Hi all, I have a 6 year old male Labrador, he is a kind dog but takes a while to accept other male dogs being around. We decided to get a puppy because we fell in love with her, she is also a Labrador and is only 8 weeks old. When we got her we walked straight into the house and didn't pay any of them any attention and they got on fine.
They play out in the garden every couple of hours and play nicely, he likes the puppy to chase him and chases her to, but it is very rare he shows dominant behaviour towards her.
We've only had her 3 days so someone sleeps downstairs with them just in case anything happens between them in the night.
When she lays on the floor he goes a wide distance to go past her, if she comes up to him when he is on the sofa (she cannont get up yet) he growls and snaps at her, but don't think he touches her and she yelps and goes under the couch.
is there anything I can do to discourage him from attacking her, or should I just let him carry on? We don't give the puppy more attention than him and if anything we give him more attention than her.
We have tried putting her in a crate but she cries and he cries too and tries to open door with his paw, so she just goes in there for breakfast and when she wants somewhere quite.
Not interested in people telling me to rehome her as she is not going anywhere, would just like some advice on stopping my older lab going for her.
Thanks in advance

Leave them he's just teaching her manners and laying down the law for now anyway she will soon take over.

He isn't attacking her, he's telling her he doesn't want her joining him there.

Try not allowing him on the furniture and see what difference that makes.

It sounds simply like your older dog is simply showing the new puppy what is and is not acceptable. The puppy can only learn boundaries by allowing the older dog to show appropriate discipline.

From his perspective, sometimes it is nice to have a little thing to play with, but he does not want his sleep disturbed, or his cuddle time interrupted so he corrects her through the use of growls and small snaps just as her mother would have done.

However, I have to say quite strongly, that I would never leave a pup unsupervised with an older dog.

I would suggest a large puppy pen is used until your puppy is at least six months old. The puppy pen will allow the older dog some quality time away from the puppy when the puppy becomes just too much for him to deal with. It will provide somewhere where she can play safely whilst you are not able to supervise their interactions and it may be beneficial that they sleep in different rooms until she is old enough to understand the boundaries that he has placed on their relationship.

I would spend some time properly crate training her (you wouldn't have been able to do it over 3 days). That way she will appreciate having her own space, won't cry when she knows that at night it's her bed, and you won't have to sleep down stairs just in case.

The older dog will also appreciate not having to change his routine for the puppy. You say she already is crated at breakfast and when she wants some where quiet. If you spend some time playing crate games 1 on 1 and reward she will soon learn that is her space.

I don't think anyone would suggest rehoming the pup

Apart from it being perfectly natural and necessary for the adult to teach her manners and what he will and won't tolerate, many adult dog, especially males are not very comfortable with very young puppies. 

Even all my girls who have had pups themselves don't consider the pups I keep one of the gang until around 3 months old (considered a nuisance and on sufferance until then) and until then I always keep a 'puppy pen' up where pup goes if we are not supervising or go out (don't like confining a pup that isn't housetrained to a crate). 

At night I crate the pup when older, and going through the night, with an adult for company loose, so the adult has a peaceful night..

Agree with everything that has been said. This is most certainly not attacking.

Even all my girls who have had pups themselves don't consider the pups I keep one of the gang until around 3 months old

I even have one bitch, who has had two litters of her own in the past, who will NOT accept any puppy until it is more or less adult -the youngest she has accepted is 8 months! She will not tolerate young puppies at all. That's of course far less likely to happen when you just have a couple of pet dogs that haven't been bred from and are not in a big pack, but it does show how some dogs just don't "do" puppies.

Sounds to me like things are settling in very well, he plays with her when needed and chastises her when he doesn't wish to be bothered or have her in his territory.

It can take a lot of dogs a long time to accept a puppy so for a male he is doing great. **thumbs up**

Remember, most adult dogs don't necessarily enjoy playing with pups, they can become pests, they are rough, they bite, drag and scratch and don't know when to stop, it is why the pup should be spending most of her playing and learning time with you and have doggy etiquette installed by your dog with a little play and bonding time, but take up the slack of play yourself, he is not a dam or lower ranking bitch who will tolerate puppy play, it's not his job to entertain the puppy.  He is perfectly entitled to tell her off and show he is fed up. Just limit the damage by not putting him in that position.

