I think I read somewhere that you should introduce them at first with both dogs in their creates and then let the established dog out to investigate while the new dog stays in the create. We did this for probably 3 weeks because Marsha arrived in heat so there was NO CONTACT. Normally I think they suggest only a week or two.
After 3 weeks we tried to introduce them on leash, but still had problems. The male Ozzy (a small dominant Sheba) immediately tried to attack Marsha, a lg. GSD. She was fine... He was an ass. He has always had little big dog syndrome.
Since that didn't go so well, we leashed Ozzy to the coach and let Marsha check him out while on a drag leash. If we had done it the other way Ozzy would have just gone after her. Since she had more manners we gave her more leeway. That seemed to work pretty well. She would casually check him out and over time they did the butt sniffing and now they get along great. It took time but both my dogs were adults. I suspect Cujo will have better manners with a puppy.
I think you need to be cautious but every dog is different so there is no absolute correct way to do it. The only thing I would be super concerned with is that Lyka is still in the imprinting stage... so you want every encounter she has with another dog to be a positive experience. One mess up could scare her for life.
Ozzy was attacked as a puppy and I think that is why he is dog aggressive to this day.
PS... I soon realized the real problem with Ozzy was a ranking issue. We had to do a lot of work to drill it into his little head that he was not the pack leader. He is a much better dog today.
After 3 weeks we tried to introduce them on leash, but still had problems. The male Ozzy (a small dominant Sheba) immediately tried to attack Marsha, a lg. GSD. She was fine... He was an ass. He has always had little big dog syndrome.
Since that didn't go so well, we leashed Ozzy to the coach and let Marsha check him out while on a drag leash. If we had done it the other way Ozzy would have just gone after her. Since she had more manners we gave her more leeway. That seemed to work pretty well. She would casually check him out and over time they did the butt sniffing and now they get along great. It took time but both my dogs were adults. I suspect Cujo will have better manners with a puppy.
I think you need to be cautious but every dog is different so there is no absolute correct way to do it. The only thing I would be super concerned with is that Lyka is still in the imprinting stage... so you want every encounter she has with another dog to be a positive experience. One mess up could scare her for life.
Ozzy was attacked as a puppy and I think that is why he is dog aggressive to this day.
PS... I soon realized the real problem with Ozzy was a ranking issue. We had to do a lot of work to drill it into his little head that he was not the pack leader. He is a much better dog today.