Introduction to Dog Integration

Lauren Langman 0:09

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast . I'm Lauren Langman . I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority . In each episode , you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before , creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world . Okay , so today we're talking bringing home a new dog , or introducing a puppy to the household and , lovely Linda , you have just done very this . How hard has it been , how difficult has it been , how much of a struggle has it been to bring in a new puppy , and actually , how has it been ? How difficult has it been ? How much of a struggle has it been to bring in a new puppy and actually , how has it been different to what you maybe have done in the past ?

Managing Household Dynamics

Linda Hughes 0:51

So it actually has been fairly simple , straightforward , but it has taken a lot of work and knowledge on my part to make it simple and straightforward .

Lauren Langman 1:02

So give us a scenario who do you own and what are the household dynamics ? So I take it , when we're listening to this simple and straightforward sounds like you own three happy-go-lucky Labradors . Actually , I know different . I know you actually own naughty but nice dogs who potentially wouldn't tolerate a puppy , let alone a one kilo puppy , the size of maybe a guinea pig or less , and actually a very , very opinionated puppy . And so he's quite bouncy and energetic and yet he's tiny , so this ball of fluff actually could be quite easily harmed . Yes , in a normal household , so the , so the .

Linda Hughes 1:34

I have three border collies . I'll have three good colleagues . My oldest boy is 10 and he's about 20 , 22 kilograms , so he's fairly large for a Border Collie but he's naughty but nice with other dogs but he's very good with puppies . But I know he disciplines puppies by putting his foot on them . So step one was we can't have Ping , which is we were talking about being off by the puppy and going just you behave yourself , because we've got this tiny little one kilogram puppy , poodle puppy , that he could just break his neck if you put his foot on it . So that was that's number one . But I knew that temperamentally he would be more accepting of the puppy than the other two , who are the two girls . The middle girl , another mad border collie I would have , I would expect her to ignore . And the , the most problematic one is my ulla , whom you love , who I love dearly , the best girl . We love her dearly , but she's she's so

The Importance of Feeding Strategies

Linda Hughes 2:42

obsessive , compulsive , sensitive , reactive , everything , and I knew that she would find it very , very difficult .

Lauren Langman 2:53

And when you say difficult , what might you expect from a dog like Ulla bringing a new dog into the house ? And you guys , when we're talking to you , this could be a new adult dog , this could be a new puppy , this could be a new rescue dog , this could be a new dog to your household , and I think that's a really important bit .

Linda Hughes 3:07

It's a new rescue dog . This could be a new dog to your household and I think that's a really important bit . It's a new dog to your household . It's just a new member of the pack .

Lauren Langman 3:11

I would have expected her to go for the puppy . Okay , so there's a chance of some sharpness , yes , and I think that's really uh important and and good to be aware of . Is there any sharpness there ? Could there be any sharpness there ? Is there something we need to identify or acknowledge ? Okay , so when you tell me it's been pretty simple and pretty easy , what's helped with that or what's enabled that , or why is your journey different today than it was , say , five years ago , what's what's ?

Linda Hughes 3:32

changed my whole journey through absolute dogs and pdt and everything .

Lauren Langman 3:37

Wow , that's cool that is pretty cool . So your whole journey has changed the way you potentially manage a multi-dog household or introduce a new dog , or introduce a puppy , or even travel away with your dogs .

Linda Hughes 3:50

My understanding of dogs , my ability to read dogs , my ability to see what's happening in front of me , to plan , to manage all of that .

Lauren Langman 3:59

I'll give you a really quick example . I'd love you to give me some examples . Last night I've got a new team member here . We were having dinner , and when I'm having dinner I really want to know that my dogs are still cared for , because I know that sometimes I'm working 12 hour days , maybe 15 hour days , sometimes 16 hour days too long a day , I get it , but I choose to work that . My dogs don't choose for me to work that . So when I've got long days I will have a team and I definitely have help . So those of you go , how do you do it all I have help .

