# Puppy and Older Dog



## MicheleMarie (Mar 29, 2011)

My pup is now 14 weeks as of yesterday. He is very smart, house broken **gushes** lol. I had a few questions though. I have one older dog as well. She is a 7 year old shepherd mix female spayed (my pup is male). They do get along alright, they love to play but my older dog can get nippy. Like she is fine with him crawling on her blanket but as soon as he goes to chew it she snaps at him. She's also possessive of her toys so I gave the pup a plastic bottle to play with (something she has NO interest in) and after 4 days even with her own toys she wanted control over that too and will snap at him. She snaps at him if he's play biting me as well. In return when they play together the pup will bite her feet and her tail. She doesn't like her tail being bit so she'll snap at him then.
so my question is....is this normal? I know older dogs "teach" younger ones...but she actually gets her face into this nasty snarl when she does it. Most videos I looked at when the other dog went to nip it was just a quick simple thing. she'll get a snarl on her face and then nip. She's never bitten him hard (even though i know his teeth can't feel good on her).

what are some tips to have them live together well? Or is this normal for a pup this young? She of course will stop when I say no, but it doesn't prevent it from happening the next time. And sometimes I feel like when I tell her No she wants to stop playing all together and she'll make a grunt and lay on her blanket with my back turned to me.

any help would be great


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

You need to be the one in charge and make sure the two of them behave themselves. That means they do not get to snarl or snap, annoy, or otherwise be difficult. You need to step in and separate them when necessary, allow the older dog a way to get away from the pup when she's tired of him, remove any toys the old dog is possessive of, and redirect the pup to more appropriate toys and away from the older dog.

I never let an older dog snap or snarl at a puppy. If things are getting to that point, I will step in and change things so there is no need.


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## DougGeneration (Apr 28, 2011)

That's very typical for your older dog since she's feel a seniority over your pup, hence she'll want your undivided attention unlike now that you have a new pup.

Just as _Elaine_ suggested, step up and be the boss of all three of you. When one's misbehaving, which in your case is the older dog, let him know that what's his dong is wrong, negative reinforcement, I think you get the idea..

Pups are generally playful like that, so that's very normal.


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## ValleyGirl (Dec 31, 2010)

Constant supervision when they are together right now is my advice. Even then its tricky. I have an 8 month old GSD and a 13/14 year old Doberman. The Doberman is very gentle and not alpha even though he is a male (altered). But the two dogs love to play and that means mouthing each other -- I call it mouth wrestling. My husband and I all along have monitored their playing but its difficult to do this 100% unless the dogs are always separated and they like each other alot. Ironically we were trying to protect the arthritic old Dobie but its very possible that the puppy's recent surgery for a torn salivary gland (a difficult $2500 surgery by a specialist) was caused by this mouth wrestling. Not sure. 

Keep a lease on the puppy when the dogs are together in the house and if the puppy cannot be distracted by a toy then pull the puppy away and do something else with it. At least you have the hope that in time the two will respect each other's boundaries. I think by the time my puppy will reliably respond to my commands to stop the rough housing, my doberman will be gone. Good luck. Susan


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

For us there is no ruff playing in the house, they can play with toys, chew bones but no ruff playing with each other. My eyes are always glued to the dogs. I never left them together unsupervised in the house. There were a lot of times when I thought the pup pushed the older dog to her limit so I distracted the pup to find that the older dog was coming back for more play. So you really have to watch and learn to really read them. Any one outside of my home would think I had grizzly bears if they heard the growls and noises my dogs make, I know its all noise. My male still snarls at the pup, unfortunately he resouce guards (not with people just other animals except my older cat) anyway to me I would rather my pup see his snarled face because it says "leave me alone". Because dogs personalities vary so much its up to us to learn what they are really saying.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Elaine said:


> You need to be the one in charge and make sure the two of them behave themselves. That means they do not get to snarl or snap, annoy, or otherwise be difficult. You need to step in and separate them when necessary, allow the older dog a way to get away from the pup when she's tired of him, remove any toys the old dog is possessive of, and redirect the pup to more appropriate toys and away from the older dog.
> 
> *I never let an older dog snap or snarl at a puppy. If things are getting to that point, I will step in and change things so there is no need*.


The part I highlighted can't be stressed enough. Your older dog didn't have a vote about getting a new puppy in the house, and chances are they thought things were just fine! So to ask them to have the patience of a saint with a constantly biting pestering ANNOYING puppy may be too much for most dogs.

I got the puppy, so it's MY job to be the main playmate and teacher for my puppy. I need to always be around when both dog are out so I can monitor and make sure they BOTH play nice. Baby gates and crates can give the older dog some peace. 

And I know I have to work on MY bond with the new puppy. So packing just the puppy into the car for all the training and socializing we need gives the older dog a break. And the more of the off leash hiking you can do (with the older dog being able to 'escape') the more both dogs come home tired and well behaved!


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## MicheleMarie (Mar 29, 2011)

Okay, so today I started telling both of them NO when it started to get loud and if and when my older dog did her scrunched nose. I can now tell when he's annoying her and I put him on a leash and just keep him with me when he starts to do it. It'll probably take a few weeks but he already knows the word no so he's already catching on. I keep a toy on hand too so that when I say no and he stops I get his attention and give him the toy.
Ill just have to constantly be doing it but I am already constantly watching them as he's a puppy.  they are with me ALL day long every day. The only time I am not watching them is when I put them on the back porch but they've never had problems back there anyway.

thanks for the advice everyone and if you think of anything else I should know and some tips in regards to a puppy with an older dog let me know!!!


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