How long will it take to know if my Sheltie will adapt to another dog?

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bluedotsmom

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I am a new poster, but longtime reader!! (I am posting on break at work, so it will be a while before I can check again.)

Question: How long do we need to give it it to be sure a new dog will or won't mesh with our Sheltie?

This past Saturday we adopted a neutered lab mix, about 2 yrs old. He is an amazing young man & a really good fit for our son (10 yrs old.) Our Sheltie is between 10 - 12 yrs old (adopted from a rescue in 2007.)

She has always been rather high-strung, even with the male we adopted with her (we lost him to heart failure last year :( )

So, new dog understands Emily is queen & she is typical Sheltie with lots of barking. It may be a little better, but sometimes if he just moves at all she gets very upset.

We do not want to make her life miserable, but we don't want to give up on Tonka too soon either. I would really appreciate any thoughts, information, advice.

Oh, my kiddos know we are basically fostering Tonka right now & the goal is for both dogs to thrive, whether that is together or not.

Thanks,
Anne
 
I had a rescue sheltie- Callie, she was about 5 when I adopted her. I got her to keep my ~7 yr old beagle mix company. They were fine together- she followed him around and he helped her adjust- they didn't really play together, just kept each other company.
so as they got older, I contemplated dog #3 so when the inevitable happened, one dog wouldn't be left all alone.
so dog #1 was about 11-12 and Callie was about 10ish, puppy Cranberry came home. neither dog was thrilled about a puppy but as Cran grew, dog #1- the beagle mix started to play with him. but then we lost him and both Callie and Cran were sad. I knew that Callie would never play with him and that he had too much energy for her so I got another sheltie- same age as Cran so they have played lots together.
so for about 2-2 1/2 years, Callie tolerated the boy- I'm not sure she ever really accepted that he wasn't going anywhere.
when I lost her last summer, the other two seemed all right -like they didn't need another pup, but I did. now all three play together:smile2:

so I would say as long as she's not negatively interacting with the new dog- it can all work out. definitely give them some time to get used to each other.
shelties do get along with other dogs and other breeds - if she's not used to that much energy like a lab has, make sure that your son plays with him a lot so he won't try and get in her space and upset her.
 
We knew within a week or two that Beckon and Huck would manage to achieve detente. Now they're pals.
 
Sca adores Spitfire despite Spitfire getting him all the time. Of course Sca is not a typical Sheltie as he likes everyone and is very social. If anything happened to Spitfire Sca would miss him but be fine as long as I was there. Spitfire would be lost if anything happened to Sca.
 
It can take several month, don't give up. Try letting them run together outside, sometimes they just tolerate each other, but it does take time! Give your sheltie special time she she doesn't feel threatened. Play with toys together. Everyone is different in how long it takes.
 
We had a 3 or 4 year old lab when we brought Callie home, and unfortunately, the two of them never really got along. Sampson (the lab) was mostly an outdoor dog, but Callie was absolutely terrified to be out in the back yard where his run was -- even when he was shut up in his run. I think the size difference terrified her as she was a small puppy and he was an 80+ pound lab.

We'd gotten the lab primarily for our grown son, who ended up getting married and couldn't take him since he was living in an apartment. Neither my husband or I was able to give him the attention and exercise that he needed, so we ended up sending him to live with someone else who had lost his lab to divorce.

Hopefully your outcome is better than mine. Funny thing is we now have to lab mixes who live behind us, and Callie goes out and barks at them -- and I think is trying to get them to come play. Maybe if we'd persevered until she was bigger they might have gotten along better.
 
My female is verrry reactive. It took her about 3-4 weeks to get used to my puppy. Surprisingly, she thoroughly enjoys having him around now. She didn't get along with my parent's puppy that they got while she still lived with them, but they were only together for about a month. Because of this, we thought she would hate us for getting a puppy.. but given time, she loves him. Give it a few weeks if not months and see. Don't force them together or let the new one beat up on her, but they should come around.
 
My thanks to everyone for the encouragment & advice!

I don't want to give up too soon, but also don't want to put too much stress on Emily or my kiddos.

We never knew any of Emily's & Buster's history together, but we always thought it was sad. She is the only dog I know who won't play with toys! I do wish she'd learn how from Tonka.

One good thing is that Tonka almost always goes flat on the floor when she barks at him. Kind of like a kid putting up with his crazy, old aunt! :wink2:

Keep it coming, I really appreciate everyone's time!
 
We had three beautiful Shelties (two males, one reactive female) when we adopted a smaller female in August 2012. They tussled a bit on and off for months and I kept a watchful eye on our reactive, more dominant female. Their scuffles are practically non existent now and they zip around the house and yard going a hundred miles/hour! I do find that things heat up when Zoey and Hannah are in close quarters so I try to avoid these situations whenever possible. I find that when you have multiple Shelties, it's important to spend quality time with each one (and not just all together). Take a walk with one at a time, or play fetch, try your hand at agility (my reactive Zoey loves it and it calms her down).

Best of luck on your new addition.
 
bluedotsmom said:
My thanks to everyone for the encouragment & advice!

I don't want to give up too soon, but also don't want to put too much stress on Emily or my kiddos.

We never knew any of Emily's & Buster's history together, but we always thought it was sad. She is the only dog I know who won't play with toys! I do wish she'd learn how from Tonka.

One good thing is that Tonka almost always goes flat on the floor when she barks at him. Kind of like a kid putting up with his crazy, old aunt! :wink2:

Keep it coming, I really appreciate everyone's time!
Click to expand...

Callie, my rescue, never played with toys either.
 
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