So, just make sure he has plenty of alone time away from the puppy.........you will see in a few months they will become the best of friends he will adore her and she him, although a bitch generally rules so the roles may soon reverse

Just be patient, take up the slack of playtime and fill up the pups time with training games, making sure (as you are already) in giving lots of time to your adult too.

It will all work out just fine.

> When she lays on the floor he goes a wide distance to go past her, if she comes up to him when he is on the sofa (she cannont get up yet) he growls and snaps at her, but don't think he touches her and she yelps and goes under the couch.

As others have said, all perfectly normal :-) I try never to intervene with dog/dog interactions, puppy will learn manners from your older boy and even though it may sound awful he's extremely unlikely to actually harm her.

Carry on, sounds like you're doing a great job.

As always with puppy introductions, there will need to be a certain amount of letting them find their own pecking order.  BUT, big but, although adults know not to attack puppies, they also know that puppy teeth hurt and that puppies have no respect.   So although your older dog shouldn't do anything bad to your puppy, it's totally up to you to control what's going on - and once he sees you are taking control, correcting the puppy, not him, he should relax and bond well with her.   Especially as the puppy is female.  But in that, she WILL RULE.   Bitches usually do.

Personally I'd not leave them together unsupervised just yet.   Crate her overnight and if you can't be right there to see what's going on.   Too bad she doesn't like being in there - if you persist, she will.   I think too many dogs are spending too much time in a crate, but with puppies especially, they are a valuable aid to keep them out of danger and mischief.   And this is relevant with the Lab - who CHEW.   Crate use is good for car travel, hotel rooms and patients who need to be kept quiet.   Provided you cover top and sides and have it in an area you are mainly in during the day, with the door open, she should get used to being in there making it easier to shut the door, when you need to.

Feed them apart too - puppies dive into any food bowls lying around and food can be a trigger.   As can toys, so watch out for that - and correct HER, always.   Not him.    I'd also set up a place for him to nap, so he can get away from unwanted attending from her.

Finally watch how much running after him she does - puppies of only 8 weeks need to run around but only within reason.   We tended to keep our puppy Bassets of this age away from the adults (which is why I liked to be able to run on two, or more so they could play together) for fear of them doing too much of getting unintentionally injured.

> it's totally up to you to control what's going on

I disagree, I have never interfered, separated or told a puppy off for being OTT, I let the adult dogs do it, after all dogs understand each other so much better than strange humans. In 30 years of owning multiple dogs, numerous puppies brought in I've never had a single puppy injured by one of their own pack. Mind you I've only owned sighthounds and collies. Even my dog aggressive large male borzoi was perfectly safe with tiny puppies brought into his family, he told them off, taught them manners but never harmed them. This was a dog that had to muzzled outside at all times.

Mr Beastly with 4 week old collie pups

Mr Beastly with 10 week old silken pup

There will also be a point when she comes into season, so I am thinking it's probably best if she's used to the crate before then.

Disagree as much as you like Chaumsong but I'm just giving my advice based on having generations of puppies with adults.  As I said, MOST adults won't harm a puppy, but sometimes all this letting the adults sort out puppies DOESN'T WORK.   There's no point, surely, risking the adult being mugged to the point he has no alternative but to, maybe, get too full on with a puppy who won't take no for an answer.  And there's no doubt that once an adult sees the owner stepping in, so he doesn't have to be bothered when maybe he doesn't want all that, he's more likely to settle down with the incomer. 

I'm suggesting this from the point of view of the maybe novice owner.

I would just add that my little beagle would be bullied all day long by a puppy, she has never been known to retaliate or so much as curl a lip.  The only way to stop her being beaten up is for me to watch out for her and step in when she needs me to.  She just looks to me to "save" her from unwanted attention (not something I have encouraged at all)