Lauren Langman 4:22

And I heard this awful screaming . No one was getting hurt , no one was dying . It was someone's being fed and I'm really angry about it . And so I chatted to our new team member and I said to him okay , if you're gonna feed , you actually don't let anyone know you're gonna feed . So the first rule of feeding for me is it's impromptu and we don't know anyone's gonna be fed . And he was to give blink a meal , because blinks sort of to be honest , she's actually quite light . A lot of the time she's been out in the gardens a lot , she's running around a lot and so actually , she is a dog who runs quite light and so she was having a meal , but not everyone was having a meal , and so when he was giving that food , he ran it past everyone . So everyone saw it , everyone realized blink was having food and everyone realized they were not getting food , and so , like chaos ensued . And so for me , if I'm going to feed everyone , fair enough , I'm going to look at that dynamic .

Lauren Langman 5:13

But also , if I'm going to feed one dog , I look at that dynamic , and what I would do , personally , if I'm going to feed blink was the dog that was getting a bit of a top up , a bit extra . What I would do is I would put everyone in gardens or spaces where they're happy . So for me , I've got you can see , we've got quite a cool setup . We've got front yard , we've got backyard , we've got a side garden , we've got a garden over there . I put the dogs out into different spaces and then blink would go in and into a pen or a crate or another garden where she can have her food , but nobody else knows she's having her food because I haven't started preparing it until everyone else is out . So everyone else goes out and then I'll stop preparing it .

Lauren Langman 5:45

However , I might do it completely differently . I might do um , everyone out and blink gets a scatter feed somewhere . Or I might do let's go in the van for a road trip and let's give blink a kong in the van . Like I just vary it . And the thing that I don't realize or I suppose I do realize more and more is that other people don't do that and that's where chaos ensues because you can imagine it , they think it's feed time and not everyone gets fed . And the frustrations there , disappointments there , and suddenly you got screaming and I was just really shocked at quite how noisy wild was , just because she thought blink was gonna get fed without her . Like it really shocked me because she's just not with me , but I've really ditched the routine on my feeding um , how about you ?

Linda Hughes 6:23

but what you're saying is your knowledge of what could happen . Oh , so it gives you foresight so that you can then manage a situation and set a situation up for your dogs to be successful .

Lauren Langman 6:34

Brilliant . Thank you for translating for the poor world that's trying to cope with the speed and and what we're doing . High five to that as well , linda . And because it is , it's that , it's that prep and planning and it's so ingrained in me to do it . Now it's so ingrained is is to okay , you need a bit extra , because I I ditch the bowl , I feed raw , I feed a variety of good kibbles as well where I'm training , or hand hand cooked foods .

Lauren Langman 6:58

But I'll sometimes feel over someone . People say how do you do that when you got 10 dogs ? Well , the way I do it is , I feel over them and I go , you feel a little bit heavy or you feel a little bit light , and so they'll get a bit extra that way . But it is always oh , you're going back in the van to travel okay , you have a handful in that crate . Or you're going back here you have a tripe stick , or you're doing this , you have that , but you're always kind of like moving it , but but also you're always thinking ahead and you're ahead of the game .

Linda Hughes 7:22

Whereas a lot of people don't do that . They don't have that foresight of what the result is going to be in what

First Meetings on Neutral Ground

Linda Hughes 7:30

they're doing . So for me , bringing this new dog in , I probably , five or ten years ago , would have brought the puppy in . I would have penned it . I was into pens at that point so it would have gone in a pen , but I would have probably tried to introduce the other dogs to it in the house fairly early on . That didn't happen . So the puppy was brought home . It was penned . The other dogs were kept separate . I've got a baited community . There's plenty of baby gates all over the place , so they were other dogs were never in the same room . They knew it was there because I think I can smell it bubbles here , I smell here .

Lauren Langman 8:12

There's a stranger in the place . I've got a very funny story on smelling things very quickly skittle . The other day I had a friend's dog come to stay . She's called sheba the queen of sheba , nonetheless than the queen and the queen of sheba was staying in the house and she was on skittle's bed . Now skittle was in the garden so skittle didn't even really know she was in the house because actually most of the time I manage my scenario . So you're out , you're in . It's like a rotation system once you're in 10 dogs there's no going back . You , just you , you . You live a multi-dog household so you're kind of used to rotating and managing and everything else .

