Introducing dogs can be great fun. There’s nothing like watching two dogs meet and begin playing to soften your heart and brighten your day. However, as we all know, that’s not always how it goes. Many dogs are uncomfortable when greeting an unfamiliar dog, including, as it turns out, our new guy, Skip. He grew up in Ireland, undoubtedly surrounded by other Border Collies, and perhaps an occasional Jack Russell. As a result, we’ve learned, all Border Collies are potential new friends, and dogs of other breeds just don’t look right.
He’s such a stable, well-balanced dog that this only means he tenses up when a hound or Golden charges up to greet him (sample size = 2). That happened last week when Ruby, our friend’s Golden Retriever pup, got to meet him after the lifting of his leash restrictions. (Yay!) He was clearly nervous when Ruby ran up to him (tense body, mouth closed, slight lip curl), and I found myself saying, repeatedly, “Keep walking! “Let’s just keep walking!”
And we did, and it was fine. Maggie and Ruby played a little while Skip busied himself sniffing interesting things. At the top of the hill Skip discovered a pile of the world’s most glorious resource, a pile of fox poop. Here’s a video, taken after a good several minutes of rolling already:
Even though I knew it would result in an extensive bath afterwards, I let Skip roll as long as he wanted to. First, he loves to roll, and hasn’t been able to for two months, and it made me happy to see him so happy. Second, I thought it might be a perfect opportunity for Skip to become more comfortable with Ruby. There’s nothing like mutual sniffing that seems to help dogs relax around each other. With the permission of Ruby’s owner (thank you Lisa!), Ruby rolled in the same heavenly, stinky mess right after I stopped the video.
That’s when Skip decided Ruby was a fine friend to have. Apparently, the dogs that stink together, stick together. Here they are a few minutes afterward, smelling to high heaven and proud of it.
Look at that relaxed face! I’m confident that next time they will be playing like old friends. I attribute Skip’s change in affect to two things: Their mutual sniff and roll in a strong scent, and first off, and oh-so-importantly, all of us humans striding up the hill, rather than standing still and staring at them, when they first met.
It sounds easy–just walk away from two dogs greeting each other! But it’s not. There’s something very understandable about standing and staring at dogs you’re not sure about, wondering what is going to happen, wondering if, when, you should intervene. But in all my decades of working with dogs, perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned when introducing dogs is to KEEP MOVING. It’s the best way to take the pressure off, and the best way to give dogs a chance to become comfortable with each other.
Of course, it can get more complicated if you know your dog might be aggressive, or your dog is truly terrified of other dogs. Off leash creates less tension than on leash, but can only be done if it’s 100% safe. (Skip and Ruby were were in a large, fenced area of mixed pasture and woods.) There are many factors to consider when introducing unfamiliar dogs, but if there’s one thing to remember over all the others, it’s keep moving!
I’d love to hear your perspective. I have no research to back this up, just lots and lots of experience. What about you? What’s been your experience introducing new dogs, whether just to be buddies or become part of the pack?
For more on introducing dogs, see my post Introducing a New Dog, (about Willie meeting Maggie), the book Love Has No Age Limit, and Louise Ginman’s book The Art of Introducing Dogs.
Update, 6-25-20: I just read a study done by Camille Ward that found the average time of greeting between dogs at a dog park was only six seconds. Even more motivation to Just Keep Walking!
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Perfect weather this weekend, glorious high pressure, cool temps and light breeze. Heaven! The garden flowers are in a bit of a lull, but the pentunias on the front porch add some lovely color.
Better than good weather was the green light from Skip’s physical therapist to go back to working sheep and playing with other dogs. I’m going cautiously, of course, and continuing his PT, but oh oh oh what a joy it is to see him run free!
We’ve started working sheep again together, and it’s pretty much heaven. Maggie might not be thrilled that she is no longer the only working dog on the farm, but she still gets lots of opportunities. I’m not skilled enough yet to handle freight-train Skip and take photos while we work, so here he is, being tempted by the sheep on the other side of a fence:
I’ve made a new friend–an Eight Spotted Forester Moth, upside down on some salvia flowers. Check out the bright orange hairs on its front legs:
What about you? Have your dogs made any new friends lately in The Time of Covid? What about past experiences introducing dogs? What have you found most important?
Heidi Wollum says
That is my experience too! I have always preferred to let my dog interact with other dogs while we humans keep walking. I have also good experience letting my dog off leach, with other dogs off leach while walking. although it’s obvious that the dogs are rather uncomfortable with each other. But walking gives them opportunities to avoid each other and focus on the surroundings.
If my dog is playing with another dog, and things got tense, walking away, or with the other dogs human, would also take steam off, and make it easier for the dogs to interact without, or with considerably less tension.
muttzrule says
Awww, Skip looks so happy with his new friend! I’m glad he’s able to play and work sheep. Nothing better than joyful dogs doing what they love. The pics are lovely as always. The one with Ruby tugs at my heart. She looks very much like Duncan, who passed a month ago today.
