Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I am new here and I have some questions about bringing home my new pomeranian. I already have 3 dogs: Buster, a 12 year old greyhound mix; Max, a 7 year old cattledog/GSD mix; and Lady, a 12 year old terrier mix. I know Benny gets along with my dogs as I've already had them meet, but I do have concerns.

At the bording facility where I work 2 small dogs (a 1.5 year old pom and 11 year old shih tzu) are to be given up by their owner. She has had them there since April 2006. She comes in monthly to pay for their stay, but never visits with them. Now some personal things have come up and she would like to give them up. My supervisor is taking the shih tzu and I am taking the pom, his name is Benny. I have known Benny since I started there in late August and he is wonderful but will need A LOT of work.

Benny was brought there at about 6 months old and has been there ever since. He is not potty trained, probably doen't even know what a house is or how to act in one, and has not been outside since April (as our facility is only indoors).

When I bring him home I plan to crate train him. I will keep him in the same room as me at all times and I will take him outside often to potty. The owner is also offering to pay for training for him because he is totally untrained (he does know sit, but that is about it). My three dogs have already met Benny and get along just fine with him, so hopefully no problems there.

One of my many concerns is that he is older now and has had a life of ease just going from his room to the play room and then back to his room, will he be harder to train than a young puppy that hasn't lived like this? He knows nothing of real life...I don't think hes ever seen snow or a hot summer day. How will he react to being outside (I hope he doesn't get some sort of weird condition with daylight or something). All the sounds in my house will be totally different to him...there will be no dogs barking all the time, but he will hear birds, the dishwasher, the vacuum, etc...

Is there any way to make this transition easier on him? Does anyone have any advice for me on how to get this poor pup acclimated to living a normal life? Is what I'm planning on doing going to work, should I add something else?

Plus there is always someone home, either myself or SO so he will rarely be alone.

Thanks so much!

All dogs of all ages are trainable and I don't believe it takes any more time to train an adult than it does a puppy overall, unless you are breaking bad habits (the potty issue will be one of those).

If I were taking this dog into my home, I'd find books on rescue greyhounds and apply the techniques they use for them on this dog. The situation is not too dissimilar.

One concern I would have though is the size of the pom in realtion to the size of your other dogs. The bigger dogs just in play could really hurt this small dog so you are going to have to limit their access to each other when not around and supervise a lot when you are around.

I wish you lots of luck with this rehome and rehab. I hope all works out for you.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles