I was wondering...

If you wanted to introduce two animals to each other, do you think it would
help to bring something like a blanket or toy with the other animal's scent on
it before the actual introduction? Let each one get used to the other's scent
using a pleasant object?

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"Leah" wrote in message
...
I was wondering...

If you wanted to introduce two animals to each other, do you think it
would
help to bring something like a blanket or toy with the other animal's
scent on
it before the actual introduction? Let each one get used to the other's
scent
using a pleasant object?

No I think such a thing will only create confusion for the dogs. They'll
know the object belonged to another dog but won't know where or who the
other dog is. When the other dog arrives the resident dog won't be any more
appreciative just because he/she recognized the dog's scent from a blanket.

Most people will tell you that the best way, indeed the only way to some, is
to introduce the dogs on neutral ground outside, like a street or park. My
experience has been directly opposite that but my breed tends to be iffy
with strange dogs anyway.

--
Tara

On 03 Nov 2004 21:03:16 GMT, (Leah) wrote:

I was wondering...

If you wanted to introduce two animals to each other, do you think it would
help to bring something like a blanket or toy with the other animal's scent on
it before the actual introduction? Let each one get used to the other's scent
using a pleasant object?

I don't think so. IME, other dog's smell trumps "pleasant" object.
Dogs want to pee on other dogs' smells, not snuggle up to them. If
you have the type of dog that likes to snuggle up to strange dog
smell, you don't have to worry about introductions in the first place.
I don't think any of it would translate into anything upon meeting and
would be afraid that if it did, the connection would be "you're the
dog that's been marking blankets and toys at MY house!"

--
Paula
"I think I'm having the best childhood I've ever had!" ---Mimi

Paula wrote:
I don't think so. IME, other dog's smell trumps "pleasant" object.
Dogs want to pee on other dogs' smells, not snuggle up to them. If
you have the type of dog that likes to snuggle up to strange dog
smell, you don't have to worry about introductions in the first place.
I don't think any of it would translate into anything upon meeting and
would be afraid that if it did, the connection would be "you're the
dog that's been marking blankets and toys at MY house!"

Makes sense. I was thinking about how introducing the scent of a newborn while
it's in the hospital (i.e., baby blanket) is sometimes recommended. I guess it
wouldn't translate the same with another dog.

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Paula wrote:

If
you have the type of dog that likes to snuggle up to strange dog
smell, you don't have to worry about introductions in the first place.

I disagree with this statement though. I've known a few dogs that had
real fear based aggression that were actually happily curious about dog
*smells* (even cuddled the "alien's: dog toy as though it was a new
friend), just not at all happy in the presence of the dog. I just wanted
to mention that since the above implies that if your dog reacts in a
snuggly way to the smell, that they'll automatically be fine. That
doesn't necessarily follow.

Tara

Dogs want to pee on other dogs' smells, not snuggle up to them.

Yup. When I first had Morag, she peed on my bed several times, which
struck me as extremely odd since she was otherwise not only perfectly
housebroken, but meticulously clean.
Eventually, I realized that it wasn't the BED she was peeing on; it was
an afghan that was on my nephew's bed during the six months - five years
previously - that my sister & her kids stayed at my house.
Why is that significant? Because Molly, the family's BC/Chow bitch,
usually slept in Michael's bed.