Puppy vs Albert

[Kbana]

Well, the time has come for us to get a pup. Since losing our last one we have been searching.  However, Albert has been upstairs with us for a few months now.  (Before he was in his huge pen in the basement since our other dog had a high prey drive)

 

I really hate to put AL back downstairs. He loves it soo much up here with us. He and my husband even have fun play rituals when I go to bed since they are up way later than I am. 

 

Our new puppy is 12 wks old and will be coming home on Saturday. Right now AL’s pen is in the living room, but I was thinking of moving it into the kitchen and then blocking it off with another gate so that there will be two barriers between him and the pup.

We are going to crate train our pup and his crate will be in our bedroom.  I was hoping that they would be OK to co-exist as long as they can’t get to each other. I thought seeing each other could be OK so they get used to each other?

From everything I have been reading, it seems like it would be OK to do introductions as soon as the pup is consistently trained and follows commands well. So hopefully a few months? He already knows sit, down, paw and goes outside to potty half the time.

 

I am hoping that when we put the pup to bed then Al can have the run of the living room like he does now since my husband is up late. Or, we can crate the puppy for an hour or so and let AL out.

Really though, most times AL stays in his pen, even when the door is open. He prefers to be active after 10 pm.

 

What do you all think? Is this a huge mistake? Should I put AL back downstairs? I hate to do that because he isn’t in the mix of things then and he loves being around us, even in his pen.

 

[Boing]

I would keep Al upstairs. It honestly sounds like you’re doing everything possible to mitigate risks.

[MoxieMeadows]

What breed is this puppy and how big? Some breeds have very high prey drive (although puppies normally don’t have prey drive, although they normally do when they get older) and I would never recommend letting them near each other. Also for size wise, 12 week old puppies can be pretty big, and bunnies just look like weird puppies, so the puppy might accidentally hurt your bun trying to play, so having some basic commands down like “NO”, “LEAVE IT”, “COME” and “STAY” can go a long way.

Also, I’d like to add that we are going to need pics of your new addition!

[Kbana]

He is a lab/terrier mix. He is maybe 10 lbs now. Not that big. Because he is a mix, the rescue can’t really tell us how big he is going to be.  Maybe 30-50 lbs? My vet has a golden that lives with her bunny…so hopefully the size won’t be a huge issue if we can keep the pup calm around AL. If we can’t we will obviously have to re-evaluate.

I don’t want to let them near each other until the puppy is really well trained. Even then we will start on a leash or harness. I figured I’d go in stages. First they can see each other for a few weeks/months however long it takes, then he can go near the cage with a leash on and then maybe introduce them on leash if AL wants to come out of his cage. It took AL a good month to really get used to being upstairs. So I figure it will take him a long time to get used to having another animal in the house. I don’t expect them to be best friends, I just want them to safely co-exist. I would also never leave them alone unsupervised. I don’t leave AL unsupervised now anyway…

 

These are the pics from the rescue. I’ll send more once we have him. 

Haven’t decided on names yet. 

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