Introducing a new puppy

[groomerdude23]

My fiance and I just got a brand new 7 week old puppy a few days ago. We have a five year old dog already. We introduced them on mutual ground outside. My older dog tries to avoid the puppy, for example, he doesn't even look at the puppy and walks away whenever the puppy comes around. We have been blantantly nicer to the older dog, letting him have his treat first, letting him go outside first, giving him his toy first, letting him sit on the couch next to us first. A lot of first. My 5 year old dog has been paralyzed for two years now and uses a wheelchair to get around in when we take him for walks. Otherwise, he just walks around freely. Anyways, twice now the older dog has "scared" the puppy when he jumps on him and he runs away. Recently, he really scared him and sent the puppy running from him and yelping. The older dog was not prepared for the jump. The puppy wasn't hurt, but I think he was just really scared. Titus, the older dog, has played with other dogs before, but they are dogs that are big enough to be played with. Titus is 24 lbs and I think he is just nervous when it comes to playing with a little 2 pounder. Are there any suggestions? Is this normal? My fiance and I have just been letting the occurences happen because we heard it's the dog way.

[sheilabgroomer]

Your older dog is establishing the pecking order, and as long as he isn't being agressive I would let them be. If you watch a mamma dog w/her pups she will often snap and send her babies yelping when they get out of hand. Doesn't hurt them anymore than when I fuss at my kids and they start to cry.

I say leave them alone and let the older dog teach the pup his place in the household. If you see Titus actually attackin the puppy that would be different story and you would need to address that issue. BTW, do you have any pictures you could post? Love to see the new pup and Titus in his wheelchair.....dogs are so amazing!

[Helly]

We just went through this with Oli and Whiz, although Whiz was a bit older when we brought him home. And as hard as it was, we had to let Oli teach Whiz his dog manners. That meant allowing Oli to discipline Whiz when he got too cheeky. And trust me on this one, another dog will get the lesson taught a lot faster than a human ever can.

Did Oli scare Whiz on occasion? Yep. Did he ever hurt Whiz? Nope. Is Whiz still cheeky on occasion? Yep, but he knows when he's crosssed the line and apologizes profusely. He's just testing the water, now that he's growing his big boy pants. Are Oli and Whiz best buddies? Most definately. They run and play constantly. They share toys. They make up games. And when they're tired, they curl up together and nap. But if Oli tells Whiz "Go away kid. You bother me." Whiz is respectful and leaves him alone.

If you've ever watched a mother dog discipline her pups, you know what I mean. Her corrections are quick, strong, and to the point. She's not wishy-washy about it, and her "NO" always means no. She rarely has to make her point more than two or three times. We humans could take a lesson or two from mother dogs.

One of the most important lessons your older dog is teaching your pup right now is bite inhabition. And it's equally important that you allow him to do so. If puppy doesn't learn to curb his enthusiasm now, he probably never will. And lessons learned at this age are permanent. They last a lifetime. So do allow your older dog to show puppy the ropes.

Honestly, this stage is pretty short lived. I think it lasted maybe two weeks with Oli and Whiz. In your situation, because of your pups age, it may take another week or two. But that's still pretty short. If you sit back and enjoy the show, you'll learn a lot about dog's social behavior, how they communicate, and how they discipline each other. I wouldn't intervene unless it looks like tempers are really flaring, and someone could get hurt.

One other thing I feel I should mention. It's good right now that you're putting your older dog in a position of authority over the pup, because he needs that in order to discipline the pup. But if you want to avoid problems in the future, at some point you do need to give puppy some of the "firsts". Sometimes Whiz has to wait while Oli gets first attention, but sometimes Oli must wait while Whiz gets to be first. That's because, ultimately, the humans in the house are always first, and always call the shots. We're the leaders, we make the decisions, we make the rules.

I don't consider myself the "alpha" member of the pack. And in truth, I don't think dogs ever consider a human to be an "alpha dog". But I do consider myself to be "She Who Must Be Obeyed." And my dogs consider me to be that, too.

[Kim in SD]

Helly, I just had to mention how well you write. You should have your own section here. Like Ann Landers..

[hairdevil]

I have a 98lb Doberman. I also have a 7 pound dachshund, and just brought in a 4lb Hairless Chinese Crested. Now given these numbers, who do you think is the boss? Of course, the Doberman. My doxie, Wiggle Lee will challenge him once in awhile, but he knows the Dobie is boss. The crested, Piglet is very submissive to him and when she and Wiggle are scuffling, Luke will intervene..Wiggle just looks at him and Piglet hits the ground! lol He's never hurt either of them, but its their way, and their world. The power struggle, to say, is between the female crested and the male doxie, she does not back down! So it seems the order has been established with them. Do they know who the Alpha is? you bet and its me!!! The dobie understands that perfectly well!!! the doxie? sometimes lol Just let them be dogs, it will all settle down shortly and they will all be pals!

[eli]

Sounds like you are doing great

Before I knew better, when introducing a new dog, if things got uncomfortable for me, I would but in, making the situation more unpleasant for longer than needed. If I would have stayed out of it & let the dogs sort it out, (they know how & they will most of the time) things would have been better.

BTW never leave them alone together until you are very certain they can be trusted to get along completely in your absense.
For my peace of mind, mine are seperated when I'm not here.

Erica

[HoundLover]

my friend has 5 dogs and 1 foster...she has 3 rotties, 1 pit pup, and 1 aussie x. and the foster is a rottie mix pup. now...her two rotties are older...one is 10 and the other is like 7ish i believe? one has bone cancer( 7ish) and the other has a thyroid disease). now...she has a young rottie intact male (waiting for him to fill out to see if she can show him) about 2 yrs old, just got the pit puppy this week, and the aussie x is probably about 3 or 4 yrs old?
and the rottie x pup is about the same age as the pit pup (about 16 wks old maybe the rottie x is a little older?) dont know...they are about the same size. but anyways....the pit pup wont go near rex (bone cancer dog) as she's scared of him. moo wont go near him either (ie walking around the couch where rex is laying on the floor) because rex gets pissy sometimes and he puts them in their place. ie just growling at them to warn them to back off. if they dont listen they get snapped at (no contact though). now the other dogs in the household HAVE to learn to respect the OLDER dogs in the household that have been there before them. everyone has their place in the pecking order and the dogs need to figure it out for themselves...sometimes it can be the smaller dog that is the most dominant...other times its the larger dogs that are more dominant.
now if the older dog is harrassing the puppy (ie really getting intent on hurting the puppy) then id intervene...but other than that...just let them be together under supervision until your sure they will be fine with each other.
JMHO
Hound

[twodogs]

I adopted my new puppy Sandy in Sept she was 11 weeks old. Maggie is 10yrs old. As Helly said we let Maggie do the "training". The first two or three weeks Maggie didn't want to play at all but after she showed Sandy who was boss she eased up and started acting like a puppy. Now they do everthing together. I couldn't have asked for a better union between these two dogs. Maggie has been such a huge part of our lives for the past 10 years and now we have another new member of the family that has fit in perfectly.