I am moving from the UK to Canada in a couple of months with my
Canadian wife and our 3 year-old labrador / staff / allsorts female -
Roxy. For a few weeks at least we will be staying with my mother-in-law
who has two Canadian Inuits - one male (5-7 years old) - Boomer, and
one female (11-12 years old) - Matissa. We are concerned about how to
introduce the two females to minimise the chance of a serious fight.

Matissa is alpha in the household and a fairly grumpy old thing. She is
not a particuarly active animal, but on a previous occasion has taken a
chunk out of another dog's ear when he was on her territory. After this
scuffle, the dispute appeared to pass and she allowed the visiting dog
to remain on the territory once she had asserted her dominance. Boomer
is a good-natured animal who is not particularly active most of the
time due to a hormone defficiency.

Roxy is a very active playful dog about the size of a small labrador,
who loves to play with bigger dogs, and will submit to them, although
she may wind them up to play with her. She can be distracted from
almost any dog by waving/throwing a stick.

We will be arriving with Roxy from the airport, and she will
undoubtedly be distressed having been locked up in a crate for 9 or 10
hours. My mother-in-law's home has quite a large house and garden with
outdoor kennels for the dogs, although they are allowed indoors on the
ground floor and sleep inside too. The back garden is fenced off to
keep the dogs in, and the front garden & driveway are not.

The most common suggestion in this situation seems to be that the
animals should be introduced off the territory. Unfortunately I cannot
see how under the circumstances we could do this. We may be able to
take the animals off the grounds to an adjacent field for a walk, but
only on their leads. Roxy often growls at other dogs when she is on her
lead, and certainly would not feel comfortable letting her off the lead
in a strange new place which is not fenced in. It will be dark when we
arrive and there are busy roads in the area.

The tools we have at our disposal are the house, a large fenced-in
garden containing two tethers with long ropes, and a long driveway with
large grassy verges (not fenced). What would be the best possible
solution to introduce these dogs, in particular the two females, within
these restrictions?

Since this is only a temporary situation, any dog that I had concerns
about, would be boarded, if they were mine.

Thanks. Yes, you have a point. It's a risk that cold be avoided, but at
a price. I've never put my dog in kennels for longer than a few days,
and I'm sure she would be very distressed by being put in one. In truth
we don't know how long it will take to find accommodation so, she could
be caged up for a good number of weeks, by which time she would be in a
pretty terrible state.

It would also be very desirable for these dogs to be able to tolerate
each other as that way Roxy can stay there when we have to go abroad.

diddy wrote:
Since this is only a temporary situation, any dog that I had concerns
about, would be boarded, if they were mine.

I suppose I should also point out that Matissa, the older dog, has an
owner - my sister-in-law, who has good dog handling skills, and to whom
Matissa is very obedient. She will be there when we arrive, but not all
the time.

In article .com,
wrote:
The tools we have at our disposal are the house, a large fenced-in
garden containing two tethers with long ropes, and a long driveway with
large grassy verges (not fenced). What would be the best possible
solution to introduce these dogs, in particular the two females, within
these restrictions?

I generally handle it out in the fenced yard. I go out
there with the new dog and give him time for a pee and a
poop, to stretch a bit, and decompress from the trip. Then
I let the old dogs join him. Nobody's on a leash - the dogs
need to be able to do the dog socialization thing without
having their movement hindered. However, the dogs are
heavily supervised and any inappropriate behavior is stopped
immediately. In general I wouldn't leave them alone
unsupervised together. I'd also give some thought right now
to how you're going to handle feeding.

But, you know, Inuit dogs aren't exactly known for their
affability or generosity. I'd have a backup plan (boarding
kennel).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community.

Thanks Melinda

That sounds like sensible advice.

said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I've never put my dog in kennels for longer than a few
days, and I'm sure she would be very distressed by being
put in one. In truth we don't know how long it will take to
find accommodation so, she could be caged up for a good
number of weeks, by which time she would be in a pretty
terrible state.

Which city are you moving to? Maybe someone here could
recommend a kennel which wouldn't stress your dog. For
example, I know a couple in my area.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:19:19 -0500, Handsome Jack Morrison
, clicked their heels and said:


Unless the dog is a special case, he should do just fine at most any
reputable kennel.


I've known too many (and had one) dog(s) who would NOT eliminate on
concrete. Since most kennels have concrete flooring of some sort, in
and out, for hygiene reasons, that can be a real problem.

I always make sure to allow/teach dogs to eliminate on just about any
surface now, but I still don't kennel them ;-D
--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album

Handsome Jack Morrison said
in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

The kennel is important, but the dog is more important.

Sure, but some kennels deal better with some dogs, and this
might just be a dog which needs some form of individual
attention, at least at the beginning of his stay.

Anyway, I wanted to point out that kennels vary. There are even
small operations which take dogs into their homes. While I know
one like that in Calgary (heh), I can't help the poster with
similar places in Toronto.

Most dogs do very well in a kennel environment, for short
periods, provided they get some time each day to play,
rough-house, etc. with other dogs, keepers, etc.

Yup. I leave my dogs in such a place when I'm out of town.
Still, Rocky manages to get the runs pretty much each place he
stays.

Especially if they get visited by their owners.

Excellent point.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:45:31 -0500, Handsome Jack Morrison
, clicked their heels and said:


I hope it's not becuase you think they'll be "stressed out" by it?

I have a petsitter come stay at the house. I do that because my house
gets "sat", my cats get "sat" (and one needs daily meds and is not
vaccinated any more) and the dogs get to use their own yard, beds,
food, etc., and I can come home and they're HERE, rather than me
having to wait until the kennel's open for pickup. And it's cheaper
that way.

I will admit that part of the reason is that I've used kennels exactly
twice. Two different dogs - 1 time each. Both times I got
injured/sick dogs back. Not my idea of fun.


--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album