Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Introducing Luna to Benjamin & Henry

I have had a few questions on how to introduce a new pug to the family, so I thought I would share how we went about bringing Luna into the family.  I am by no means an expert, so I would love to hear how others went about bringing a new pug into the family.

Here is what worked for us.

The first thing we knew we wanted to do was to have Luna and the boys meet on neutral ground.  We didn’t want to just bring Luna into the house and plop her down in front of the boys because we knew they would feel more territorial meeting her this way.  So, we brought the boys to the park where Luna’s adoption took place.  Would it have been a tad easier to do all the adoption paperwork without the boys there?  Yes.  Would we have been able to totally pamper Luna more without the boys there?  Absolutely.  But I thought it was important for the boys to meet her the same time we met her and the park was a perfect meeting place.  The boys had never been to that park and I don’t think Luna had been either.  So from the boys’ point of view they were just meeting another dog at the park, which is something they love to do.  They had no idea that she would be coming home with us.

After we took care of all the adoption paperwork, we walked around the park with Luna and the boys.  There was a pug festival going on so the park was buzzing with activity and there were pugs everywhere.  So we just walked around meeting other pugs and talking to people.

After we made our rounds, we decided to call it a day and head back home.  We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so we wanted to hit the road.  Also, I was anxious to see how the boys would react to Luna getting in the car.  This would be their first test of allowing Luna in their territory.  And having them first get used to Luna being in their car, rather than their house was no accident.  I wanted to sorta gradually introduce her.  We had Luna’s seatbelt already setup, so we stuck to our normal routine.  Benny always gets buckled in first then Henry, so we stuck to that order.  Then we simply buckled Luna in making no big deal of it.  Although, that was the hardest part.  I wanted to make a big fuss over our new baby girl, but I just knew that I couldn’t.  That would be the worst thing to do.  I knew that would send the boys into jealous mode, because some new pug is getting all kinds of attention for doing something that was so routine to them.  So, we kept it low key and acted as if Luna had been with us all along.

Once we got home, it was dinner time for the pugs.  So we decided to feed the pugs before we even went inside the house.  Luna was only used to eating kibble at that point, so we made her dinner and got the boys’ dinner ready.  Rather than eating in their normal spots we had the pugs eat outside on the lanai.  We gave each of the pugs ample space and put down their bowls in their normal order, Benny’s, then Henry’s and now Luna’s.

After they ate, we let them play in the backyard a bit.  They had a great time running around playing chase and we got to know Luna a little bit more.  Once everyone was tired it was time to show Luna her new house.  We simply opened the door and let her in like she had been here before.  Luna went around smelling and looking over things and the boys were right by her side (and we weren’t too far behind).  Since, they already had a rapport with her they didn’t seem to mind her barging in.

After that, we just tried to keep things business as usual.  It was really hard no to dote on Luna, but I knew it would be best in the long run if we treated her just like the boys (they don’t do too bad in the doting department themselves).

To sum things up, here are the thing that we deliberately set out to do to make the addition of Luna as smoothly as possible.

• Met on neutral turf
• Let the pugs get to know each other before we brought Luna into the house
• Stuck to the boys’ routine.  Rather than changing everything because Luna was now here, we just simply taught her the boys’ routine.
• Gave extra praise to the boys for being such good big brothers
• No special treatment for Luna, at least not in front of the boys.  With the boys around she simply got as much love and attention as they did.
• Fed Luna last.  When doling out treats or meals, Luna was always fed last.  I once read that the top dog gets their food first, so we didn’t want to send messages to the boys that Luna was the new top dog in town or we didn’t want to coax little Luna’s alpha personality along and help her take over.
• Took lots of walks.  We went on lots of walks the first month Luna was with us.  This kept the boys well exercised and well behaved and was great opportunity for them to get out and bond with Luna

How did you go about adding another pug to your family?