Shortly we are getting are long awaited pup :), would like to make sure his arrival goes as smoothly as possible, and would like some pointers?
We are getting a male pup, and have already a male and female.
Obviously we want the pup to bond with us before he bonds with our resident dogs, do you limit time the pup spends with resident dogs?

Any advice welcome
Many thanks

> do you limit time the pup spends with resident dogs?

I used baby gates and crates to help manage over enthusiastic playing and also to ensure that each dog had some proper rest time.  You'll need to train separately too but luckily the pup won't be out walking for ages so it's a good time to brush up on training your other two.  My older dog just 'forgot' everything he'd been taught for a while!!

After I'd walked the older dog I'd put him to bed and work with the puppy, a bit of training, grooming and some one to one time.  Although most of the pups training walks were on his own we used to do some visits together.  If I needed the pup to experience new things like watching trains or meeting strangers I'd occasionally take both boys as my eldest is so good at all that stuff, also I felt a bit mean as the pup seemed to be getting a lot of attention!

If you take your puppy to training or ringcraft classes you'll bond with no trouble just make sure you continue to walk separately for a good while or you'll not be absolutely sure your pup is responding to you, or just following the other dogs.  At 14 months I still walk the youngest on his own a few times a week as he is otherwise a bit inclined to get distracted by my other dog.  As a consequence we now have a gundog with a few terrier type behaviours thrown in!!

Thank you dogs an babe, have taken your advice on board.

Yes i am taking him to ring craft classes, but do i take him to puppy classes as well? or is just ring craft enough as i think it's all mixed ages and won't mix as much with other pups?

We have just introduced my sisters Leonberger to our 6 resident dogs (last Friday).  We let the pup come in and settle then we normally introduce Tegan, she's the most laid back bomb proof GSD.  Gradually over the next day we introduce the other dogs - always one by one.

4 days later we now have a very happy Leonberger pup running rings around all the other dogs! 

Just take your time and don't panic if there are any grumbles etc...they need to get to know who this new arrival is.

Put in plenty of one to one time with the pup and make sure he has plenty of rest.

I would suggest going to fun obedience puppy classes aswell as ringcraft.  Proper puppy classes will allow the pup to socialise much more freely than at ringcraft.

We did puppy foundation, bronze, and silver good citizens training alongside ringcraft.  They were independant of each other but the APD trainer we had was excellent and she also helped with elements of ringcraft too.  She even came to observe a ringcraft session so she could better understand what we needed.  I know some people advocate getting a firm stand before a sit but my dog didn't seem to have any difficulty in understanding that different things were required on diff occasions.  I do have separate leads though and would never do any obedience type work in a show lead and have rarely asked for a proper show stand in a conventional collar and lead.  We did all his initial ringcraft work in his proper show lead and all the practising at home too.  He knows exactly what each lead is for!

I found that the training class was very helpful with lots of day to day issues and the 'dog swapping' we did has certainly helped my boy feel comfortable being handled by a judge.  We passed Bronze and Silver by 9 months and qualified for Crufts at our first Champ Show.  I'm planning to go back for Gold next year and I'm going to do a refresher course with my older dog soon.  My children came to one or two of the classes too and I found it very useful for them to see what I'm trying to do so that they don't inadvertantly undo all the hard work!!  Puppies are such clever little beans and I found the instruction a very helpful reminder of 'how' to shape the right behaviours and 'when' to reward - sometimes you need an observer as you can't see exactly what's happening unless you've got eyes in the back of your head! :)  Have fun with your new pup.

I have a senior male and a junior female and then introduced a further male pup and everything was fine.

My junior female (who was then 14 months old) took to the pup straight away, however my  senior male (10yrs old) ignored the pup for the first few days, however now has also formed a good bond with him. All three get on really well and will all play together quite happily.

What I did was to give my pup some time out after he had been fed by putting him in his crate with his toys and a treat. This gave the other two some time to relax away from the pup. Also if we had to pop out, he would go in his crate with nylabones to keep him occupied and a kong filled with goodies. This was because I felt he was too young to be left with free access to the house like the other two.
1) Because of the chewing factor and ingesting something that could cause problems to him
2)Because of the safety aspect in case he hurt himself playing with the other dogs or running around etc
3) To give my other 2 some time out

He sees his crate as a positive as he always gets goodies every time he goes in there and will go in there on his own accord from time to time to play with his toys or even have a sleep. When he goes on his walks the vast majority of the time I will take him out separately to my other two in order to lead train him and practice his recall and to further our bond together. Now and again I will take him with my male or female so he learns how to walk alongside them without trying to be competitive.
I have always had at least two dogs at any given time and have never found them to become too "doggy" and have always had a very good bond with them by giving them one to one sessions and making our time together lots of fun.

What I would recommend is that you give your current dogs lots of attention and fuss when the pup arrives so they don't feel left out and the pup is not elevated too high above his station as this is when jealousy could arise and make sure there is lots of one to one time with them as well. Also if you have visitors, its so easy for them to go straight to the pup forgetting about the other two dogs, I always made sure that the older dogs had fusses first before the pup from the people visiting.

I have always fed my dogs together in the kitchen without any problems. Again what I did was to ensure when putting the bowls down that they all sat and waited and the pups bowl was placed down last. If pup finished before the other dogs, I would stop him from going to the other dogs food by telling him "no" and asking him to sit. All 3 respect one another when eating and will not steal food from each other if one has finished before the other, although they will sit watching. lol This way there has never been any problems with aggression around food.

I hope you have loads of fun with your pup. It's a really exciting time. Let us know how you get on.

Thank you guys for some great advice it all makes great sense :), just want it to go smoothly as possible :). Ring craft is sorted i am going this week to watch before pup comes along, and my breeder is going to give me some tips. Will now have a look round for a good puppy class :)

Thanks
Hayley