think him running around happily should be allowed. She didn't bark at him but she didn't really want him getting too close to her or acting too excited either. It took a few weeks of very close supervision before she was not bossy around him and he'd gotten a little bigger and they could play together without her being too vigilant for misdeeds. It definitely took more work on my part but she learned to tolerate and then enjoy being around him.

You'll just have to see how things go, I suspect every greeting is different. If you have a friend with a fenced yard, you might see if you can use their yard for the initial meeting. Since the puppy hasn't had all her shots, you want it to be someplace that is safe both physically and from a health standpoint. One of the other members, SamsonsMom, has brought 2 puppy boys home in the past few years and it seems like their introductions to Samson have gone super smoothly. Maybe she or some others will have some good tips for introductions. I hope things go smoothly this time around! We look forward to photos- hopefully some good Hallmark moments!