Hi, I have an 8 year old bitch who is well behaved and very calm. Last week we bought home a dog puppy and unfortunately she doesn't like him. She is going out of her way to avoid him. He would like to play with her and sniffs round her but if he gets too close she just runs off. My girl is very affectionate but seems happier to be out of the way and will go and sit in her crate or on the settee out of his way. I feel very bad about this and have encouraged her to come and sit with me and interact with the new pup but to no avail. How can I get her to relax around him and come into the room?
Any advice?

As long as she isn't being aggressive at this stage there is every chance that she will get to like him.
I had the same thing many years ago and it took a full week before the older girl gave encouragement to come and play. They remained best of friends until the day they died.

Shes maybe frightened she will hurt the puppy. Give her time. I brought a puppy in when my westie was 10. She was very apprehensive of the puppy and would run away. They went on to become great friends even sleeping in the same bed some nights.
Jean

Also she is setting boundaries of respect as puppies can take an awful lot of liberties, it is far to early for them to be real Friends just yet.

Some adults just don't do puppies and won't do more than tolerate them until they grow up a bit.

I had an adult dog (12 yr old male) when I brought my puppy (male) home. The adult dog looked completely disgusted by the pup and would even scream if pup came anywhere near him in the begining :( It took several weeks before the adult came around to the idea, and from then on they gradually became closer and became great playmates, in time the adult dog even allowed the pup to sleep in his bed with him :)

Give her time and don't feel bad about it, if you don't make it a big deal for her it will be easier for her to accept there is now a bouncy, nippy playfull puppy in the house :)

i would in no way force your adult dog to be with the puppy but let things just take time. always give your dog an escape route to get away from the puppy. a lotof dogs don't like puppies because there too bouncy and frighten them but seeing as your dog is not showing aggression then i'm sure this will just take a matter of time before they get used to each other.
don't let the puppy try and jump on your dog as you don't want to upset her and also the pup needs to learn that it's not good manners to do this.
also make sure they both get one to one attention so you older girl doesn't feel left out and you get chance to bond and start some training with the new arrival.
these things can take time as i've found out myself. it maybe worth putting a stair gate up on the kitchen door so if they need space and time apart they can and also if the pup gets over excited you can seperate them for a little while. i found this helped a lot.
i'm sure in a couple of weeks  things will be a lot different but don't rush things.   

Thank you so much for your advice, it has reassured me quite a bit. I'll keep you updated!

My old girl a tervuren hated playing with any dog outside so when any of my friends had pups I would play with her and ignore the pup,I would play tug of war with her eventually the pup would get the other side rather than me and she did play tug with the pup tentatively at first, it looked so funny this massive hairy girl playing tug with some tiny 8 week old collie! Going out for walks together and lavishing extra love and attention on her will make them happy rather than you being all for the new pup.

Hi, I have a 3yr old bitch and a 12week old pup.
The pup tries to take liberty's with my older dog by chewing on her ear's and hind leg's. She doe's not like it really and is almost scared of the pup...sometimes i wish she would tell pup off.
I dont allow it to happen if i get there first before pup...but i have to be quick.luckly for me my older girl has fantastic nature.
Pup is just understanding the meaning of NO and runs when she see's me coming...cheeky little thing.
I seperate them quite regular to give older dog some peace...and never leave them together if i go out...pup is always in a puppy pen.

Good luck im sure they will soon be friend's.

It sounds normal to me too.  When i brought my girl home, i already had a 14 month old boy and the sheer look of horror on his face remains with me to this day.  He could barely bring himself to even glance at her.  It also makes you feel so guilty, and i remember thinking had i done the right thing.  I am so pleased to say that as time went on, tbh we are talking probably about 1 year, they slowly became friends.  They are now 4 and 5 years old and are absolutley brilliant together now.  So it may take some time but i hope yours end up the best of friends too.

