Correctly Intoducing a 2nd Lab

Question:
I am a fan of Lab Brats being a chocolate lab owner myself and have found your advice helpful. We are thinking of adding a 1 year old yellow neutered male to our household. Any advice on how best to make this work. Our chocolate lab is a neutered female about 6.5 years old and seems to be pretty dominate around other dogs--not aggressive just doesn't want to play. I know this one year old is playful and will need a lot of work with recall and help getting rid of his boundless energy. We live out in the country and will have a fenced in yard in place by the time we bring him home. Any advice on how to introduce him to the household would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
Paulina

Answer:
My breeder warned me - "One Lab is like one tornado and two is like ten!" Honestly though, I love having two Labrador Retrievers and couldn't picture life without either of the Lab Brats. However, bringing home a second dog can be tricky but wonderful if done correctly.

Whenever you bring another dog into your family pack, you need to help the dogs (and family) understand where the dog fits in. If possible, I recommend a few meetings of the two dogs off site before bringing them into closer contact. If you are rescuing, the Lab rescue's foster family may provide you with an opportunity to have the dogs meet at a local dog park or some other neutral area where they can get to know each other. This neutral field will take away the "property" dominance and help the dogs get to know each other better.

When you are ready to bring home the next dog, have them meet outside in some neutral area of the property. For most people, this would be their front yard as the dogs spend more time in the backyard. Let them get to know each other for hours if you can before even attempting to move them into the house.

Once in the house, have certain areas blocked off to the new dog that your dog has major claims over. If there is a certain area is sleeps, block that off from the new dog and offer that area to be available to the existing dog at all times. For us, we brought home a puppy and had a baby gate in our hallway blocking off the bedrooms. When Dakota had enough of Cheyenne puppy biting all over her, she could easily make it over the fence to her sanctuary (and her bed). Cheyenne also had her crate in the living room and Dakota was not allowed to enter it. The crate was new and as far as Dakota was concerned, it came with the new puppy. Dakota would eagerly flee to get sanctuary as we never pushed the puppy on her and let them develop their own bonds at their own times.

On top of this, we also continued to feed Dakota first, give treats first, pet first, and let outside first. Cheyenne was to stay away from her while eating and was not allowed to demand our attention when we were giving it to Dakota.

Now it would take the Jaws of Life to separate the Lab Brats. The have their own crates side-by-side but when outside of them, they cuddle together on the floor, clean each other's ears (eww!), and play together as though they have always been. It takes time and if properly done, it can be the best doggy relationship ever!

Best of luck!