Canine Introductions –Don’t be a Primate!
Last week a good friend asked if we could introduce their dog to another at our place, given that is the ideal neutral place in which dogs are safe off leash inside a small pasture. I said of course, and all went well. Our friend’s dog, a doodle, was a bit cautious at first, but the other dog, Rocky, was, uh, not. Here he is in all of his terrier-powered glory meeting Skip. (Note the tails!)
Skip extended his nose a tad more to sniff, and Rocky rose up to remind him who is boss. (Oh lordy, look at Skip’s ears!–I have an interpretation but want to hear yours first.)
Skip reacted calmly, as I was confident that he would, and then Leo, our friend’s Doodle in the back, got up the courage to join in, but only with Skip (who he knows) in the middle. No one put any pressure on the dogs, and I absolutely adored watching these dogs communicate so very clearly and sort everything out with visual signals. No words needed.
I’d have gotten better photos or video, but I was trying to take my own advice, which is always keep walking when introducing new dogs. This reminded me of a post I did in 2020, “Keep Walking,” which seems like a good reminder to all of us. It’s soooo hard for us primate to not stop, hold our breath and stare. (Message to dogs: Alert! Alert! Possible danger! Lots of Pressure!)
Here it is from June 2020:
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?
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Below is the scene about three seconds after I felt a burning pain on my butt, figured out there was something inside my clothes, felt it move from under my undies to my back . . .
It was a bumblebee, who I trapped (in a glass against the window, rather than my underwear) and released. Hopefully it was not harmed. Regrettably insect stings make me itch like crazy. Still happening as I write this.
Speaking of insects, here’s a colorful creature I noticed because something was denuding one of our Pagoda dogwoods. It’s a white-marked tussock moth caterpillar, famous for gobbling up tree leaves like me at a chocolate bar, with fancy-ass hairs that cause allergic reactions in many people.
I guess I should subtitle this Back on The Farm section as “All about insects.” Hope this isn’t an invertebrate overload, but I found 6-7 monarch caterpillars on a butterfly bush late last week.
When I looked the next day I could only find four. Monarch caterpillars have lots of predators, including wasps, so I order this cool netting that allows sun and rain in, but keep flying predators out. This won’t protect them from all kinds of parasites, so cross your fingers. (Wings? Multiple legs?) Last I looked, Monday mid-day, (net went up Saturday), still 4 caterpillars who are gaining in size.
Back the mammals, four had a lovely walk between rain showers (or downpours) on Sunday. Here we are at a favorite park.
It poured again today (Monday), as I started writing this. Thanks to climate change, Wisconsin is beginning to look more like a rain forest. Luckily we missed the extensive flooding from a week ago around the Milwaukee area. But someone loves it–the sheep pastures have so much grass that we can’t keep up. Jim can’t even get the mower into the larger pasture. No complaints from the sheep, however.
I hope you have few complaints this week in this insane world we are living in–at least cherish the joys you have, and don’t hesitate to share them with us.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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Such good advice about introducing dogs to each other.
A friend has a rescue mix. My friend would love to have his lovely dog play with my dogs (PWDs). However, the rescue just doesn’t want to! He will walk up to them with a fence in between, sniff for a nano-second, turn and walk away! Important for those of us humans to remember that just like we don’t like every human we meet, dogs don’t want to play with every dog that they meet! It’s fine!
Barb, dogs are usually so so clear about it all, aren’t they! I want to get more videos of Skip w/ other dogs, he seems to me to be brilliant at reading new dogs. So often, as do sooo many other dogs with good skills, he’ll approach and then turn away, and do lots of ground sniffing. I’ve seen nervous dogs do this, but all his other behavior suggests he is reading the dog and take off the pressure. Please send me instruction on how to stop doing everything else in the entire world and just video dogs for awhile….
I’m lucky to live somewhere that has a lot of off leash hiking trails, so that’s where my dog, Dudley, ends up doing most of his dog greetings. What I find interesting is that with some dogs, Dudley sees them from 20 ft away, instantly goes into a play bow, and initiates a game of chase (his favorite activity!).
He must have a sixth sense for finding dogs who are going to be polite and interested chase partners, because the other dog always reciprocates. We met a big Great Dane/hound mix yesterday, and I felt like that dog looked TOO interested in Dudley. But Dudley did his play bow, and they had great fun playing chase. I’ve learned to trust his instincts when it comes to other dogs!
Then there are some dogs that he likes to stop and watch the other dog approach. I admit, my first instinct is to often stand and stare at the two dogs (silly primate!), but if I do keep walking, that does seem to help everyone relax more. Something to keep in mind…it’s so hard to fight those primate instincts.
Thank you for sharing the pictures and blog post of the off leash meetups!
May I share them with some of my clients, giving you proper credit of course?
I live and train/ consult in busy suburban area with narrow paths. Many people believe that “socialization ” entails 2 aroused dogs straining – muzzle forward on leashes to get information about one another.
Thanks so much for all of the valuable information you have given me in your blog and in webinars, courses etc.
Monica Hanna, CDBC,CPDT-KA
Latch Key Pets Training and Enrichment
Kensington MD
Of course Monica, thanks for asking!
When I worked at the local shelter, we had a big fence field where we could introduce dogs off leash. Familiar with your work, I coached the handlers to keep moving. This was the preferred method. If we weren’t confident enough with unknown dogs that it would be safe, we would do a circling maneuver on leash where we would walk each dog in a big wide circle on loose leash and let them walk past each other, pausing only for a count of 3 before we happily encouraged them on. If that went well, we would take them for a walk together. Didn’t always work. Knowing when to call it based on the dogs’ body language was critical.
