[guitarguy]

Hello all,

We're stepping in to take our first 'adopted' dog, actually taking him as opposed to his current owner sending him to a shelter, this weekend! If interested, here is our welcome post with some pics and a little back story on Walter (the new guy), Jack (our current dog), and our former GSD Marshall:

http://www.dogforums.com/attention-all-new-members/114920-hello-just-joined.html

This being our first time taking in a dog older than 10 weeks or so, I have a question about sleeping arrangements and would like to discuss our plans for his first day home. First here's our plan...

Pick Walt up this Saturday morning, and when we get home, first thing is to grab Jack and head out for a good long walk. These 2 have already met once, walked together, played together, and eventually napped together at Walt's current home/yard. Aside from Walt's 15 second jumpy outburst of excitement upon seeing Jack for the first time waiting at the end of his driveway ready to walk, they got along wonderfully. I'm expecting the same when we get him home to our house. They are roughly same age, neutered, and both friendly and playful. When we get home from our walk we'll introduce him slowly to the yard and eventually the house, taking it slow and calm. Next up will be a visit to the vet that afternoon for a checkup, and lots of time spent together getting familiar.

Also, our dogs have always been crate trained, and Walt is crate trained from his former owner so that's a big plus. He is also house trained. Walt will be crated when we leave the house so the 2 dogs will not be alone together unsupervised, and also becuase Walt has chewed a couple of his current owner's rugs when left alone. Lack of exercise and training and just plain boredom...but that's another issue. Walt will get lots of exercise and obedience training with us! The hour or so I've worked with him so far has been a joy. He responds so well and has had zero objection to me handling him so far! :clap2:

As long as we're essentially doing the right things up to this point, my first question is regarding sleeping arrangements. Jack (and if you saw the other thread, our former GSD Marshall) have slept in our bedroom at the top of the stairs of our little bungalow house for the past couple of years. We have a twin comforter folded up on the floor in the corner of the room and our dogs arranged it as they may and slept there. This is currently where Jack sleeps still. There is simply not room enough for Walt's crate to be moved upstairs to this area unfortunately, but rather the dog crates will be kept downstairs in our office room near the back door to the yard. Our eventual goal will be to have Jack and Walt both sleep upstairs on the floor or on their blanket. Currently he sleeps in his owners bedroom on the floor, and he says sometimes he also crawls and wrestles himself under the bed!!!??? (I thought that was funny...)

What do you all recommend for Walt's sleeping arrangements to start off? As I said, first time doing this with an adult dog. With a puppy size crate it would be no problem...crate in the bedroom. But there isn't room for this large of a crate. Should we tether him? Crate him outside the bedroom? What do you think?

 

[Abbylynn]

Right or wrong .... This is what I would do. Since Walt knows Jack and is used to sleeping in his previous owners bedroom ... I would place a second comforter in your bedroom to see if Jack has an issue with it. He may not want to share his actual (comforter) bed. Just a thought and my way of doing things.

But I would do a trial basis during waking hours or you may have a few sleepless nights listening and watching their behavior for any issues involving territory. It would not be a good thing if a fight broke out over territory since Walt is the new kid on the block. Dogs love to be near their people ... This is my reasoning and why I would try this before all else ... providing Walt does not have access to anything in the house or the whole house to chew up your belongings.

 

[Shell]

I would crate him downstairs initially at least. That will keep him out of trouble, safe, secure and prevent any nighttime arguments between the dogs while Walt settles in.

I would not tether him- unsupervised tethering is unsafe in my opinion and while you are sleeping = unsupervised for the most part.

After a few weeks maybe and you know the dogs are getting along well, then I agree with this-

I would place a second comforter in your bedroom to see if Jack has an issue with it. He may not want to share his actual (comforter) bed. Just a thought and my way of doing things.

 

[Amaryllis]

To me it would depend on how well they get along and how Walt and Jack do with it. Maybe you could go to bed an hour early, and lay in bed reading or something, just so you can be awake and see how they react? Jack may well guard the comforter or the entire area from Walt. Or Walt may guard. It's not possible to say until you try it, but you should be awake the first time so you can stop a fight before it starts.

 

[guitarguy]

Thanks for the replies! I'm torn...

One side of me wants to just make it the 'norm' for Walt and Jack to sleep in our room together, as that's the end-all goal we want. I know it's the human side of me coming out, but I want Walt to feel welcome and allow him to sleep near the rest of us. The oversized comforter we have was used for Jack and our former GSD Marshall to share together since they always slept right next to each other anyway. I would definitely not be opposed to getting Walt his own seperate dog bed, and either getting a new smaller one for Jack too or just letting him keep his massive blanket :bounce:. I'll have to just see how they react I suppose.

Also though, I worry a little about Walt getting interested in what else there is to play with (chew on) in the middle of the night or something. I could close the door at the bottom of the steps and keep him upstairs, but I'm not sure if Jack would be weirded out since we always leave it open. This is the only reason I was considering the crate.

I guess the best method will be to go to bed early and just see how it goes. If there's any bickering or if Walt won't settle down then he'll have to go in his crate for the night and I can try again later after getting Walt his own bed.

Assuming a new adult dog gets proper exercise and stuff, is it pretty normal for them to settle down at night and want to sleep near their new owners? With a puppy obviously they pretty much want to be near you 24/7, so just wondering about an adult dog new to its surroundings. I suppose every dog is different though...