It's been awhile since I've come out of my normal lurking... But it's for good news! Mia is getting a little brother!





Here's little Luka, four and a half weeks old there! We get to pick him up next Friday! He was a surprise-we thought we were going to wait until fall but the breeder we were on a wait list contacted us about this little guy and we knew he was too perfect to pass up! This is the first puppy I've had since I was 7, so I'm super excited (and a bit overwhelmed-I'm a worrier). I've also never had more than one dog at a time-so I'm concerned about meshing. Mia is soooo excited for him-when we went to visit him and came home smelling of puppy she spent a good 10 minutes excitedly looking for him in the house.

I know they'll get along, but as a worrier, I'm afraid we won't be able to tell if Mias playing too rough with him or if her playing will be normal and we overreact to normal play behaviour. Any advice on how to not panic everytime they play hard, and recognize when we should intervene? I'm also concerned about making sure Mia knows we still love her to bits, especially since she's a rescue and has had such a sad past... But I think we'll eventually figure out a way to fairly divide attention...

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hey Dev you got a cute little bundle coming along.  I'll address your concerns and then add one of my own.

Luka. like any puppy, is going to push everyone's buttons.  Whether it's because he isn't house trained yet and you wake up and step in a puddle (hopefully a puddle!) or because he's trying to sneak into Mia's toy box or food bowl ... but that's all part of being a puppy, right??

Expect Mia to correct Luka ... that's just what dogs do.  If Luka tries to get into Mia's food bowl - for example - expect Mia to tell her "No!" and that will probably come with a growl and snap - non-contact but still a snap!  If it is a contact snap then you probably need to think about separate feeding areas for a while.

Play time - well, okay, you know that Husky play is ROUGH play.  With two adults it really is hard sometimes to tell if it's play or not.  Mia - and this all depends on how she was socialized as a pup - should know how rough she can be; she will probably be able to tell Luka that he's being too rough.  Puppy's learn early how rough they can play, by being corrected by an adult dog or their siblings.   To tell if Mia's being too rough for Luka - if Luka whines and tries to move away, Mia's being too rough.  Obviously, if there's any blood on Luka then Mia's being too rough.  If Luka heads under the couch / table it may be because he just wants time to regroup or it may be to have time away from the "big monster".  Play bows are a good indication that it's play - Mia will have her paws out, the front part of her body down and her tail waving in the air.

Correction often comes as a snap, sometimes the adult dog "just walks off", sometimes they go "passive aggressive" (doing nothing with a vengeance).  Obviously for the first few days (at least) their should be no unsupervised time together.  You need to find out how Mia's going to accept Luka - since she's already smelled the pup on you, the pup itself shouldn't be too big a surprise - just make sure that you have a leash on both of them when they meet the first time and given your situation, the best meeting place would probably be outside the breeders house (some place that neither "own")

My concern - and it may be just how I'm reading this is "How old will Luka be when you bring him him?" He's 4.5 weeks in the picture and you pick him up next Friday ... my first read of this suggested that he's going to be 6 weeks old which is WAY too early, but then you don't say how old that picture is ... You don't want to bing him home before 8 weeks and 10 is better. They learn so much during those last couple of weeks with their siblings ... Mia may fill the bill but you don't know how she was brought up so her corrections may be rougher than anyone is comfortable with.

Beautiful! Don't worry so much, Mia smelling you and getting curious is a good thing, give her your jacket to get used to the scent too. Just keep an eye out on Mia when you first introduce them, sometimes dogs may bite another dogs neck to show dominance but just listen for certain whelps. It's a normal thing to establish pack order and the beta will put other dogs in their place if needed (you should be the alpha dog, the leader--if not there's no respect) but Mia seems like she wouldn't have any problem, however I do agree with what was mentioned that 6 weeks is WAY too young. 8-10 weeks is generally best to take them home so they can learn corrections from their siblings and mother.

For example a pup will play with their sibling and the sibling whelps, the dog will know that it caused pain and know not to do it again. They wouldn't learn that after leaving their mom

He's going to be a bit over 8 weeks when we get him, I just havent gotten around to posting pictures until today. Mia had at least one litter of puppies in the past that we know of-she was dropped at the shelter pregnant- but the shelter took her pups from her and spayed her when they were 3 or 4 weeks old, so I'm not sure how much mothering she's done-the vet we have now thinks she may have been a puppy mill breeder so who knows if that was her first litter or not... She's played well with our old neighbors husky puppy just fine, but that was for short bursts not prolonged contact.

We got lucky tho, my fiancé was able to take some time off from work to spend with them the first few days, but normally they'll be separated when we aren't home. As far as feeding times go were pre planning on having two separate places on opposite sides of the kitchen for feeding. Mia doesn't have any food aggression towards people but I don't want to take chances right off the bat.