Monica, sound perfect to me!
I too find dog introductions fascinating. I’m contrasting this post to the dog-to-dog introductions that are done as part of the behavior assessment at the Oregon Humane Society, where I am a proud volunteer. It’s much the opposite situation–on leash, small fenced concrete run, two handlers staring and talking to one another about their observations. Often these are dogs that nobody knows, which accounts for the caution. I wonder what would happen if they let two dogs (or three!) loose in a larger fenced area. Watching is still necessary for safety–and there could be fights, but I wonder how differently the dogs would behave.
Trish, your experience counts as our research…
Caption Skip and the Terrorist, er Terrier: Whoa Dude! WTH?
“There’s nothing like watching two dogs meet and begin playing” Or in the case of my guy, give another dog a sniffing and proceed to ignore them. I foster dogs, so he has perfected his ignoring game.
I don’t know what Skip’s ears are saying??
Kathie: My guess is “cautious arousal.” His ears look a little like the ears of an intact male dog around a bitch in season. Erect and sideways. Anyone else?
“You cray!” (Skip’s ears) 😅
Wonderful post – thank you much!
Mutual sniff fest! I had forgotten what a bonding and confidence boosting thing that can be. Thanks!
I coordinate and supervise play groups at the local shelter. Nervous, stressed, often sketchy-to-begin-with dogs meeting each other for the first time…what could go wrong?
After 11 years of doing this, I still tell myself, “Breathe, and back up out (way out) of their space.” Hovering over dogs meeting for the first time is one of the best ways I know of to precipitate a fight.
In the 2nd photo, Skip looks to saying, “Um…Excuse me?!”
Unlike our first dog, Mr. B is pretty good at reading dog signals, and in dog parks and hiking trails he knows how to greet appropriately and then ignore (he is not into playing). On leash in unfamiliar settings he ignores or does a quick sniff. If we encounter a dog on leash walks along our usual routes, he becomes more territorial, and may snap at another dog, ignore, or do a polite sniff. In unfamiliar places, I am 97% confident to follow B’s lead if he wants to meet another dog or not. In familiar places, I take him off to the side or cross the street. My theory is that B may have sniffed a dog’s pee somewhere else and has made up his mind not to like him/her.
@Patrica Anderson, if your humane society hasn’t looked into Dogs Playing For Life’s play group program, I would encourage it. They provide a structure for exactly what you’re describing, all while giving the dogs the space and freedom to be dogs together. I have participated in this program at two shelters, and we were able to take our observations from playgroups to add to the dogs’ files and, hopefully, increase the chances of them being adopted into an appropriate home given the extra detail of their behavior around other dogs. The amount of dogs who came and labeled as “dog aggressive” that we were correctly able to relabel based off of their behavior and play groups was staggering.
Not so much new dogs but my two dogs have a bit of a love / hate relationship with one in particular being the instigator (the other has now mostly learned to make a slow but steady exit). However after reading this, I’m thinking that me standing there watching in case it kicks off is definitely not helping. Not sure what else I can do as the behaviour changes so quickly but I will try moving around instead 🙂
I think the only time I stop and stay close and hold my breath is if it’s an unexpected dog with no handler in sight and whose body language seems off. Otherwise I know and trust my dogs. Ben usually has them engaged in play quickly and Lea just politely greets and keeps moving for the most part.
When we introduce dogs in our backyard (new dog or friend’s dog), we just sit on the little hill and let the dogs do their thing while we keep an eye (and a camera lens) on them.
About the Skip and Rocky photo…. I can imagine Skip saying something like, “No! No, sir, we are not doing this! This is my territory!”
But you know much more than I do, Trisha, so I’m eager to read what you imagine Skip’s reaction says.
I always love your posts and learn so much (even though I rarely comment). Thank you.
Hello, my name is Jackie, and I’m a current social work student at Wayne State University. A very kind person on Reddit directed me to your page because they’re hopeful you can help me. I’ve recently discovered that my school has been torturing and killing dogs for cardiovascular research for decades. I’ve never done any advocacy work, but I cannot ignore this information. I’m currently trying to raise as much awareness about this issue as I can. There are two pieces of active legislation in my home state of Michigan (SB 127, introduced by Senator Wojno on March 6, and HB 4254, introduced by Rep. Aragona on March 18) that would stop this from occurring, not only at my school, but at other publicly funded institutions in MI.
This research has never amounted to a single advancement for humans since it started in the nineties, and other heart researchers no longer use dogs as test subjects due to them being a poor match for human comparisons. This needs to stop. I’ve started a change.org petition (https://www.change.org/WSU_Stop_Killing_Dogs) and am committed to doing everything possible to spread awareness. Change is very possible if lawmakers can be pressured to get this legislation passed. I don’t have faith that Wayne State will do the right thing, but I’m going to try to pressure them and raise awareness that way as well.
This kind person who directed me your way has read your books and is hopeful that you’re experiences as a grad student, along with your connections to the research, book, and dog communities, may be helpful to my cause. Either way, I sincerely appreciate you reading this and dedicating such a large part of your time to understanding dogs and improving our relationships with them.
Ooohh I love the read the dog message game…
Skip is saying I won’t start it, but I won’t take it. His fur on his back and tail are up (or he just had a bath before his foxy frolic), he’s protecting his face but he’s looking right at the terrior, his weight looks neutral to back ready to run and the base of his tail is up.
I find ears to be harder to read unless you really know the dog, almost like ears are a very personal expression of the individual dog and how the dog expresses themself with their ears.
Could be I just need more time reading ears…