Lauren Langman 8:43

Anyway , skittle got on her bed last night and she literally went and just like , looked like really horrified . You know when some dogs are prickly like hormonal looking . She's had that prickly moment with some dogs that even notice blinks , just so sweet and nice she doesn't notice anything . Skittle honestly looked like she'd stood in a porcupine . She was just like horrified that she could smell the queen of shiba on her bed and she was like this is not okay and it's a , it's a pmf bed , so it's like a massage bed , so you can't really wash it or it's a . It's a and it sets like a magnetic . Yeah , I've got a very nice bed . Not when you wash sk all livid , but that type of thing , right , some dogs smell , so they'd have known .

Linda Hughes 9:22

They knew Bobble was in the house . Yes , they knew he was in the house , but they didn't didn't get to mix with him . And then a couple after a couple of days I mean he was , he was going out for a walk on his own , so he'd go on the van but he would get a little wander and then go back on the van and then I'd take the others for a little sniff around . And then I went to a friend away from home and I was giving the dogs , the two girls who were the two most problematic . They were having a little leg stretch before I went to a training session .

Linda Hughes 9:52

So I took the puppy out of the van , carried him to this heathland , let the girls go for their wander , put him down on the ground and walked and they both came back and went oh that's , their eyes were out on stalks . They knew what , he , who , they knew he'd come from home , they knew the connection . But they there was the first face-to-face meeting and I said come on , let's walk , and they won't move forward . He tried to run after them I love it .

Lauren Langman 10:26

They knew he came from home .

Linda Hughes 10:29

I did that was the same smell . Oh , that's that thing that's been .

Lauren Langman 10:32

That's that little gray thing that's been at home and they can imagine like that little grey turd yes , or that chunk chaser toy that I never got to get hold of .

Linda Hughes 10:45

She would just be like a little fluff . They ran off . He ran after them , this little black thing running after them , he's so lovely , they outran him and he just went . Oh okay , then I'll go back to my mum . I haven't got him on a line , a lead or anything . Just let him go . Let him get on with it . That's a nice scenario Neutral territory . Sandy was a bit afraid of him , but also a few days in , I think that's really important .

Lauren Langman 11:13

Actually , a lot of people wouldn't be able to do that . They're so desperate to make them make friends . I've had people um say to me , oh , we let them meet .

Linda Hughes 11:26

When we went there , when the pup was like four weeks old and I'm like really well , I've got no interest in letting my dogs meet at four weeks old like I don't want to meet . No , no , it's been , it was it , I did it . The . The full integration took a month , just day by day , by day . Change .

Lauren Langman 11:35

Give us a couple of tips and a couple of um pointers as to what you did , because I I'm the same , I use gated community . I I'll carry them a little bit . If they're a pup and if they're an adult dog , I might have the dog who's most neutral , off lead and a dog who's maybe like even the pup they're not necessarily neutral because what they want to do is say hello , yeah . So actually sometimes I'll put that dog on a lead , so I'll put the neutral dog . So I remember um walking with easy and she could . She could greet another dog and carry on . But if that dog carried on annoying her , yeah , she'd have to go , go away .

Lauren Langman 12:04

And so because I didn't want to go at the dog , I would put that dog on a lead and I would walk mango , for example , great example and mango be on a lead , easy would be off lead , mango , be going , I'm a friend , I'm a friend , I'm a friend . I'm a friend like tigger . It's like having a friend like tigger and then you've got like little piglet in the or and piglet in the or don't really need a tigger who's bouncing at their face all the time , that type of thing .

