Doggy Date Walks for Your New Puppy and Older Dog
New puppies and older dogs can live together happily and peacefully so long as pet owners introduce them to each other slowly. Many pet owners assume a new puppy will improve their senior dog’s quality of life, but that’s not always the case. When bringing home a new puppy, you may find him bouncing around, biting and harassing your older dog.
Remember, your senior dog didn’t get to choose his new roommate, so it’s best to introduce your new puppy to your older dog slowly—and a great way to do that is with daily doggy date walks.
What’s a Doggy Date Walk?
Taking two dogs on a walk together is considered a “date walk.” Daily date walks provide each dog with an opportunity to get to know one another with minimal tension. Think about it this way: It’s much easier to meet a new person during a leisurely walk around the park than a formal sit-down dinner in your home.
Walking provides your puppy and older dog opportunities to meet without the added pressure of being face-to-face. Plus, doggy date walks provide needed space when meeting someone new. If a dog becomes a bit overwhelmed, he or she can increase the distance between them to feel comfortable. Date walks take the pressure off until both dogs get to know each other.
Going on Doggy Date Walks
Attach a 6-foot leash (no retractable leashes) to each dog. Ask a friend to join you, so she can hold one dog’s leash.
Provide Space
During the walk, you should keep a distance of between 3-6 feet between you and your friend. This allows your puppy and older dog the opportunity to move away, fall back or pull ahead from the other dog. Giving your dogs plenty of space is critical.
On that same note, don’t expect both dogs to walk side-by-side, especially in the early stages. Sometimes, an older dog will hang back a bit and sniff independently, so respect his request. Puppies are usually more eager and pull forward, which makes for a great dog training opportunity to reward polite leash manners.
While both your new puppy and older dog are aware they’re walking together, they also know they have some distance between them, which is a good thing.
RELATED: What to Do When Your Puppy Won’t Walk on Leash
Prevent and Redirect
If your new puppy harasses your older dog during date walks, it’s best to redirect the puppy with treats. An older dog will surely growl, snap or bite if a young puppy chases, bites his ears or jumps on him. To prevent fights, intervene quickly and redirect.
When redirecting a puppy, you should call your puppy. When the puppy looks away from the older dog, say “yes” and toss a food reward in the opposite direction of the other dog. Don’t forget to reward the older dog for remaining calm too. If your puppy insists on harassing your older dog, walk over and pick the puppy up immediately and walk ahead to prevent further harassing behavior.
Prevent Resource Guarding
During sniffing opportunities, some eager puppies will run over and investigate something that a senior dog is sniffing. When this happens, you should stop walking forward and call the puppy over for a reward. When two dogs push against each other during sniffing opportunities, this can cause resource guarding. When in doubt, don’t let it happen.
When Date Walks Don’t Work
If, at anytime, one dog tries to attack the other dog during walks, it’s best to stop all doggy date walks immediately. While doggy date walks work, they may not work in this situation. It’s unfair for the attackee to be forced to walk next to the attacker; it’s actually cruel. If this happens, discontinue walks and keep both dogs separated at all times. Contact a positive reinforcement dog trainer and veterinary behaviorist ASAP.
Daily date walks provide easy exercise, mental stimulation, and bonding time between dogs and pet owners. 🙂
