Merging Dogs from Two Households as Newlyweds
You spent time at each other's homes, possibly living together before marriage. You chose your partner partly because of their love for dogs, which matches your own.
While combining your lives may be straightforward, it can be harder for your dogs. Will you choose one of your existing homes or relocate to a new place? This choice will greatly impact one, or both, of your pets.
Merging dogs from two households may cause temporary upheavals for which you should be prepared. Here are some of the issues you may experience:
Territorial Confrontations
Dogs can be very territorial. If they have lived alone and are suddenly made to share a residence, this can create many problems between the newly merged dogs.
If moving into one of the newlyweds’ homes
Where one dog claims territory, the other may feel anxious and leave the area, making it challenging to integrate pets in the same home.
There are products that can be helpful to both dogs in alleviating their anxiety and helping them to acclimate to the new living situation. Here is a list of some products that may be helpful: Stress relief with Native Pet, Rescue Remedy, Calming Care, and Dog Appeasing Pheromone Diffusers.
If moving into a new residence for both pets
While both dogs may have some anxiety from leaving known territory, they will both be on an even platform. Neither of the dogs will be territorial and both will be learning how to establish themselves in the new environment. Not that this cannot cause stress or anxiety. It is still likely to do so, as they have left a known territory and have been introduced into a new one. There may be odors from their past homes, in the form of furniture, rugs or linens, along with the newlyweds whom they know, which will aid in the animal’s eventual acceptance of each other as they are blended together.
Resource Guarding
Dogs who feel their territory is threatened may engage in resource guarding. The dog who is rebelling against the newly arrived pet, may display aggression when the new dog moves near that pet’s human. It can get very heated if the new pet moves near the feeding area, or bed, of the resident dog.
House Soiling
Dogs who feel anxiety due to new situations often soil in the home, even if they haven’t done so for many years. When dogs are suddenly thrust together, they can lose their entire life balance. When dogs feel anxiety and insecurity, they often soil the house. This can also be due to reinforcing their feelings of territory, which will affect male dogs more so than females. In fact, merging two male dogs can sometimes cause worse issues as they both occupy the same “space.”
Note: In this situation the term “space” means both dogs are of the same gender and tendencies.
Ways to Prevent Behavior Problems Between the Dogs When Merging Pets From Two Households
There are ways to reduce or prevent your dogs from developing anxiety and insecurity. These include ensuring the pets know each other well before moving in together, managing them properly when they are merged after marriage and training them to work together in tandem, learning to respect each other’s personal space.
Proper Introductions
Introducing two dogs in one house - Dogs can often be introduced in neutral areas prior to living together. Should both newlyweds have dogs, they can be taken to a local park, or even a nearby street corner, allowing them the opportunity to sniff each other. This should be repeated several times prior to bringing one of them into the other dog’s home. After meeting in a neutral place, the two dogs can be allowed to play in the back yard of the home in which they will be living.
Pet Management
You will need to engage in pet management for the first few months after the newlyweds move in together and merge their dogs. Prior obedience training will be extremely helpful as the pets will be more relaxed in their new environments.
Here are a few sources that will help train and occupy the new housemates, reducing their anxiety and frustration with their new environment.
Interactive toys keep dogs busy and reduce anxiety. There are many available and as there is more than one pet in the new household, each pet should have their own.
Note: Sometimes multiple pets can become resource hoarders. Separate the pets when they get special toys and treats, to avoid negative interactions.