Linda Hughes 12:25

So I , I'm , I make sure that I've been advocating for the big dogs , constantly advocating for the big dogs , because this puppy has attitude , yeah , and has taken over their world . Yes , uh , he's very strong , he's very confident , far more confident than Orla , really . He just takes everything in his stride . There are certain things he reacts to , but not anything to worry about . He's very good , very confident , very , you know , in your face , very feisty . So there's a lot of I've done a

Advocating for Resident Dogs

Linda Hughes 12:55

lot of advocating for the big dogs .

Linda Hughes 12:56

Give me an example of how you might advocate so , for instance so first of all , out on the walk , ola looks at him like he's something you know nasty that the cat brought in . Oh , look at that , you know , and not quite sure what to do , and I just would go it's okay , ola , don't worry , you're okay , don't worry . And she'd go . Oh , really , I just think I'll go away . But it just gives her that reassurance and then gradually , gradually , she's got closer and closer to him . So last night at the cottage he was on the sofa with a tune . The two girls came up and he actually tried to get them to go away . He went yeah , breathe , look at him . So I went , look at him . So I went it's okay , girls , it's okay . And I've just pushed him back , you know not , I'm not horribly , but just moved him back . So I was like saying you go back there , these that you're all right , girls , you're all right girls and then all got up on the sofa and laid down let's move ourselves away .

Linda Hughes 13:58

No , to sit next to him , oh , sit with him . He was like okay , so she's laid down on the sofa , he trots along the sofa and she looks at him and I watch her eyes . So she looks at him and he's actually being nice at this point and he's trying to lick and her eyes are like nice and I go good girl , and you're doing , and I know that her arousal's going up and I'll go . It's okay , oliver , you're okay , and if I see a lip start to go , then I'll just move him away .

Lauren Langman 14:32

I don't tell her off or move her .

Linda Hughes 14:36

I just move him out of the equation . And so the more I advocate and the more I reassure them , the more confident , the more confident they get around him , you know , and I think ultimately Ulla and Bobble will be great friends . I think they'll play chasey games , because he's already chasing her and she's watching him come and she's actually been chasing him around the garden at home . My only concern is that sometimes she has to jump over him because he stops as far as she's allowed to fly , so she jumps to not stand on him . Oh , they sound great . So it's coming . It's coming , but he will do things like big dogs laying down on the floor . He gets a toy , he goes up to the big dog , he drops the toy by the big dog and then he stands back and barks at them . So there's this little snap yappy thing and the big dog's going . Mom , I don't know what to do here . So funny .

Lauren Langman 15:36

Well , I think we should do before we head out of here because I think we've got some great listeners I think we should do a quick tips tennis , like classifier tips to introduce a new dog and I'm gonna say little and often , and it's not like a race , so you don't have to race . That's my top tip . No , number one is take your time , take your time , take time . They're going to be together a long time if they get on well .

Lauren Langman 15:57

I was dealing with a customer this week whose dogs have fallen out and he's just put them on calm canine actually and already having good results . So his dog has gone on to calm canine after attacking his other dog and they've always lived together . One's rising two and the other's six , and suddenly one's attacked the other and never had it before , both in time males but , but no hormones in the house . So , and no female hormones that I'm aware of in the house , and so he's on calm canine . But also , you never really want to get into that situation . It's much harder when they've got a fallout . So , yeah , fast is not the way for me .

Linda Hughes 16:27

Slow and and successful and short , like little sessions , go on yes yes , so also be careful of resources , thoughtful on them for sure , very , very careful about toys , bones , food , anything that's around , because there could be some some competition and pups , pups like the one I've got believe they own everything , everything well , they also don't see the danger ?

Lauren Langman 16:50

I think they don't , they don't . So on that note , then another one for me with introducing dogs , to actually know your dogs , so you , like , you know alert . You said I look into her eyes ,

Top Tips for Successful Integration

Lauren Langman 17:01

or , for example , I know that classic really can't handle a puppy on her face , she just can't handle it , whereas blink will let them jump all over her head . So I also know what I've got , what I haven't . Equally , and this is a really big one with blinking , though , she'll allow them to jump all over her head , which she allowed tokyo . When tokyo was growing up , I actually would often correct it or interrupt it or improve him and and stop it happening , because I knew that quite quickly once he grew up that was not going to be appropriate because he would be too heavy for her . So 17 kilos landing on her head wasn't going to work . So I actually think it started for me to go on .