I'll have to keep in mind snapping as a correction and not panic the first time it happens. Good luck with that, me, haha. I think I'm just a ball of nerves.... Thanks so much for the advice tho it makes me feel much better!

Don't worry. Mothering is an instinctual thing, and it's the most awesome thing to watch. Before my current two, I had a girl who was 4 1/2 and I brought home a 8 week old puppy (boy). Anuschka had never been a mother, she grew up with her brother Blitz but he died at age 4 1/2. I got her the puppy, Malukhai, so she wouldn't be by herself and she was incredibly awesome with him. You will see things like Mia taking the puppy by the scruff of the neck, don't panic, just let her do her thing. Anuschka did an amazing job of helping me raise Malukhai and they were so close. With my current two, I had the boy, Kohdi, first, when I brought home Mishka. Be thankful you have the older girl already, lol. Kohdi thought I brought him home a "toy". Although awesome with Mishka, he likes to play and within minutes of introducing them, Mishka went slightly airborne when he tried to play with her. But other than him not really realizing how tiny she was compared to him, they've bonded so well and I really had no issues at all from day one. My battery is running out so I better stop, lol. But yeah, don't worry and congratulations! Your pup is adorable!

Ok, I'm plugged in now.

So with your concern about letting Mia know you still love her to bits. You will want them both to have alone time with you. Walks are one of the best ways to achieve that. It's easy at first cuz the puppy won't be going for walks until all the shots are done, so you will have Mia all to yourself on walks. I also did things like taking Kohdi in the car to the pet store, just little things that show they are still your "baby" of course as time goes on you will want to walk them together (walks are one of the best ways for the two of them to form stronger bonds). Then things like training can be your alone time with the pup. I do think you will find that Mia knowing you still love her to bits will be non-issue. I also truly think getting a second dog is one of the best things you can do for the dog you already have.

What a cutie!!! Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!!! One of the reasons we decided on getting another dog is so she can have a friend. I'm not too worried about her tossing him tho-her top two canines were snapped when we rescued her so she can't grip and carry things too well-but I bet you she'll try! I'm hoping Luka will bring her out of her shell a bit too.

We were a little worried (as multi dog newbies as well) at first, but after a few days the two of them are inseparable. If we try to separate them they howl and howl. They spend the majority of the day laying on the floor chewing on each other. Its just so cute.

Your fluff ball is adorable <3 I can't wait to see pictures of the two together.

Congrats on your impending new bundle of joy

I welcomed my second 3 weeks ago so I understand the trepidation but it will be ok. My older dog Orion has been amazing with the puppy Daea and I have barely had to intervene at all. Don't panic or hover, if you are stressed your older dog will pick up on that and may well view the pup as what is "wrong" so best you just let them sort out their differences. I noticed when Daea first came home Orion tended to give her "time out" as a correction rather than a snap - he would pin her to the ground with a paw until she calmed down if she was being unruly or would pick her up and carry her away. Now that she is a bit bigger and rougher there is the odd air snap happening but Orion never makes contact with his teeth and Daea responds appropriately by licking his muzzle in acceptance etc so I do not discourage or intervene when he snaps at her. If the play does get a bit rough Daea yelps a very high pitched sound and Orion will back off so they kind of self moderate with play - the only time I have broken up play is when they gang up and think they will "play" with the cat lol. As far as spending time with Orion, he gets his walks twice a day with me, we are doing classes 4 times a week at the moment so that is just one on one time and at nights I pop Daea in her crate for half an hour or so with a frozen kong and just do some training or games etc with Orion and then swap them so he gets a frozen kong and she gets my time that way they both get one on one time and tasty treats with some chill out time

Well, we brought Luka home today! So far, the introductions have gone great!





Dunno why my phone is uploading them flipped...

But yeah. Mias being a good mama and is a trooper.

The only thing I'm worried about is when she doesn't want to play he pulls out clumps of her fur. Should we be worried about that? Mia hasn't shown any signs of it hurting but I imagine it's painful...

Other than that good news all around!!!

What a cute puppy! Mako does that to Kai. It's fine. He just likes to eat the clumps and then would throw them up. With us, if mako is bothering Kai too much we stop him from bothering her. Sometimes the puppy energy overwhelms her.

SO cute! Having two is amazing!

Awww, these pics are adorable! Congratulations! love the name too, I was going to name my Kohdi, Luka...but a neighbor got a puppy a week before I got Kohdi and of all names, they named him Luka, lol.

Keep the pics comin'!

Luka is adorable and so glad the intros went smooth. Enjoy your new fluff ball, and can't wait to see more pics.

Braggy mama moment:

Luka slept through a WHOLE NIGHT last night, WITHOUT screaming like we're torturing him! And he's (seemingly) learned not to poop in the house, and somehow is managing only little peepees inside! I expect he'll rebel in a few days and unlearn it all, but man- he's a smarty-pants!