Familiarity with scent prior to direct exposure reduces anxiety in dogs, in my experience. They’re less likely to react and more likely to form an immediate, positive association with the new scent.
Whether your pup is experiencing a new baby, housekeeper, dog or location, they’ll relax faster (and/or not get as stressed) if they’re initially allowed to experience the scent without being confronted with everything else (sound, movement, physical contact, etc.).
Example: I let new dogs off-leash in my secure yard to sniff and explore for 10-15 minutes while my pups are inside the house.
Visitor pup typically darts around, sniffing the entire space, somewhat frantically from the human perspective. After a while they slow down, spend more time on individual locations, and usually check in with me through eye contact. I wait until that happens before I allow the other dogs to join them.
Giving new dogs this opportunity takes a lot of pressure off of everyone. By the time my dogs enter the yard (off-leash), the new dog has encountered everyone’s scent already so they’re less likely to be startled by the new arrivals.
My dogs can smell the new pup’s scent in the yard, so they aren’t as compelled to rush to sniff the new pup as vigorously as they might, otherwise.
When introducing adult dogs to puppies for the first time, I always separate them by a see-through barrier, so the puppy isn’t scared. One overwhelming encounter can mean the puppy becomes fearful of bigger dogs at this impressionable age.
When I’m asked the best way for fearful or shy-reactive dogs to meet a housekeeper, I recommend human and dog go upstairs to a distant room or leave the house, until cleaning is completed.
The housekeeper will have been in the house a couple of hours by that time, and every room (except where the dog & their person waited) will be heavily imbued with housekeeper’s scent.
I then have the housekeeper leave the interior space, and let the dog off-leash to sniff everywhere for 10-15 minutes, minimum. When they begin to slow down and return to their people I know they’re ready for the next step.
I then have the leashed dog walk next to their person outside to see the housekeeper from a 6-10’ distance. Dogs can easily catch scents from 10’ feet away, so this provides them with a visual to match the scent they encountered inside. If this transpires without the dog becoming reactive (barking, bouncing on their front feet, lunging to the end of the leash) everyone returns indoors.
That’s a brief overview, obviously, but it gives you an idea of how this works. Neither exercise has ever failed me. By introducing dogs to scent non-confrontationally, their first engagement with the new baby/dog/housekeeper is typically 100% positive.
Dee Green has been a professional dog trainer and canine behavior consultant for more than 20 years. She specializes in puppies up to 18 months, and fearful, anxious and reactive dogs of all ages.
©️2024 Dee Green