Bigger Pups and a Question or two

[Jay_Bunny]

My husband and I are moving in with one of his co-workers and renting a house on the other side of town. We hope to move around February so that gives us some time to organize and gradually introduce all of the animals. She has 2 cats but both are very shy and hide all the time. We are bringing 4 cats into the house. She also rescues dogs and currently at the house (she lives at the house we are going to be moving into. We are just taking over the other 2 bedrooms) she has 5 dogs: 2 hounds, 1 rottweiler, 1 mix, and 1 pitbull. All of the dogs are super sweet, especially the rottweiler and the pit.

I'm bringing one dog into the house, but he is a tiny dog in comparison to the dogs she has. She's only keeping 2-3 of the dogs that are currently there. The rottweiler is her baby and she might be keeping one of the hounds and she wants to find a home for the pit but he will be staying with us until that happens. My dog is a dachshund. I am not in any way saying that rottweilers or pitbulls are without a doubt going to kill my dog. I'm not that stupid. I don't like breed stereotypes. BUT, I am concerned about the fact that my dog is much smaller than these dogs, and we will be coming into THEIR territory. I'm just worried there might be an issue with that and how to best move my animals over without any problems. All cats and dogs will have free roam around the house and back yard.

Also, I'm slowly falling in love with this pit. His name is Magee and he is such a huge teddy bear. I was sitting on the couch with the rottweiler and we had all just come in from outside and Magee got up on the couch and cuddled up next to me. He laid his head on my arm and he was sooooo cute! He's such a furnace too! That boy puts out so much heat. Now, my husband and I were looking into getting a doberman from a friend of ours that shows and breeds them, but I find myself falling for this pit. He does have a biting issue, but it is a playful bite. Now I know that biting from any dog should be discouraged and the dog should be trained to not bite, even in play, and we are working with him on this. He responds well to commands.

So any advice for me?

[771subliminal]

My husband and I are moving in with one of his co-workers and renting a house on the other side of town. We hope to move around February so that gives us some time to organize and gradually introduce all of the animals. She has 2 cats but both are very shy and hide all the time. We are bringing 4 cats into the house. She also rescues dogs and currently at the house (she lives at the house we are going to be moving into. We are just taking over the other 2 bedrooms) she has 5 dogs: 2 hounds, 1 rottweiler, 1 mix, and 1 pitbull. All of the dogs are super sweet, especially the rottweiler and the pit.

I'm bringing one dog into the house, but he is a tiny dog in comparison to the dogs she has. She's only keeping 2-3 of the dogs that are currently there. The rottweiler is her baby and she might be keeping one of the hounds and she wants to find a home for the pit but he will be staying with us until that happens. My dog is a dachshund. I am not in any way saying that rottweilers or pitbulls are without a doubt going to kill my dog. I'm not that stupid. I don't like breed stereotypes. BUT, I am concerned about the fact that my dog is much smaller than these dogs, and we will be coming into THEIR territory. I'm just worried there might be an issue with that and how to best move my animals over without any problems. All cats and dogs will have free roam around the house and back yard.

Also, I'm slowly falling in love with this pit. His name is Magee and he is such a huge teddy bear. I was sitting on the couch with the rottweiler and we had all just come in from outside and Magee got up on the couch and cuddled up next to me. He laid his head on my arm and he was sooooo cute! He's such a furnace too! That boy puts out so much heat. Now, my husband and I were looking into getting a doberman from a friend of ours that shows and breeds them, but I find myself falling for this pit. He does have a biting issue, but it is a playful bite. Now I know that biting from any dog should be discouraged and the dog should be trained to not bite, even in play, and we are working with him on this. He responds well to commands.

So any advice for me?

best way to introduce dogs is on neutral ground like a park or something then walk them all back to the house that way they enter their home together. also seeing that you have a couple months till the move date bring your dog over to the house with you on short trips it will give them more time to get used to eachother.

good luck

[Jay_Bunny]

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of taking them out to the park and bringing them back to the house together. Would it be better to introduce them all at once or one by one?

[Calift]

One by one is probably a lot less stressful/overwhelming for them.

I think its smart to be cautious with introducing your doxie to the bigger breeds. I also agree that BSL is wrong, but Pit bulls have been bred to fight over dogs. I have heard many instances of spontaneous dog aggression, but then again I've heard many more stories of successful "co-habbing". Just to be on the safe side, I would supervise all interactions in the beginning and separate your dog from the others when you are not home. Sometimes groups of dogs form a strong "pack mentality" and you wouldn't want them mistaking yours for prey (though I doubt that would happen).

Good luck with the introductions....and the possible future addition?

[Calift]

neutral territory & loose leads advised for initial meetings as well

[771subliminal]

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of taking them out to the park and bringing them back to the house together. Would it be better to introduce them all at once or one by one?

back when i introduced my puppy to my other dogs i did it at the park all together and everything went fine, the bigger dogs kinda took over as mom for the puppy from the start.