New dog intruduction to old one

I've found that the key is introducing them on neutral territory. That is, not home ground for either dog.

Are you fostering for a rescue group? have they provided you with any training in regard to proper dog introductions.

At some dog training courses I've gone to with my dogs, the instructors made a point of having handlers introduce the dogs in class in very particular ways.

One instructor had the handlers bring pairs of dogs to an area of the room, hold them, and if they started to try to stare each other down - to forcibly move their heads at the same time so they lost eye contact at the same time. All of the dogs were introduced in pairs that way in the second class (the first class was for handlers only to prepare us for the introduction process). It was important for the training process for all of the dogs to understand all humans are pack leaders.

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The foster dog may not be able to run freely initially. When I brought in my female dog to join the pack, I kept her in a crate when I wasn't in the house to supervise for the first week. She had definite plans to be the alpha in the pack.

I also make sure to feed any dog jockeying for alpha position last - and not until they sit and are in a calm, submissive state.

Oh, and WELCOME to Able2Know!

Welcome onoff48

That's good advice Beth...
When we brought Biscuit home...we just made sure she knew and knows Pistol is the alpha. She gets fed second, I let him in first...etc. Of course she was just a wee puppy - so that probably had more to do with their getting along than anything.

I think crating the new one while you are gone is a good idea.

I am concerned that you did not think about how fostering another dog was going to affect your other dog. It just seems logical to consider the affect getting another dog would have on your other dog. You did not indicate any awareness of a potential problem and maybe you ought not own any dog because you don't seem to be aware of how dogs operate and being so unaware you only can get you and any dog you own into trouble.

I don't know how in the hell you took in a dominant dog and did not even consider how its traits might affect your other one. You failed in the most basic consideration an owner ought to have for a pet; not putting the animal in physical danger.

My advice is that you ought to have only your original dog and stop trying to foster other dogs because you dont seem to know what you are doing with them. I am speaking from the perspective of having done animal rescue work for over two decades and of living with up to twelve dogs in my pack. Foster dog ownership should not be done by dilettantes and is not some sort of hobby you can get into because you think its a noble and kind thing to do. You have to know dogs, AND appreciate their behavior long before opening your home (and other pets) to strange dogs.

Sorry to be so brutal, but I have had to rescue more than one dog from a situation just like your's. Its not like you're a bad person, because helping pets IS noble, but you really have to know what you are doing and just owning a dog is not really sufficient experience for doing well what you are attempting to do.

You have to think like a dog does, and you can do that only by living with them and observing keenly their behavior.

Well, how are you supposed to learn without trying?

You learn by observing dogs.

First, congrats on trying to help otherwise homeless critters. :-)

Second, any rescue organization or shelter that you're fostering for should have provided you with insight and training on how to introduce the fosters to your own dogs. I'm disappointed that they didn't. That would have helped you protect the dogs from each other, especially your dog. EhBeth gave some great advice here. And Kuvasz, even though it sounds brutal, is right when he/she says do no harm to your critters.

I've also observed pack behavior (when my other half and I got married, he brought 4 dogs into the union), but not as long as some here on A2K. Spouse and I now have 6 in our pack, and I've learned from spouse and from the dogs that the human is the alpha, and you need to accustom the critters to that from the start. One of the ways to do that is to put the most dominant dog on his back and make him subservient to you (and other two-leggers in the house). I'm lucky . . . the 4 "kids" that my spouse brought along with him quickly accepted me as one of the alphas. I've also intervened in critter disagreements and in that way have been able to assert my alpha status, too.

When we added the two puppies to the pack through adoption, we made sure that they knew their places in the order by feeding the older dogs first, and feeding them in order of pack seniority. That helped reassure our 4 that they came first and that the puppies were lower down in the order.

Hope that helps. ;-)