Introducing a new puppy into a home with an aggressive dog?

[zoe]

We are getting a new puppy. The puppy is a Rat Terrier and is four months old. We already have a three year old dog in the house named Roxy. Roxy is a boxer-lab mix and I am very worried that she might attack the other dog. In the past Roxy would attack other dogs that were in the house or in the yard. However she is fine at the kennel or the dog park. How can we introduce the two dogs without Roxy attacking the new puppy? Thanks for your help!
Roxy only TRIED to attack other dogs. and this only happened two other times. And she is fine with other dogs that she already knows to come in the house. And Roxy knows her place in our house. Like she knows that I'm her leader and all the crap.

 

[eharri3]

If you have a dog that has exhibited aggressive behavior, and you have not yet found a way to make that dog's desire to avoid behaviors that piss you off more powerful than it's desire to attack other dogs, why on earth would you introduce another puppy into your home?

Your current dog is not fully trained. If she were, she would recognize that you dislike this behavior, and out of respect for you, she would not engage in it. No good has ever come from introducing an un-trained dog into a house with another poorly trained dog.

 

[btdt]

Go to neutral ground to introduce them. I wouldn't go to the dog park for two reasons: one, the presence of multiple dogs is too exciting, and the other is that the puppy could pick up disease, especially parvo.

Dogs generally tolerate puppy antics, but Roxy may consider a four month old to be fully grown and expect more. You may end up needing to physically separate them.

 

[kelly]

Okay, so you might want to use a baby gate to separate them at first. Give Roxy something that smells the the new puppy (a towel, toy, etc) and give the puppy something that smells like Roxy. This should allow them to get used to eachother's scents. You could them 'graduate' them to having supervised encounters while on the leash. praise them for behaving properly and kindly. Continue that until you feel that they are comfortable together, but still watch carefully for any signs of aggression such as growling or snarling. Just give it a couple of weeks, be patient, and I'm sure it'll all work out. Good Luck!

 

[Xe Light]

The mistake you made is that you gave Roxy too much space, A dog that doesn't know his place in a family is not part of the family. Allowing your dog to attack others in the past was the big mistake and you should've told him back then to stop it. I doubt its the puppies fault.