Adding another dog *Upadate 2*
Weve been working with a rescue to slowly introduce our reactive girl and a rescue for the past 2.5 - 3 months or so, having them meet at different parks, at the daycare where the rescue was staying and short visits to our home. Everything had gone well and we started fostering a little over a month ago. We have been fortunate in that the fosters temperament is such that he avoids conflict..lol. There have not been any fights, but our dog doesnt hesitate to correct the foster, and he takes the corrections very well. She has even initiated play several times and the foster reciprocated. Here are some things we have been observing/doing:
Feeing: During the first week, we fed them in separate rooms. Our dog would think he was eating her food and would cry and yelp, and the foster would go for the closest bowl. As a training exercise, we would put them both in a sit and say the first dogs name, give that dog a treat, say the other dogs name, and give that dog a treat. Zero competition, always went very well. They share the water bowls (we have one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom), theyve even drank from the same bowl at the same time with no problem.
Started feeding them in the same room, but separated about 6' apart. No conflict. I think we will keep it like this for a while.
Walks: We occasionally take them both out at the same time, but still provide individual walks. I'd say its 50/50 between solo and group walks for them.
Bed time: They sleep in our bedroom. Our dog still gets to sleep on the bed with us, and the foster stays on the floor or on his dog bed, no problems at all.
Toys: When one dog is playing with a toy, the other will wait until the dog loses interest before it plays with that toy. They both seem to respect one anothers toy play. No competition.
During the day, the rescue goes to the day care where he was being houses (my fiance works there), while our dog stays at home. On my fiance's days off, he stays home. The foster has a bit of separation anxiety which we are working on and we dont fully trust him being house trained. We have left them both at home for short periods of time and havent seen any negative instances between both dogs (we have a few doggie cams that we monitored) they just mosey around and take naps.
So that's our experience so far with adding a non reactive dog to our household with a resident reactive dog. It's exceeded our expectations, and will be adopting this sweet boy if things continue to go well! If anyone who has gone through this, I'd love to hear any tips or point out what we are doing wrong/right, and hope this also helps anyone thinking about doing the same.