When the first two puppies arrived, we eventually brought them into the house to see how they would do. We were concerned that our 3 adult dogs might act too aggressively and hurt the newcomers, so we left them outside and introduced them one at a time. What we got was a lesson in canine sociology.
When our most submissive dog, Bridget, came inside, the two puppies ran toward her yapping all the way. Bridget was scared to death! She jumped into a chair, and when they got too close, she flew a couple of steps across the room on her long, lean legs and oneo the couch.
She did growl a little bit. Any aggression she has ever shown has been fearful aggression when she feels trapped. It looked so silly, though. This beautiful and graceful-looking 45-pound blond beauty, eyes darting everywhere looking for safety, and literally leaping around the room to get away from these 2 clumsy 30-pound puppies.
Bebe, our oldest, is queen of the castle. She's an alpha female if I ever saw one - lifting her leg when she pees, carefully covering every scent that other dogs leave behind. She's bossy and protective of Tom's truck, in particular. When she saw the puppies in the house, she made herself as small as possible and hid behind Tom's chair.
The most needy of our dogs is Toby. She follows me everywhere and likes to be touching someone if at all possible. If someone pets her and stops, she will paw and nag the pet-er until she feels the security of the attention she craves. Visitors do best to ignore her so she doesn't get started in this unending cycle in the first place.
Toby drooled. Not the typical St. Bernard, basset hound or mastiff-type breed-specific perpetual slobber. This was more like the "I'm-not-letting-that-steak-outta-my-sight" food-related drool that starts with a tiny drip and develops into long streams nearly reaching the floor. But her body didn't have the tense, ready-to-spring look that most dogs have when they're eyeing a tasty tidbit. Her body was more like I would expect "frozen with fear" to look. I did an online search of dog behavior and, sure enough, that kind of drooling is a sign of stress.
After a few days of short introductions like this, the rookies and the veterans seem to have reached a precarious peace and maintained a respectful distance. They no longer travel under and over furniture to avoid each other - at least not every time. Sometimes now they even pass each other by without overabundant drama and undue stress.
After several conversations with Holly at HART, I decided to bring the most adoptable 2 of the 4 puppies there to see how they fare. She said the adoption rate at the shelter was very high and it was likely they would indeed find homes. She also suggested I bring Mama to the shelter because the mobile vet clinic would be there soon and Mama could be spayed.
"Most adoptable," Holly said, meant novel in appearance and mellow. Of course. That's what everyone wants is a mellow dog that looks special. I have a hard time judging the "novel" part, because I think just about every dog is adorable. I can't think of any puppies that I've seen and thought, "That is not a very cute looking pet!""Mellow" I can judge, but it's not always easy to find in a puppy.
