Integration: Rules of the Game

Lucia, getting ready for a walk at Willis Tucker park in Snohomish.

Last post I spoke about the challenges of integrating my personal dogs and Lucia together. It has been going very well, but integration is done in a very controlled manner. Below are two of the principles we follow when practicing integration, and I'll follow up with the next rules soon! 

Rule #1: No unsupervised time together.

When I can't supervise, am too tired to supervise, or just need a break, then the dogs are separated. This is the most important one. If Sappho and Lucia get into a conflict they will not pull apart on their own. I have to be ready to step in and redirect before any conflict occurs, or at the very worst pull the dogs apart. It is irresponsible of me to not give 100% of my attention to the integration when I am dealing with dogs who will fight each other.  

The second portion of this is that I need downtime myself. Sometimes I've had a long day and I want to waste time online and not watch dogs, so I separate the dogs so I can take the time I need.  

Lucia is anxiously looking at Maya. Fortunately Maya is ignoring her as usual.

Rule #2: Less is More 
It may seem counter-intuitive, but having the dogs together for long periods of time isn't beneficial right now. Anytime they are together it causes stress and prolonged exposure to stress will lower the dog's threshold. If I keep them together for an hour when it should be 15 minutes, then I dramatically increase the chance of conflict. 

Instead, I do frequent, short integrations and I try to link them with positive events. For instance, the dogs all go outside together, eat together, and go to bed/get up together. I focus on these events to teach Lucia to associate positive events with the presence of other dogs, although I still limit the amount of time she interacts. 

For instance, our usual schedule when I get home is to feed the cat, then I go out into the backyard for 45 minutes or so for playtime. Lucia may be out there with us for 15-20 minutes, and then I put her inside to give her time to settle down. I may bring her back out in another 15-20 minutes for a shorter session, and finally we all go inside and eat as a pack.  

Sappho is relaxed and wagging. Lucia is angling away from Sappho with soft body language.

The second aspect to this is just like I need down times, so do my dogs and Lucia. It isn't just about keeping sessions short enough to be productive and minimally stressful, its about giving all the dogs breaks in between so they can release the stress that builds up and return their threshold to normal. Depending on our activity this varies. Frequently during weekends there are 2+ hour breaks  interspersed with 15 minute integrations. Sometimes it may be several <5 minute integrations over a couple hours. It all depends on the activity (I don't let the dogs mill around without an activity going on, I want them focused on something besides each other) and the current emotional state of each dog. It isn't uncommon to take several-hour breaks where I don't attempt integration because someone is currently too amped up or stressed and integration won’t be productive.  

Below is a video of our dinner time ritual. Notice how the dogs voluntarily space themselves, something I love. We didn’t start out doing meal times together. We started with Lucia separated and eating by herself. Then I put Maya outside (since she is higher energy at mealtime, Sappho will just sit there and watch) and prepared the food, and fed the girls separate. We eventually worked up to all the dogs eating in the same area, but I remain ready to interrupt any unwanted behavior. 

By the way, in the video you'll hear my husband ask if I'm giving Maya a salad. No salad, but the dogs do get lots of thawed frozen veggies with their dinner. Below you can see their typical fare - commercial prepared raw diet, green tripe, supplements, and frozen veggies. 

You’ll note that when I put Lucia’s food  bowl down I wait for her to sit while I don’t bother making my own dogs wait. One of Lucia’s skills that she needs to learn is impulse-control, so I make her work a little harder for some things (like her meals, going through doors, etc) to help teach her that self control. You will see me put the bowl down and pick it up though – that was an oops on my part! I should have picked it up as soon as her butt popped up since I hadn’t given her the release word, but my reflexes are a little slow with the camera! Nonetheless I do pick it up and make her sit and wait for the release word before she dives in.