I can't speak for what it's like to have to introduce a puppy to an adult bitch, but giving space seems to be the order of the day. I have two adult dogs and a new 14 week old pup who gave them the horrors at first. It was almost comical watching them take refuge together on the sofa safely out of the pup's reach--the two older boys have been good friends but not inseparable by any means. They've been very good to the pup, all in all, but don't hesitate to grab his ears when he gets out of hand. That said, this pup initiates the play fighting and appears quite capable of standing up to them. I keep a close watch and they don't have any unsupervised play together indoors. Barking is strongly discouraged from getting out of hand and there are enforced breaks where the pup is removed to a crate for short rests (that's the theory, but he hates it and won't nod off if I'm around). Outdoors, this pup stays on a lead while the other two have their exercise off the lead. The older boys get plenty of 'me time' with me, away from the pup--and the pup gets his share of attention too. Hard to juggle sometimes, but then I asked for it!

Hi, thank you for all the advice. Things have got better and worse over the last few weeks. My 8 year old still avoids him a little however is getting used to being climbed over and followed around everywhere. She has given him some warning barks when he gets too much and thankfully nothing worse than this.

However, I know seem to have developed problems with my 8 year old. She has over the last 3 days become reluctant to go out for a wee in the garden. She has a minimum of 3 walks a day, 8am, 11am and 8pm, with an extra one squeezed in around 4pm on 4 days a week but has now stopped going for the 6.30am and 10.30pm wees in the garden. I think this is because she doesn't like being followed around by an energetic puppy, so I have stopped him going out for wees with her and I let them out separately. I have now sat here for just over an hour with the back door open so she can go out freely (she hasn't) and I've also encouraged her to go out with a treat. That didn't work. Like I said before she is normally very obedient.
What can I do?

I forgot to mention. She wees normally on all the walks. It's just the garden I'm having problems with.
Thank you :)

i wouldn't worry too much as your older dog is having lots of walks during the day and i expect doing nearly all the toileting she needs to then.
i expect it's just a matter of time for things to settle down but i would carry on letting her have the chance to go in the garden on her own as she doesn't like being followed round by the pup in the garden.
As long as she's not weeing in the house because she doesn't want to go out then just don't put any pressure on her to go out, just leave the back door open and go on with your normal routine. i'm sure she'll  go out if she needs to. maybe take a ball outside or what ever game she likes playing but leave the pup inside, a bit of running around usually prompts a wee before coming back in the house to relax.
i think it's still early days and things will settle in time, so just try to carry on as normal else your older dog will pick up on your worrying or being stressed. dogs like a routine so it's best to just keep things as normal as before the pup but still give her space on her own.
it's ok for your dog to let the pup know she isn't happy being messed around with but just keep an eye on things. also it's up to you to teach the pup not to bother the other dog too much ie either give the pup time out if he gets over excited or distract with treats so he learns that not jumping on her is much better fun.
as he gets older he will learn where the boundaries are and when to leave her alone or when to play with her but like a small child he needs help knowing whats acceptable behaviour and whats not.    

could your 8 year old be associating the garden with the noise of fireworks?  Although my dog is ok with fireworks I used to have nightmare neighbours with horrible children and my dog wouldn't go out in the garden incase the children were there woofing at her or throwing things.  thankfully the neighbours moved and all is well now.  Could you do some positive associations in the garden like throwing a handfull of food out there for her to find?

Hi, thanks again for your advice. She hasn't got any problems with the garden. It's just the whole puppy following her I think. Rather than get worked up about it, I'll just take her out down the street at night instead. I don't want to create any further bad associations. I'll try the treats again although i'll just give her some time. I tried leaving the door open again this afternoon while the puppy was sleeping but she didn't want to know. My biggest worry if she doesn't empty her bladder is that she'll give herself an infection. Hopefully, I'll be able to avoid this though.
Thanks again Bear & Cheekychow, it's good to be reassured!

I have a 6 year old and a just turned 1 year old and still use stair gates so the 6 year old gets peace.  she is a grumpy mare at the best of times but would just hide upstairs given the chance so the younger one lives mainly in the kitchen with the gate seperating them.  It is french doors I have so not totally seperate but even when the gate is open they will both gravitate to their 'own' spaces.