Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:26 am Post subject: New Pup and Older Dog.
This subject crops up time after time, so I thought I'd write a little piece on it to help put any worried minds at rest.
I think a lot of us, myself included in the beginning, have a bit of a fairytale image of the older dogs falling head over heels with the new pup, the moment it totters through the front door. Ok with some older dogs this may well happen.....some dogs genuinely LOVE puppies.....but a LOT don't.
Puppies don't come with any manners. They upset the usual routine, they are rough and often noisy.......and generally they don't know when to stop. No wonder a lot of adult dogs get miserable and grumpy with the nuisance intruder.....the pup walks in and turns their nice cozy world upside down. This doesn't mean that the pup won't "grow" on the original occupants though.
If you make sure that the older dogs can get away from the pup when they want to and if you make sure that the pup doesn't pester the living daylights out of them, things usually come good in the end.
Sometimes this takes only a matter of days and other times it can take several months and this can vary from pup to pup because of their different personalities....but in the vast majority of cases, they WILL bond in the end . So don't rush things; let the older dog take it's time in getting to know the pup.
There is no need to try to "make it up" to the older dog or to make sure it gets extra attention, as this may make it think it has a good reason to be upset. But do make sure it has an escape route, so it can rest without being pestered, pulled about and jumped all over.
Personally, I DO let my older dogs occasionally tell off a youngster (if they have the balls to), when it is being particularly bad mannered but I think you have to know your own dogs very well to allow this. In telling off, on very rare occasions, mine have flipped the pup over and held it by the throat whilst really growling .... and to some people this may look as if the older dog is killing the pup, especially if it squeals. I don't allow this very often though because I don't really want the older dog having to be that fed up, in fact it has probably only happened once or twice and often the telling off just consists of a snap, a grumble or even just a "look".
I don't allow "bullying" whether that is the pup bullying the older dog, or the older dog picking on the New Kid.....as far as I'm concerned "I" am the Boss and bullying "Ain't Nice!".
Other than that I tend to just sit back and wait for that moment when the older dog either initiates play with the pup, or decides that it would be nice to share a sleeping space with them. Then I know things are moving in the right direction .
As I said before though.....these things can't be rushed.
Last edited by _Jules_ on Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
Thanks Jules at the moment I have a 11 month old and an 8 week old who are full on all the time. They seem to be liking each other but it is nice to read someones post about the issues of balancing the two. We are only in week 2 so a long way to go!
with us its ollie most of the time that wants to play and maisie is only to happy to oblige they tend to creatate more noise than anything else usually because maisie is hanging off ollie's face but if we have seperated them because we think they are getting to rough they both cry to be put back together and carry on there sparring
Brings back fond memories of Perro pup and Patsie (Patsie was 12 years old).
The look on Patsie's face when Perro first arrived - WHAT'S THAT?????
She got used to him and did play with him (I think he put a spring back into her) but she would soon let him know when she'd had enough. Pesky puppy!
I made sure Patsie had plenty of one-to-one attention.
Perro pup and Patsie
Sadly Patsie died. Perro was 12 months old.
Harry arrived when Perro was 18 months old and they took to each other straight away. To see a 5kg pup wrestling and pinning down a 30kg dog was brilliant.
Perro didn't need any one-to-one he had a new playmate.
Thanks Jules for the post - I read with interest as this is the situation I am at the moment. As you say you have this fairy tale image - especially as Denzel is usually so sociable, and at the moment he doesnt have much interest in his younger brother, he would rather have me time.
Thanks for this Jules. Pud is finally starting to accept Sydney (they are both curled up on Pud's bed at the moment and for the first time Sydney was there first and Pud went to him rather than Sydney daring to put his head on the very corner whilst Pud is in it )
I think pud is realising that Sydney can be quite good fun but I am keeping an eye on them as it can get a bit rough sometimes and when Sydney has nipped Pud one to many times he is getting a proper telling off with bully boy Pud taking it a little too far
I am confident that they will be best of friends when pesky pup has grown into a big boy!
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. So don't rush things; let the older dog take it's time in getting to know the pup.
Perro was 12 months old.
