Adding a new dog to the household

Question
My fiancee and I love dogs and have always been wanting dogs. First we got a female lab/chow mix from the humane society and then a year later we got a male chihuahua.  At the beginning there was tension between the two, but they got over it.

I recently adopted an 8week old female rat terrier and there seems to be more tension now between the dogs.

The lab is playful sometimes with the new puppy, but it also feels like she is annoyed by the new pup.  I heard her growl at the new pup today when I was feeding her and the puppy went to eat from the bowl. I will get the puppy a bowl of her own to eat from.

Now the chihuahua is the baby of the family and always got the attention from everyone. Now I think he is jealous and doesn't even want to do anything with the new dog. He will run away from her and he is acting very distant from us. We have a cage for him, and it has a separator. We put him in there and the new puppy on the other side, but I think I will change that, because i think its putting too much strain on the chihuahua and is not liking it.

If you can, please give me so tips on how to ease the new transition of puppy to my dogs.

Answer
Hi Chris,

Congratulations on getting a new puppy!

Dogs have a complex social order that is often ignored, or unseen by their human owners. Just as your Lab mix had to come to an "understanding" when you first brought home the Chihuahua, so the does the new puppy have to  find it's social standing in the "pack".

The Lab and Chihuahua probably ARE jealous of the new puppy, since no doubt their routine has been disrupted, and the puppy is getting a lot of the attention which used to be lavished on them. Continue to treat the Chihuahua as the family baby if that's how you've always treated him.

You need to make a special effort to show the Lab and Chihuahua that they're still special to you. Play with them alone, take them with you more often on errands, talk to them more, give them longer walks, etc. Say hello to them first, before greeting the puppy.

The puppy should have it's own feeding bowl, toys, bed and crate too. Don't force the Lab or Chihuahua to be close to the puppy, they'll come around in time on their own terms.

A puppy's boundless energy level can annoy some adult dogs. Before the age of 4 months, puppies may not recognize subtle body postures from adult dogs which are signals they have had enough. Well-socialized adult dogs with good temperaments can set limits with puppies with a growl or snarl. These behaviors should be allowed. The Lab is actually teaching the puppy the rules of social behavior.

You should expect some growling, pushing around and even minor fights. Some fights may look and sound ferocious, but allow them to continue. It is all normal and natural. This is how dogs settle their differences, and work out the all important pack social standings. Unless you one of the dogs is really going to get hurt, do not interfere.
Stopping these spats can actually cause more behavior problems, since the dog's have not resolved their social issues.

As the puppy matures the growls and spats will probably stop. Female dogs and male dogs each have their own roles in the pack, and usually can get along with each other in the home without injury.

Don't forget to spay the puppy sometime between 8 weeks and 4 months of age.
If a dog is spayed prior to the first heat, the odds of developing mammary cancer later in life are less than 1%. If spayed between the first and second heat periods the risk increases to about 8%. If spayed at any time after the second heat period, the risk of mammary cancer is about 25% in the dog (same as in an unspayed dog).

In time, the dust will settle, and the new puppy will be an accepted member of your pack.

I hope I've been a help.

Best of luck,

Patti