My 4yr old male whippet jumps up and tries to nip my new puppy whenever I pick the puppy up. It’s like a switch flicks in the older dog’s brain as soon as the puppy leaves the ground, he races over very alert and as soon as the puppy is up in my arms he jumps up at us incessantly trying to get at the puppy (nipping at him). I’ve been avoiding picking the puppy up but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Whenever I do pick him up I’ve just been trying to firmly block my older dog with my hand/body and tell him very firmly no as soon as he starts coming towards us and starts jumping. Would welcome any advice. I presume this is just a jealousy thing. The puppy’s only been home for a few days but I’m finding it slightly worrying behaviour from my dog. Otherwise he’s been behaving well with the puppy and engaging with him, playing (too boisterously at times) and letting me play with the puppy without getting really jealous. I’ve been making sure I continue to give the older dog lots of attention as well as the puppy.

This is an absolutely normal response; raising the puppy in the air (and most hate it anyway) makes it much more interesting, and something to be investigated and grabbed, the way the older dog perceives you doing. Just leave the puppy on the floor instead.

Thank you. That’s really reassuring hearing from someone else that it’s normal behaviour. I’m really relieved. We will continue to avoid lifting puppy up and just usher him out when the older dog’s around and there’s a toilet emergency as that’s the only situation when we’ve gone to lift the puppy up, to get him outside quickly. Thanks again.

If the older dog like his food, you can practice throwing a few treats his way then picking pup up, and putting him back down as the older dog finishes eating.  That way you'll establish a new, well reinforced routine for him staying on the floor when puppy is picked up.  Had the same issue with two  clients' dachshunds a few years ago and it worked beautifully.

It wasn't so much lifting them up, but for sure, when I was having a grooming session, using my table, I had to have those not being groomed away from the g.table so I could safely return the one being groomed, to the ground.   That was the point when that one was 'fair game' so after the first time when the others would pounce on the one being put on the ground, I moved them all away from the grooming table. 

It never happened in the UK as the breed is normally judged on the ground, but once out in Canada, a judge wanted to see them up on a grooming table.   I was showing a hound who must have been around 80 lbs and when I saw what was going on, I blanched.  Had I not got him up there in one go, it would have been curtains.   After that, I trained all of them to put their front feet up on the table, so I could heave the rest up without doing myself a mischief.

Any dog up off the ground would be seen as 'vulnerable' to others.  It's not jealousy which may look like that to a human, but it's not an emotion a dog can have.  What looks like jealousy to us, is just the opportunist dog pitching in, looking for whatever is available.

And btw, if you do lift a puppy off the ground, make sure you do it slowly, and return it to the ground slowly or it's like going up a fast elevator, to a dog.

>And btw, if you do lift a puppy off the ground, make sure you do it slowly, and return it to the ground slowly or it's like going up a fast elevator, to a dog.

Absolutely agree 100%. Being scooped up suddenly is not only very unnerving, it's also like being on a rollercoaster ride, with your tummy feeling like it's dropping away. Very nausea-inducing.

All my puppies get use to being picked up from very early, especially the ones I have bred. Whippets are shown on the table, so its all part of their training.

same here lexi- even did it with my weimaraners and with both there were a couple of occassions as adults when I needed to pick them up - ok not great for back picking up a dog that size but at least they both understood the principle of hold still and don't fight me!
twice with my second weimaraner we returned from a walk to discover in our absence the road we needed to cross to get home had been retarmaced and was still too hot to walk a dog on- being able to carry her over saved her feet