Are you ready for this
 

Like most of you know we have added a new furmember to our family. Last night was the first night for Sophie Meiin our house.I have to say that it went 110% better that what we had anticipated.
She slept on our bed and Max was there, but did not get too much sleep, he did not want her to get close to him.she did not pee on or bed!!!!!!
No matter how much I've read... I have many, many, many questions, so..Are you ready for this??

- First of many:
Max wont stop barking, and she wants to play, or at least to get close but he growls and goes away, I feel bad for her, and dont want her first experience on our house to be a negative one, same goes for Max, so I don't know how to handle his barking, I tried ignoring it, but he is relentless :eek:
He snaps at her, not hard, does not even touch her, but he wants to keep his distance.
I like to hear what other members have to say, and then I'll keep asking..

I know how you feel. We want them to be best buddies from the start, but that doesn't happen. It really does take time. It happened slowly, but steadily for us. Gizmo became more and more comfortable with Kandi with time. Now they are almost inseparable and play really well together.

I don't know about the barking though. I hope someone else has a suggestion for you.

I understand the way he feels, and want to make this transition as easy as possible for both of them, he is used to being the only one, and she is used to being with mom and siblings, always playing and cuddling, no harsh tones, no barking, don't want her to feel rejected or traumatized.
I never thought about the bed...it is going to be hard, she is not used to being in a crate, always in an ex pen.DH almost cry last night when I put her in the crate, he is not to fun of "cages"like he calls them.

Judy, how long did it take for Gizmo to accept Kandi?...he did not bark at her?

We have had Maggie for a year and Buster still has not really warmed up to her. She is very dominant. She bites Busters ears and legs. Of course I have caught him biting her ears lately. She will sit in the house in front of the doggie door and not let him in. She will sit at either the top or bottom of the stairs and not let him pass. A lot like children. I don't know, I thought by now they would be better "siblings", at least "friends". :confused: I dunno, I plan on having the trainers come in and work with her after the first of the year. Until then....:confused:

LOL, they are like children.At this point the dominant is Max, but judging by the way he eats, and learning from him, she'll be the one pushing Max around

OMG, Max has barked so much that he is loosing his voice. I don't want to just ignore him, but I don't want to pet him or carry him when he barks and reinforce this behavior.I tried the pennies and poor Sophie ran, and hide. If I use the spray bottle, would he take it as a negative sign against him and blame Sophie for it?

Oh boy, I'm re reading everything I'm write before posting, and makes me laugh, it is amazing how much we care for our babies, that we even try to psycho analyze everything...wasn't life simpler before YT....????? :p

My moms beagle growled and snapped at Callie the first few times I took her to my moms house and she never hurt her so for the most part I let them work it out and eventually Callie understood what to do and not what to do around my moms beagle.

New additions!
 

WE have two new additions to our family as well. The other 3 are adatpting well. It does take time. I do not allow them to sleep in the bed just yet with us because that is our other 3 furbabies comfort zone! However they do come lay with us for a few before bed just to start to get them used to all of us...but I didn't start that until this week and they have been with us for about 2 months.

Some things that worked well for me when we added Gracie Ruth and then later, Yogi. I'd get on the floor and engage all of them in play. Boo doesn't like toys, but likes to wrestle. G didn't like to wrestle, but liked toys. So I would play with each one individually but at the same time. It seemed to help bond the pack a bit. Any time Boo would growl at G for getting in his way, I'd give him a quick touch on the neck and say no. Then go right back to playing with them both.

Give treats while sitting on the floor with all of them too. Carrots worked best because they saw me, pack leader, eating them and then sharing with them. I never gave out the treats in the same order, in other words, the same dog was never always first to receive the treats. I know a lot of people say to give the existing dog preferred treatment, but for my kids I found that showing them they were all on the same level to me worked best.

Walking is the very best way to bond the pack. If she hasn't had all her shots, you may want to get your vets ok before taking her out. But I would take them on short walks around the block. No stopping to sniff or get on the grass to try and limit contact were other dogs may have been. This above all else in my opinion, is what helped to them to bond and get along.

Good luck, give Max some time, don't allow Sophie to bully him - as puppies can do. But don't allow Max to be ugly either. You're the leader, lead. :)

I've been doing everything wrong :(, I play with Max first and the Sophie or the other way around but never both at the same time, just trying to avoid confrontation.Max knows that DH gets home in the afternoon, so stars gathering his toys in front of the back door to go play with him...of course Sophie gets the toys and wants to play with Max, but he wants none of it coming from her.He has taken all the new small toys a bought for her..she has taken over his bed, but still uses hers, eats from Max's plate..and then he does not want it because has her smell I guess. I don't think I had to analyze things so much when I got Max, he is such good boy and she is a bully, but a very pretty bully never the less :p

You're the leader, lead
I love this! I think Im going to implement this for ALL my household members,Im printing and posting on the fridge door :thumbup: