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Posted on 12/07/2013 by Heather Stevens in puppy socialising leadership old dog young pup Ask The Behaviourist

Many thanks to Amy for this question. Introducing new puppies to old dogs can be a problem at times. If you were an elderly, retired person, how happy would you be if someone asked you to live with a young child that always wanted to be playing and jumping around? Let's see what we can do to help the old dog ….

ensure that every puppy you get is well socialised and trained from the moment you get them home - this will set them up for life, and you up for future puppies

socialising is meeting 100 new dogs, 100 new people, and 100 new life situations in the first 12 weeks of life - don't waste your puppy's puppyhood, register for training classes in your area as soon as you get your puppy home

try not to be anthropomorphic about your pets - don't humanise them and treat them like people … it is normal and natural dog behaviour for an older dog to growl at a puppy to keep them out of their personal space, and the puppy will get the message much clearer from the other dog than from a human ... if a pup gets nipped by an older dog, it will most certainly think twice about jumping on them next time, and what seems like 'aggressive' behaviour from the older dog, is just a firm "stay out of my way"

there's no point in chastising an older dog for growling or snapping at a puppy because the message received by the old timer is that now two members of his family are giving him a hard time - you, and the puppy!

puppies are naturally fizzy, busy, and looking for things to get up to, most of the time, but by giving them plenty of mental stimulation throughout the day, such as the things we teach on our Puppy Experience course, there should be minimal upset between for an older member of the family

most puppies on the planet have their puppy-hood totally wasted and as dog owners we must do more to help them …some of the ways we can do this are:

take your puppy to training classes from the age of 10 weeks
don't dither with vaccinations - they are normally done at 8 and 10 weeks
don't delay with socialising - you have only the first 12 weeks of their life to get socialising done "big-time" otherwise it's too late because their socialising "window" closes at 12 weeks
download our free information sheet on Confinement Socialising at

http://www.wetrainanydog.com/Home/DietsandDownloads.aspx

teach them to inhibit their bite by the time they are 18 weeks old

make sure that you are fun for your pup … play lots of hide 'n' seek both indoors and out, to get your dog to want to be with you … if you're the most interesting thing in your pup's universe, they'll be too tired to jump all over the elderly!

ensure that your leadership is firm, fair and fun - that way, when the pup does to jump on the old dog and you say "leave", your request will be adhere to and not ignored! For more information on leadership, please feel free to download a copy of the "Leadership Plan" from our Free Downloads page at http://www.wetrainanydog.com/Home/DietsandDownloads.aspx

Heather Stevens MCFBA Dog Behaviour Specialist & Master Trainer

Training Dogs, Puppies & People since 1979

Tags: puppy socialising leadership old dog young pup Ask The Behaviourist

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