How do we introduce new dogs?

This is what we’ve found works best for us and means that the dogs that come to stay here bond more naturally with each other.

1.       If you’ve never been here before and want to come round and see us to check out how things work and what facilities we have you are more than welcome, but please ring first to make sure we’re not out walking the dogs.  We would ask at this stage that you do not bring your dog inside with you.

2.       When you bring your dog to stay, we will make sure that all other dogs are securely in their playroom before we let you in.  This gives your dog a chance to have a good sniff about and explore the whole of the downstairs of our house and our secure back garden on his/her own without any interruption from other dogs.   This also gives your dog time to settle into the new surroundings before he/she meets the others.   We will be helping your dog to find his/her way around and giving plenty of attention and encouragement to settle.

3.       Once the new dog is a little more settled, myself and my husband will gently introduce each of the other dogs – one at a time – starting with Willow, who’s our really friendly boy, a collie x springer, and just loves ‘meeting and greeting’.  Then your dog will meet Jake, our old ‘rescue’ collie, who really doesn’t take any notice of other dogs at all.  Then Jasmine, who is Willow’s sister, but is a very timid dog and can be noisy when meeting other dogs, but is only making sure they are not going to eat her – once they’ve proved they’re not she’s happy! 

We have found that taking things slowly using this system gives confidence to all the dogs – ours and yours – and within a very short space of time you’d think they’d always all been together.