Linda Hughes 17:31

Yeah , I've been careful what you learn out of them to realize . Careful on the management , go on . What's your next one ? So my next one would be do lots of introductions or lots of integration away from home , nice , nice , integration away from home , nice , nice . So on a lead , parallel walking , on a walk where it's safe , just just monitoring them , but do do a lot of it away from home , because then you haven't got the , the possessiveness or the territorial issues and then , in line with that , crates , gates , pens they all help for them to have a presence .

Lauren Langman 18:07

It doesn't mean access , lifestyle , so actually everything is there , but it doesn't mean you grab it or pull it or go and play with it or grab the bobble through the bars and tug with him . It's there but it's not always something you go to .

Linda Hughes 18:22

So mine are all in the routines . So Ulna's crates and she has several in the house her crates are her safe space . She needs that and when she starts to get angsty because she's she would get angsty with peeing , let alone bubble I just say to her well , if you can't cope , go in your house . Yeah , and she goes , goes in her house and she's no , she's safe there , and I just shut the door .

Linda Hughes 18:45

No . And she's like , oh , thank god for , and I just shut the door . No . And she's like , oh , thank god for that I don't have to yeah , get you know , I'd have to police it all .

Lauren Langman 18:53

Actually , my mom's way back , yeah , I think my last one and for me would be you don't have to play by anyone else's rules . So , for example , my mom would come over to the house and she'd say oh , it's cruel to keep them apart . It's cruel , no , actually it's right for me , it's right for the dogs , and so I do keep some of my dogs apart if I don't feel they're appropriate for each other . Right now , for example , blink and brave and skittles love each other , but they all play very rough now . Blinks had a surgery , so she's a little bit sore . Brave's got a spinal sort of condition , so she needs to be a bit careful . Sk . Skit was bonkers . So actually it's not always appropriate to have them playing or racing around .

Lauren Langman 19:30

So so it's not anyone else's rule . It's your rule as to what's appropriate for your dog and what's appropriate for the , for each individual dog .

Linda Hughes 19:37

So all the needs a lot more downtime she needs . She needs to have a break because she won't take it for herself . Yeah , and it's not good for her psychologically absolutely winding herself up . Absolutely the pup needs a break because straight away , being a toy breed , I noticed he's very . He could very easily have separation anxiety . Interesting so I'm straight away .

Lauren Langman 20:00

He's lots of his pen and I'm , I'm away from him and the other thing in terms of integration . I know I was on my last tip , I want one more . You were brilliant , like he's straight in the car with you . Every time I said to you , linda , make sure he's traveling with you . Like , yeah , got that sorted everywhere you go . Right , because that's also separation You're in the same vehicle , but you are separated .

Linda Hughes 20:16

Yes , yeah , yeah , yeah , and I have a little system that I do with all my p the front seat next to me to begin with , about a week .

Lauren Langman 20:32

Yeah , and I don't let it go on too long , yeah , so about a week , and my only problem they're nice , I quite like .

Linda Hughes 20:34

From there I get a bit like oh I'm so cute , oh you're so cute but if you leave them there too long , I think they're just cute , they can't then it's more difficult . It is .

Lauren Langman 20:43

It is the same as having them in the bedroom , like I have them in the bedroom for a bit , but then I'll transition down me .

Linda Hughes 20:48

He's still in the bedroom but he's in a crate , but he's so cute , but he's got to be transitioned out , but yeah . So then he's because he's so tiny , of course the crate's in my van . I've been to all the conies that I've got , so I had to buy into a container because I could just imagine him slopping about in the back .

Lauren Langman 21:11

Just so cute , just so cute . Well , linda , thank you . Introducing a new dog to your home doesn't need to be that stressful , doesn't need to be hard and , like you said , actually it's pretty easy through the absolute dog's way . It is well done , linda , linda .