ic help. my dog doesn't like my puppy
N/- By babebullet8 Date 22.07.13 18:38 GMT
Hi all really hope you can help. I have a deer hound he is 3 years old a totally relaxed chilled out baby. I have borough a new puppy home he is a patterdale cross Lakeland. My deer hound is scared of him. Runs upstairs all time or outside. Soon as puppy comes near my deer hound runs where ever he can to get away. I do put puppy in kitchen for an hour a night so my deer hound can go where he likes. I also praise my deer hound when he enters same room as puppy. He still gets loads of attention and love. It has been only 5 days now but I can't see much change.does anyone have any ideas.is this something that will work out over abit of time? Do we know how much time? Thank you in advance everyone xx

Hi, this behaviour sounds very normal in my experience. I have brought many puppies home over the years, and it seems to take my older dogs about 3 weeks or so to come round to the fact this interloper is staying permanently.

Be patient and understanding and allow the big boy to escape when he needs to, all will be well in the end.

Dawn R.

Hi dawn thank you so much for the reply. My big baby has been mothered and spoilt abit and I'm scared he will feel we don't love him if we keep the pup and he has to keep going upstairs. Do you think this is right or am I just being stupid lol once again thank you so much. Dawn w x

You said you are making sure your older dog is getting plenty of attention and in that you're doing the right thing, he'll find it very reassuring. He needs a bit of time to get used to the way things have changed, and he will. Just keep doing what your doing.

Dawn R.

I bought a puppy in here 4 weeks ago, and the not-keen dogs are only now starting to come around to the prospect - and she is a fairly calm, sensible pup and was already 11.5 weeks old and past the worst of the manners-learning when she got here!

Many adult dogs don't like puppies, I'd say most in fact don't, it will take time :-)  Make sure puppy is kept busy and not allowed to pester, you'll get there.

I introduced a puppy when my existing dog was about fourteen months. Despite still being a pup/young dog herself, she wasn't happy with the new arrival. She hated the pup cuddling up to her in her bed and gave the pup a thorough telling off when she stuck her head in the food bowl. The older dog was able to clear off upstairs or go out on walks to give her time away from the pup and I never left them alone together until I was certain she wouldn't hurt the pup, not that she showed any signs of that. It did take several weeks for her to realise the pup was staying and actually it was quite good fun to have a permanent playmate. They became the best of friends and loved each other dearly.

Thank you to both of you. I'll keep trying x

All sounds pretty normal to me.  When I got my second Bearded Collie I was amazed that my beautiful girl with the lovely temperament was growling!  She lived squeezed behind the settee for the first fortnight.  They eventually realise that the puppy is staying.  :-)

Yes, mine usually sulk for a few days or even a week - in fact, I'm not completely convinced that one of them isn't still hoping that the 3 year old will go away one day!

I agree three weeks was the magic number  here as well.We lost our old girl in jan,at 13 yrs...,,,she had grown up for ten years with my other dog...talk about symbionts...they walked in brace, shared treats,loved each other to bits. Then she died with a brain stroke...literally from one day to the next...gone.......The second dog  was so lost,didn't eat,mourned her best friend.
So what did we do...we brought in a new pup,same breed....but a bouncing male.   yeuwwww.If a dog could snort disdain ,my girl did.Worse still he arrived at night after a long flight from Sweden and was put on our bed as the old pair had been...whaaaat.?Her world turned upside down overnight...we had a week of snarls, a week of denials and a week of warming up.Now after three months she accepts him,but still refuses his invites to play and his toys that he brings  to her.
I don't expect them to be best friends,but I'm happy that my old darling now accepts him...that's all I ask of her.She no longer leaves the room at his arrival,will share my double bed with him and travels nicely in a car next to him.She is a good soul...so is he...it will all work out as will your new arrival.My best advice is have patience and don't expect too much too soon.Plus each new pairing is different ....nothing can ever be the same .

I found this to a certain extent too.  My adult dog kept getting out of the way of the puppy.  There came a day when due to the pup's insistence Meg started to play with him.  It did take a few weeks.  She still likes her space - pup gets it if he dares touch her when she is sleeping - but he has learnt to tread carefully.  

Bump.

I'm sure that with some dogs it's based on length of time spent together BUT in my case it was definitely related to the age of the puppy too.  One of my dogs went out of his way to avoid any and all contact with the puppy but once the pup reached the magic age of 12 weeks he was better tolerated and my older dog even started to initiate play.  Full acceptance took a very long time though and really only in the last year that my older dog will share sofa space - my 'pup' will be 3 years old next month!

There have been many threads on this topic over the years but this one contains some good advice