# How do you introduce your new foster to your pack?



## CampPappy (Sep 10, 2007)

Sorry this is so long....LOL

Some fosters are great & social and integrate well with other dogs. That's easy.

It seems that most fosters have not been properly socialized with other dogs and I haven't always been happy with my usual process of introduction.
First....My Myla is a dominant female, but very tolerant of new dogs. She is anxious to sniff and check them out...no posturing or bad behavior...ready to play rather than cause a problem. She has been surprisingly tolerant of pushy/playful fosters and is only reactive if bitten or hurt by them. Axl is a mush....LOL....likes everyone and is easily upset if a foster growls or snaps at him. But he will just vocalize and back up. So my dogs are basically happy, friendly and not causing any problems.

My normal procedure for a snarky foster is to introduce through the fencing first...then gates in the house....leash walks etc. This usually takes me several weeks before I put them together in the house, with the foster dragging the leash. But when I put them together....it's like day one all over again. I'm not getting the results I hoped I would by doing it gradually. I think it may actually be enhancing suspicion on the part of the new dog.

My current foster is not happy about sharing the house with any other dogs and will snap & try to dominate. This morning we all walked (foster on leash) my dogs loose. I corrected her for any posturing and we did sits and a few downs when she became too focused on them. The walk went very well....But back in the house, she's still posturing. The walks....tons of them, may be the key that I'm missing....

I would like to know what you guys do.
Any tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated!


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Maybe you are willing to take a dog like that, more power to ya, but there is no way that I will foster a dog that is potentially dangerous for my dogs. My dogs were here first and I will not risk them nor will I ask them to live in fear of a foster and possibly lose their dog friendliness. Any potential foster either gets along from the very beginning or it gets moved to another home, usually where it is the only dog.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

CampPappy...first of all thank you for taking her! We don't get many GSD's in our HS here but she would have died and I am forever grateful for you taking her. I'm sorry she hasn't settled down yet, and maybe never will from the sounds of it?







We were sure she would because she would ignore Jax most of the time. Has she been spayed yet?

When I introduced Willow and Baron into the house, we crated two of our dogs at a time so we didn't overwhelm the new foster. We brought them out and let them meet for a few minutes, or until the settled. Then brought another out. I kept Willow and Baron on a leash with me for the first few days.


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## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

I do the same as you. It takes a lot of time sometimes, and at some point I also may use the muzzle to make sure that nobody gets hurt. I wish there were a magic prescription. Some dogs I had to keep separated.

The rescue does not have homes with no other dogs and I don't want to dump a dog that is not perfect on a fellow rescuer that is in the same boat as I (I don't expect other rescuers to do things I am not prepared to do myself, I want to be fair to others and expect them to be fair with me). It is better to have the situation where everyone loves each other but that is not always the case in real life and some dogs exhibit problems after they settle in. In that case I stick it out and inconvenience myself and my dogs as opposed to having the dog PTS (again, no fosters with no other dogs around here to pick up the iffy dog).


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## CampPappy (Sep 10, 2007)

Thank you RebelGSD! 
The situation is the same here. When I take a foster, we do our best to evaluate and evaluate again.....but sometimes don't know the true personality until the dog settles in. We don't have enough foster homes to just pass the dog along to become some one else's problem (which isn't right) and just have to do the best with separating dogs, training, socialization etc. 

By far, most of the rescues are good.....but there have been a few that have caused problems.


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