Walking together was how I introduced Dunc and his sister to be, Missy. Her foster mom brought her over and we met in the front yard. We walked our own dogs first, then switched so she had Duncan and I had Missy, side by side around the neighborhood. It worked great, I’ll be doing the same when I can bring myself to seriously start the adoption process for a little brother for Missy. There are two lab mixes I really like in foster, either of whom seem like they could be “the one,” I’m just not sure I’m ready yet. I’d hate to miss out on a wonderful dog, but my heart still hurts for my velcro pup.
Greetje says
Keep walking, absolutely! It is what I always do with my Malinois when we are in an area where dogs can walk off leash. It is as if it works better for him, to keep one eye on me and one on the dog he meets. Most of the time he will follow me after a bit of friendly sniffing. (He is a rather insecure male, who would start barking loudly when on leash.)
Wendy S. Katz says
I love to watch dogs roll! Such joy on their faces. Hurrah that Skip can run free again.
My friend’s dog was so reactive it took several sessions at a distance before he could even be calm near my dog. Before we attempted an off leash introduction, we went for a walk together. Sniffing and marking together was magic – the off leash lounging in the yard after the walk was drama-free and they became lifelong best friends.
Hilary Burns says
My 14 yr old terrier has never liked other dogs, and can be quite snarky. She and I “courted” a prospective 6 year old terrier by taking the 2 dogs to scentwork classes for awhile (getting to play a super fun game while never seeing each other except getting in & out of crates) so when we began THE WALK it was a great success. The 2 have now lived quite nicely together for 4 months with no worries. It warms my heart so to see my little snarky actually seek out her buddy.
Lisa Schroeder says
Patricia! I whole heartedly agree that walking/moving makes all the difference in the world. In fact, I used it today when greeting and walking my recovering leash reactive ECS with a friend and her happy-go-lucky 1-year old pup. But what I really wanted to comment on is the rolling. The joy dogs must feel rolling in that delicious stink is just amazing to watch. One of the many things I have always admired about you is your willingness to let some pretty gross things go (temporarily) to reward your dogs with what they truly love. Rolling in fox poop is today’s example, but I’ll never forget a blog post in which you allowed your dog to consume some dead something that it had found on a walk as the reward for giving it up to you upon request. What higher reward??? “If you give that to me, I’ll either give you something better or give it back.” Well, give it back you did and oh the joy your dog experienced! I’d love to re-read that post if you can direct me to it. Thanks for doing what you do; you are a true inspiration.
Renee says
I agree with the “just keep walking” method. As a former foster, I encountered many first time greetings where I needed the dogs to get comfortable in a hurry. I also didn’t often have the luxury of setting up a meeting in a neutral location with all my 4 dogs and a new dog mom of newborns or just new dogs often untrained (so mutual walkies would not be productive). My foolproof method was to put my dogs away. Let the new one meet the house and yard for a few minutes to let their scent waft a bit. Then I would put the new foster dog away and let my dogs out to catch the scent. Then, I would put my dogs away again, let the new dog and one of my dogs out and take them straight to the yard and KEEP THEM MOVING. I’d let them meet up for brief sniffs on each other than “ok, let’s go” and I just keep moving about the yard randomly sometimes hop or jog a few steps to get their attention and just keep them moving around with brief sniff greets (as many as they are comfortably willing)until I saw marked signs of relaxation and comfort around each other. Then, repeat until all my dogs had a 1-1 turn and, then in pairs, then the whole group. Usually, keeping the whole group meet fairly short as they could be pretty energetic and a lot for a new dog to take in. Afterwards, I would show the new dog to their private room to relax with a long lasting chewy treat (stuffed toy, bully stick, Himalayan chew, etc based on the dog). Then, the same for my dogs. Then, repeat for the first 24 hours or so of greetings (give or take depending on how things are going) until everyone is used to the routine and accepting of the new situation. I had the opportunity to do this many times (20-30ish) and it worked consistently for my group. For us, I attribute “keep moving” and mutual scent exploration “hey, you smell like my house/yard and my house/yard smells like you, maybe we should be friends since we have so much in common” (haha) to be the secrets to that success. 🙂
Nana911 says
Introducing a new puppy to our 5 year old Cavalier King Charles, has been an interesting experience. In April, we got an 8 week old female Westie. We took our Cavi with us to pick up the puppy, so they could meet on neutral territory. We let them “visit” in the car on the way home, and it seemed to go well. At home, the Cavi has just tried to stay out of the puppy’s way, on the sofa or loveseat.
