Introducing a new puppy to our 7 month old goldendoodle

[Emily White]

Hi all! I haven't been very active here, mainly because I forget to come check/participate in discussions, but I imagine this group will have a lot of helpful info!

We have a 7-month-old goldendoodle (F1B)  named Billie Jean. We really want to get her a sibling while she's still young so they will be similar in age and will grow and play together. We love her to death and have the opportunity to get a genetic sibling of her, so we are going to take it! Goldendoodle puppy # 2 will join our household on March 23!

Does anyone have experience bringing home an 8-week-old puppy to a young goldendoodle? Any tips or tricks?

Billie has been around younger puppies and she generally terrorizes them a bit. She wants to play with them but doesn't seem to realize she is 50 lbs! She is very gentle and loving, but puppies tend to be afraid of her energy and size. 

We fully expect it to be a very challenging and labor-intensive couple of weeks/months as we train the new puppy and Billie and work to create harmony. Any suggestions are helpful!

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Congrats on the new puppy, and Billie Jean is a cutie!  My first goldendoodle Eloise was 2 yrs old when I brought home my second, Beasley, so I don't have specific advice for introducing a new puppy to an older puppy, but my best advice is to make sure Billie Jean is trained to be the "model citizen" you want her to be (if she's not already) before the puppy comes home.  While you'll be training both, the new puppy really will model her behavior from her older sister - she'll pick up everything, all the good and anything not-so-good. :)  So it's best to have Billie Jean's obedience in its "ideal state" at that time, though training never really ends.

I worried about Eloise's size (60 lbs) compared to the tiny puppy, because even though she's always been very gentle, I was still afraid of the little one getting hurt.  They really worked it out themselves - it helps that puppies are so roly-poly, and as it turned out, the new puppy terrorized Eloise and not the other way around.  I always supervised and stepped in whenever I thought it was getting out of hand (usually to give the big doodle some relief). Even if your puppy is afraid at first with Billie's size and rambunctious-ness, she'll acclimate quickly living with her.  Just watch the puppy for signs of stress and keep play sessions brief as they get used to each other, and I think it will be fine - they'll have a ball together.  I LOVE having two doodles and it's so fun to watch them play.  Good luck and be sure to post pics with the new puppy!

[Emily White]

Thanks! I hope it goes this well! And we do definitely need to work with Billie some more on her training. I admit that I have gotten a little lazy over the past month or two. But it definitely makes sense that the better she is, the easier our lives will be!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Be sure to give each of them time with you alone for training and attention--and be sure to have ways to separate them in your home if they get too crazy--otherwise, it will work out fine!

[Emily White]

Thanks! This was more or less my plan. Just hoping for the best!

[Stella]

So, I'm going to play devils advocate and say you also need a game plan for if they don't get along. I have two doodles, only a year apart in age, got the second when my first was just over a year old. They tolerate each other at best, and at worst have had fights that have led to stitches. I have to be watching and on my guard constantly to prevent things from escalating between them. In hindsight, once it became clear they weren't compatible, I should have rehomed the second one, but by then he was part of the family and I kept thinking it would get better - eight years later it hasn't!! So, while I wouldn't wish this situation on anyone, I think it is good to at least consider what you would do.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Stella, thanks for contributing that not all dogs get along.  I think people need to  be aware that it happens sometimes.  Usually dogs are able to work it out over time, but not always.  Sometimes dogs get along from the get-go and those are the stories we seem to hear about, so we are unprepared for the dogs to have conflicts.  It took Gordie (our Springer) and Clancy, our rescue, months to work out their places in the family.  They did eventually and did become best buds.  I blame their troubles more on Gordie's anxiety and Clancy being an adult rescue, but it could happen with a new puppy also.  I know that Clancy would not get along with a dominant male.

[Emily White]

Boy, I'm sorry it worked out this way for you! I don't want to sound like I'm interrogating you, but I'm curious if you had any inkling this might happen? Does your first doodle get along with other dogs? Do the dogs socialize much with other dogs? I'm just wondering if there are any warning signs we can be looking for now. Billie is an extremely social dog and there have been dogs now and then that she is intimidated by, but never any that are smaller than her or that she has shown any signs of aggression toward. I'd been taking this as a good sign, but perhaps it's just different when the dog is in her home all the time?

[Stella]

Hey Emily, I had absolutely no idea things would turn out this way. My first dog is very sociable, haven't found a dog he hasn't got along with, when I lived in a city he used to go and play at the dog park with no problems. The second dog was quite a "pushy puppy" who tried to take over and wouldn't back down when Hartley was warning him off. Inexperience on my part probably made things worse at the beginning. But all these years later, a tonne of training and behaviour management work with the younger one, and theynstill don't get along great. They still get into scraps with each other and the younger one just doesn't know when to back off. It can make my life quite stressful!

[Susan]

We have a 9 month old F1B medium Goldendoodle named Finnigan and we just bought a 10 week old Petite Goldendoodle named Fiona. We took Finnigan with us to the breeders to pick up the new puppy. That way we didn't just show up at our house with a new puppy. Finnigan got to meet her at a neutral location and drive home with her.

We wanted to make sure that Finnigan still felt special so we bought him some new toys and treats. Everytime the puppy gets a toy or a treat we make sure that Finn gets something as well. We give them their meals separately so there is no fighting over food. We make sure that Finn still gets lots of one on one time with myself or my husband. Making sure he gets his regular walks helps get rid of his extra energy and he is much calmer around the puppy. We have to remind Finn to be gentle around Fiona because he is 40 pounds and she is only 6 pounds. It has now been 8 days and they seem to be getting along quite well.

We never leave them alone together. One of us is always watching them and we will continue to do this for quite some time.

Let us know if you have any questions.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

We have two labradoodles. Desi was just 9 months old when we brought home his half sister Cori. He came with us when we picked up baby Cori from the breeder and both sat in my lap for the 5 hour RV ride home, so they had plenty of time to sniff each other out before arriving home. We had already set up our "puppy palace" so that we could keep the two separate unless we could fully supervise.. We initially fed Cori in her puppy palace, but were able to move her food near his relatively quickly. We made a concerted effort to pay extra attention to Desi so that he didn't get too jealous. Somehow, Desi seemed to sense that he needed to be gentle with Cori at first and if she yelped because he was too rough, he backed off. Now that she's bigger, they play pretty rough but don't really fight. Cori knows that Desi is lead dog and she seems okay with that.

Good luck with your new baby. Hope things go smoothly for you.

[Emily White]

Hey everyone! Just wanted to report back now that we officially a 2-doodle family! It's been 6 days and things are going really well! Billie Jean and Barney (the new little guy) love each other. If anything, I have had moments of sadness because Billie is less interested in me than she used to be! They play every waking moment, so far. And I was surprised at how quickly Billie has learned to be gentle with Barney. Occasionally he squeals to let her know she's being too rough and she immediately backs off. 

So far we've been feeding them in separate crates. Billie does have a tendency to try and steal his food and to growl at him if he comes near hers, so this is the easiest way to keep the peace. Other than that they've been sharing toys well and even snuggling up together on occasion. So cute!! 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

What wonderful news!  I am so glad you seem to be in the majority where dogs get along from the beginning.  There might be some rough spots as Barney grows and they establish which one of them is in charge of what things, but with this great start, I am sure the dogs will be able to work it out.