How Do I Make My New Dog Get Along With The Other Dogs In My House?

In general… you can’t really control how dogs interact with each other when you’re not around.

Probably, if your new dog isn’t being outright aggressive with the other dogs in your house, once she starts spending more time with these dogs, she’ll start to accept them and either:

1.) Start interacting and playing with them, or…

2.) Just simply ignore them. If she does show outright aggressive behavior, you can correct her for that behavior.

1.) Keep a leash (even if it’s just a one foot, piece of rope on a harness snap…. what we trainers call a “tab”) and a training collar on the dog.

2.) Just as she starts to bark, say “No” and give a pop (not a pull, but rather a pop and release) on the rope attached to the collar.

If it doesn’t even break the dog’s focus, it means that your correction isn’t motivational. You want the dog to stop barking and look at you. If she fold her ears back slightly, this is submission, and it means she is submitting to you, the Alpha.

Obviously, if she rolls over on her back, or shows extreme submissiveness, then you’re being too motivational. But on the other hand, you don’t want to under correct, either. That’s like a cop giving a $2 ticket for speeding, when your last name is Trump, and your first name is Donald. It’s not going to MOTIVATE you to stop speeding.

The type of training collar you choose can help with the motivation of the correction as well, but in general, a sharp “pop” and release (like you’re snapping a belt, or hitting a ping pong) should work well enough. “Pop!” on the leash. And then, as long as you are around, (and as long as she respects you as her “Alpha”… she’ll be cool and:

1.) Start eventually interacting with the other dogs

2.) Simply ignore them. When you’re not around, all bets are off. I have a Pit Bull/Rhodesian mix right now that I got from the pound about 3 months ago. He was so dog aggressive when I got him, that when I’d put him in the back of the truck, and he’d see a dog walk by outside…. he’d go so ballistic that the whole back of the truck would shake. I started correcting this behavior.

Soon, he learned that he could be around other dogs, and everything would be cool. Soon after that, he learned he could start playing with other dogs. And right now he’s out in my enclosed commercial area, rolling around with my parent’s Rottweiler. Oh yeah… just thought I’d mention that he’s about two years old. Long story short, it usually takes about three weeks to aclimate. But again, I don’t know your dog, and I’m just giving you rough, general advice. Every dog is different.

-Adam