It’s been 2 months since the Westie joined our family. She is a ray of sunshine and wants nothing more than to play with everyone. The Cavi isn’t interested, though. She allows her to come near and sniff…but after awhile, the lip curl happens. Occasionally, there will be a snarl and a bark, and the pup retreats. I wish that the Cavi would play with her, but that won’t happen. When she was a puppy, our daughter’s elderly dog lived with us and discouraged ANY type of play, so she never learned how to play with others.
We try to do little things to make our Cavi more accepting. She gets to sleep on our bed, but her sister has to sleep in a crate in our room. When the puppy comes in from outside, they both give me a “Sit” and get a treat. When working on commands, they both participate…the Cavi is a great role model. The Puppy saw her “Shake” ONE TIME, and now SHE knows how to do it! It’s been fun to watch them. Occasionally, I catch both of them in my husband’s lap, snuggling. My hope is that they eventually become great pals!
Leigh says
100% agree! I always tell my clients to remember my little mantra of “Sniff, sniff and go!” when introducing dogs, especially on leash. Keeping it moving avoids leash tangles, tension and everyone is happier and more relaxed.
Alexandra Bassett says
I have read all of your books and use many of your desensitization and counterconditioning training recommendations in my private dog training practice. Thank you for all you do to help dogs and uplift the dog training community!
Trisha says
Love the mantra Leigh! Sniff, sniff and go very catchy!
Trisha says
Nana911, I wonder sometimes if there is a critical period for play. So many puppy mill dogs, or dogs who grew upon the end of a line, never seem to learn to play. Our mill Cav, Tootsie, has no interest in play at all. Not with objects or other dogs. We gave up long ago, since we figured out job was to make Toots happy after a hellish 7 years, and she’s made it clear what she wants to do: Eat, sleep, eat, sleep and get belly rubs.
Trisha says
Love this routine, Renee, and love too that you seem to have found the same power of “walk and mutual sniffing”. Maybe we should coin some kind of phrase?
Trisha says
Lisa, I love that you remember the “give back the dead bird” story! I’m sorry, I don’t have time to look for it today, but it was a dead bird that my dog had found and was chewing on in front of company. One guest said “I’ll bet you can’t get that bird out of her mouth.” Challenge on! Rather than trying to chase her and pull it out of her mouth, I ran around to get her to chase me, clapping like a fool, and teasing her. She finally dropped the bird in front of me. I picked it up and gave it right back to her. My guests were shocked. “NOOOOO! Why did you do that?” We all know why, and it worked brilliantly. She developed a beautiful “drop it” cue after that. Thanks for reminding me!
HFR says
So glad Skip is free again! He’s so damn cute!
I think it’s important to keep moving. My only caveat is sometimes the dog doesn’t want to keep walking (and you are off leash) and then it’s easy to kind of panic and try to get them to move. My 4 year old sporting dog decided this winter that he didn’t like it when other dogs sniffed him. The minute another dog would come up to sniff him he would freeze and look straight ahead. You could almost see the timer ticking away. If the dog didn’t stop sniffing in time, then he would whip his head around and “nail” the other dog. Never looked like pure aggression, more like disciplinary action. That staccato air snapping and the other dog would more than likely run away screeching (scaring the owners and the dog). Needless to say I stopped going to this off leash area after this happened a few times. I knew it was unlikely he would hurt another dog, but scaring everyone was not fair either.
Anyway, whenever I would see him freeze I would quickly try to get him to keep moving, which he wouldn’t do. Then I would call him and run, no go. As a last resort I would grab his collar and gently try to get him to keep moving. Mind you, this is all done pretty frantically trying to get him to move before the timer went off. Of course, all that tension transferred right to the dogs. And you should have seen the faces of the other dog owners. What the hell is this woman freaking out about? To them the situation looked pretty benign, but I knew what was coming. BTW, he’s leash reactive too so I couldn’t leave him on leash. Yes, he’s a handful.
Now, I just avoid these situations. So while I do think it’s not a good idea to stare at dogs to see what will happen and much better to keep moving, a lot depends on the dog’s willingness to follow you.
Keep rolling, Skip!
Kitt says
Awww, yay for Skip! And rolling in stinky goodness. And making new friends.
Our Phoebe (5-year-old standard poodle rescued from a puppy mill at Christmas) loooooves other dogs, and loves to run and play keep-away. Not so big on wrestling, but she is willing to say so without rancor.
In this time of distancing, we have found that sitting on our front porch in the evening is a great way to meet neighbors and their dogs in our urban neighborhood. If the dogs are friendly and playful, we invite them to come play with Phoebe in our yard, which is large enough for some good sprinting. We’ve met quite a few puppies and young dogs this way, and their owners are happy to get them worn out a little!
lin says
Everybody is out and about, walking for exercise, so we see a lot of people walking their dogs. But because of the virus, we now keep our distance, so no doggy greetings.
