We have 2 bitches, same breed,  one 8 years old and a puppy of 12 weeks. The older dog is very submissive, never growled at anyone and generally still tail down, more than tail up. She's okay with other dogs off lead but unhappy on lead and nervous.
The puppy is the absolute opposite in character, dominant, tail wagging at every situation and fearless.

My question is about behaviour between them.
The puppy is constantly jumping at the older dog and biting ears, legs feet, anything she can. The older dog won't growl to put her in her place, but tries to run off with pup hanging on. After a while she will knock the pup over and bites at her legs, sometimes making her yelp.  This behaviour occurs all the time that they are together, despite my efforts to distract them,but should I interfere at all to stop either of them ?
I am worried that the puppy is not learning any respect for the older dog and if she behaves like this when meeting new dogs, she will get injured.

Older dogs that are more gentle towards the point of being bullied by pups do deserve time out and having play sessions monitored so that it doesn't get out of hand.   You may find that your older girl does begin to tell her off more obviously in a few weeks time - she may feel that you'd get her into trouble if she did it herself.  My golden oldie girl (RIP) never told off another dog of any age - she'd just come to me with a look of pleading in her eyes to sort things for her.

Regards, Teri

 

Ahh, bless her cottons!

There should always be a place where the older dog can go to get away from the puppy and have some peace.  It's not fair to allow her to be pestered constantly like this.  If you do, what will happen is the puppy will continue to push the boundaries and the older dog will be forced to retaliate more and more, until eventually she bites the puppy or does harm to her.  The puppy is at an impressionable age and all her interactions with other dogs should be positive at this time.  (Ok, it's fine for an adult dog to growl at a puppy to put a pup in its place, but not to bite her and make her yelp.)  You may then end up with a pup which is afraid of your other dog, and could generalise that to being afraid of strange dogs.  And a major cause of aggression is fear.

Please give your adult dog some space away from the puppy and supervise their interactions.  If the puppy is pestering the adult dog, distract her or separate them.

Yes understood. I never leave the dogs alone together  and we have a puppy play pen where she goes whilst I walk , play etc with the older dog. I think what I need is to understand how to manage their behaviour when they are together.  The puppy starts the biting, never the older dog, but she does get fed up with it and has a go back. Should I tell the puppy off as soon as she starts snapping around the older dog? But I have also read that you have to let them get on with it whilst they sort out the pecking order. So yes I am confused? What do others do in this situation ?

sorry I should also say that the older dog is completely attached to me and is usually by my side all day, so I don't want her to think she is being banished when the pup is being too boisterous. I usually get the older dog to jump on to the chair beside me to escape unwanted attention or the pup goes in the pen.

I had the same situation wtih my girl a lot younger than yours.. 1 being 2 and half and 1 now 15m puppies never know when to stop.
my two did a lot of wrestling which would start off fine then older girl would want to finish but pup carried on continually annoying older girl.
At this point I would cart her off to the kitchen and leave older girl with me .
Also in the evening after they have had a play and it was obvious older girl had had enough (use your instincts) and wanted to rest  pup would be last meal toilet then be put to bed remember to dim the light so I could spend some quality time with my older girl.
Dont feel that they have to be together constantly .
I wouldnt exactly tell the pup off I would just remove her from the situation.
If older girl is doing a little growl she is telling pup off it is a bit scary to see but pup will understand what she means!
if you want to keep them in the same room you could always pop on a lead for a little while and its a good way of getting her used to a collar and lead at the same time.

If it were me, I would try distraction.  As soon as the puppy starts snapping at the older dog, try to redirect that behaviour onto a toy or tuggy which you have - teach her to play with her toys and not the older dog.  I wouldn't tell her off, because she only wants to play, but definitely redirect the behaviour or distract her.  If you are busy doing something and can't play or distract, then just put the pup in her pen.

Hi,
We have had the same issue with our 2 girls - one is 5, the other a puppy, now 5 months. Older girl, Teasel, is very gentle and doesn't like confrontation and has lived with us on her own since 8 weeks old. It took us some weeks to get her happy in the company of the puppy, Millie. Teasel does now discipline the puppy (growls, but doesn't bite) when she's not interested in playing and we do try and separate them for a few hours a day to give her a break - though not sure if that's enough, really. I take Teasel out for good walks on her own (puppy not allowed to walk far anyway at the moment) since that helps keep things 'normal'. But I must say, I didn't find much info on how to introduce a new pup to an existing dog when I needed it last November! I really did think that older dog would love the pup as much as we did straight away. Rather naieve I realise, now. At present both are unspayed girls. I'm not sure if this will cause problems later. Both have lovely, friendly characters so I'm hoping things will settle down as the puppy calms a little. I have to say, when we brought the pup home I did wonder for a few weeks if we had done the right thing ... but I think all might be well in time. We were told by our puppy trainer to let the dogs sort out their pecking order and not to interfere unless things get out of hand. Not sure if this helps, but at least you know you are not alone! Good luck.

i have the same problem but the other way round my 6 week old pup will play but then wants to do his own thing but my 15 month old bitch will not leave him alone we have tryed treats and toys to distract her but nothing:rolleyes: they are always supervised and if she gets out of hand he is put in the kitching behind a dog gate, as he is not house trained yet

anyone got any ideas?

we had a mother and daughter same problem tried everthing the pup got 12 month tried for top dog they had a fight so inend had to give it to my brotherin law made abeautfull dog good luck

Hi bedruthen - you are obviously facing all the same issues as we are at the moment!  We worry a lot about our older dog...she is the softest sweetest natured thing and generally submissive.  We had read that if you have two females (which we do) that the older one will generally be the dominant one, but that isn't clear in our case yet.  The puppy is such a pest and just leaps all over the older dog, mouthing at her, biting her ears etc.  Most of the time the older one just accepts it, sometimes she tries to hide and sometimes she growls or bites back (but not hard).  We're trying to just leave them to it to sort out the natural order between them, but from time to time we do interfere to give the older dog a bit of a rest and to give the message to the pup that she can't get away with everything!  On the plus side, they play very happily together for a long time each day and it is just so lovely to see.....it's one of the reasons we got a second dog in the first place.