We have a male named Atlas he is 1.5 years old. We also have a very laid back female English Mastiff. We have had Atlas since he was a puppy so he is top dog in the house, he never shows aggression and always ready to play. We have been wanting to get another mal, we finally did this weekend. It was a toss up between a male and a female, we ended up getting a male, Ares. Ares is 14 weeks. We tried introducing them, Atlas was very excited. He was wagging his tail. Ares was very scared but let Atlas sniff him. Atlas did paw at him and Ares yelped and then growled at him so Atlas got a little snippy so we put some space between them. Atlas still had a wagging tail and no hair standing up. It was late so we left it at that and kept them separate. Atlas still slept with us and puppy slept in the guest bedroom in a kennel. Atlas was acting very funny and wouldn't really come near my fiancé at first like he felt betrayed. We have made sure to not show the puppy extra attention. My fiancé seems very discouraged about the first introduction. More because we when introduced Ares to the mastiff he was scared like before but then he started growling and barking. We cut that off and were firm with him but he is under the assumption that Atlas isn't going to get along with Ares and that we will have to take Ares back. Granted this was the first meeting and it was 9pm so Ares was worn out to begin with. We had adopted Athena, the mastiff and Atlas and her hit it off great and loved each other since day 1. She is a different breed and was full grown and female so maybe that makes the difference. We were just hoping he would take to the puppy the same way but we are also afraid that the puppy is too small and don't want him to get hurt. I am just looking for any tips, tricks, feedback on how to make this process go smoothly and not stress out either of the dogs. Also Atlas is not fixed, would fixing help at all accepting the new puppy. Please help!
The puppy was probably overwhelmed being put into a strange environment With two large strange dogs, was scared and become defensive. I would stick to one to one greeting till things settle down, take them outside first that way they wont be so focused on each other, then bring them in together, I would keep the older ones on lead so that if they do get a bit rough you can move them away and use the word gentle
Yea a neutral environment is always best. And dogs are less stressed when introduced side by side and not face to face, as it's less threatening for both of them. Plus dogs tend to communicate with each other better than we can with them, so you'll know when they've had enough and need a break. Hope this helps.
Thanks guys! I wasn't very clear earlier Atlas and Ares are both Alaskan Malamutes. I assumed everyone knew what a mal was lol. my bad.