Mr. B. is our first dog who is mostly good at meeting on dogs on-leash. He is, however, territorial. I can reliably let him meet another dog if we are at the other end of town, or in a place he does not regularly go. He will exchange sniffs and move on. But the closer we are to home, or on one of his regular walking routes, the bigger the chance is that he will sniff, and then, snap at the other dog. I don’t know if it’s because the dog has peed over Mr. B’s markings, or Mr. B has peed over the other dog, or something else all together. But Mr. B doesn’t act this way in the dog park, where he used to go every day before the shutdown. Maybe there’s so much pee it becomes a neutral zone? Doggy mystery.
You and Ruby’s owner are very generous to let the dogs have such smelly enjoyment! I hope neither of you had to drive very far to get home!
Nicola says
I fostered a couple of dogs and found a reduced version of Louise Ginman’s The Art of Introducing Dogs invaluable. My dog is a staffy x border collie and can be pretty full on off leash. I found parallel walking for 5 minutes then off leash play in my yard worked a treat in those days. Unfortunately since I stopped fostering my girl has switched from frustrated greeting on leash to leash reactivity, (my parents minded her a lot while I was in hospital and they are not dog trainers and have a lot of dogs around their retirement village), but it is still the approach I would take if I needed to introduce her to a new dog.
Rebecca Rice says
Hi!
Just some clarifications: when you say “keep moving”, I am assuming that the dogs are off-leash, and it’s the humans that are moving, right? What if the dogs stop? Is the idea that they will follow you, or just to take off the pressure of being stared at by the owners?
Loved the pictures of Skip rolling around! My Rigger has been crazy about rolling around ever since I got him. However, I never notice anything like piles of fox poop where he does his rolling around. It’s generally well-manicured front yards! Do you think that there is a scent there that I just don’t know about, or does he just like the way it feels to roll around on grass?
Vicki in Michigan says
“Apparently, the dogs that stink together, stick together.” Thanks for the laugh. 🙂
Martha says
Oh yes! Keep moving along.
My thinking is that moving sorta changes the “topic of conversation”.
Rather than focusing on the other pup the movement allows a shared interest? The sniffing,the rolling (our Coyote poop up here just delightfully scented) changes the focus on each other?
My lab is coming up 8, is active and quite social and puppy like in his joys-of-life.
He WILL NOT tolerate rudeness and most certainly tell the other dog “not acceptable”! An older dog he will be gentle and soft. Any dog that runs up to him with angst Duff just turns his head away several times. It’s very interesting.
We have the 2 second sniff rule then move along. I find that if I move along my dog quickly follows me.
Sometimes we have asked the other dog if they’d like to walk with us a wee bit. Human invited of course!
With the pandemic restrictions it is difficult at times. Knowing long timers we used to meet on trails has all but disappeared, everyone has their own personal restrictions (their own health etc). It’s difficult.
Plus the heat and humidity (up to high 30’s) has changed daily routine outings).
Sorry I digressed.
So missing all that we used to do without too much planning.
We stayed in a Bothy on Isle of Skye 2018. They had a number of sheep and we watched the BC bring the flock in for shearing. I have a short length of leather tied to my hiking pole from that trip. It’s good to have it with me on every hike.
Louise Wholey says
My daughter has a dog that is very afraid of other dogs, but I have taken him to the ocean beach. Dogs run free there. When one comes sniffing and he stiffens, I start running away, calling him to run with me. After a few incidents he starts to relax when the other dogs come to him. He has successfully made friends and played for quite a while on the beach with certain dogs. It is risky; a fight could happen if I am not quick enough to distract him.
Karen Lowell says
Agree!! 100% keep moving works great for me. Though I know your training has taught you (and I agree) that all our blather is pretty much nonsense, save a few well-trained command words, I also keep up a light hearted relaxed banter. If an approaching dog has put either of us on edge, I “talk us thru with a slow, low, steady, “good dogs, everyone is good dogs, good dogs, etc” I suspect it is more beneficial for ME than the dogs?! I think it also helps signal to the other owner (provided they are paying attention and close enough) that I am not going to panic even if I hear rumbling, and is the equivalent of looking away for a dog, everyone relax, it’s all gonna be ok. Even if it is not, and I try very, very hard not to take my dog places where there is a good chance it will not (dog parks, people are hopeless!) calm is always better, calm voice, calm movement, and YES, keep moving.
Helen says
I like the moving idea…I also like calling my dog..to checkin, so to say. We use Touch, Touch… this way they don’t get too crazy and remember we are in charge and then release them to go back to whatever they were doing. So, I love association drills with them…high value treats, using each dog’s name. Sometimes done on leash, sometimes off. If we know the other dog when we do Touch, Touch if they both come..we will have them both sit and do the association drills.