ALL ABOUT DOGS: Got one of 'those' dachshunds? Then you have your work cut out
Question: We have an older female dachshund who doesn’t like other dogs or people particularly. We just lost our older male dachshund and want to get a puppy now. Gretchen was fine with the dog who recently passed. How do we introduce a new puppy to her?
Answer: The challenge here is that your incumbent isn’t socialized. Dachshunds are quirky, tenacious little dogs to begin with. The name dachshund literally means “badger hound” which is what they were originally bred for in 18th century Germany. If you know anything about the ferocity of a badger, you should be impressed by the fact that a dachshund will wreck a badger’s world. Additionally, these guys are notorious for being protective little biters. That said, some are very, very sweet.
Until you are truly the leader of your pack in that household, any corrections or protests about anything, will fall on deaf ears because she more than likely doesn’t respect you. And even though she’s probably an older dog, you can still reclaim your position at the top of the pack order if you change some things you’re doing. This requires attention and intention. If you change, she will too, but you’ll have to stick to your guns because, well, she’s a dachshund!
If you had a dog like her who was older, but generally social and not a problem, introducing her to a new puppy would be simple and it wouldn’t make any difference what her everyday behaviors and habits were. We’d just leave her be. But since she sounds like one of “those” dachshunds, you want to do a few things differently to create a shift in your pack paradigm.
If an older dog came into your house and he was more dominant than Gretchen — i.e., headed to a spot above her in the pack order — he would not have a “conversation” with her about the new change. He would act a certain way and give subtle and not so subtle communication to her, wherein she’d ultimately get the idea. How long it would take for Gretchen to embrace the fact that she’d been displaced would depend on the disparity between the energies of the two dogs. In other words, if she’s super dominant herself, it might take awhile for her to give in to the new dog. My point here is that you have to do the things a dog would do to create a shift in your pack hierarchy.
Most important, you must have a healthy walking protocol. She must not walk ahead of you on the leash, and she can’t start sniffing the ground unless you’ve released her to do so. Also when you go through any doorways together, she should wait until you pass through first. And while it’s fine for you to lift her into your lap, or invite her to get into it, you shouldn’t allow her to just get into your lap without an invitation because no higher ranking dog would allow a subordinate to simply take over their body like that.
In your case, I would also leash her when you feed her so you can drive home the notion that, in fact, “her” food is yours. So when you put food down, stand in between her and her dish and tell her to sit. If she knows “wait,” you can tell her that, too. When you’re ready, step aside as you say “OK” to let her access the dish. Let her get halfway through her meal, then take the leash and gently lead her away from the food. Then repeat the above process.
If you do these things for a week or two, you may successfully create a psychological shift for Gretchen. And when the new puppy gets there, she’ll respect your boundaries better.
Next week, how to introduce the new pup into your home.
Gregg Flowers is a local professional dog trainer and owns Dog’s Best Friend dog training. Contact him at dogteacher7@aol.com or dogsbestfriendflorida.com.
Published at Thu, 03 May 2018 23:37:30 +0000
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