Our pup (a 5 month old spollie) is gorgeous and as a rule gets on very well with our older dog (4 year old terrier cross) but we are worried that she is becoming very dominant over the older one who has always been a complete softy and quite nervous (she was a rescue).  The pup will lunge at the older dog and bite her ears, legs or face for no apparent reason.  And if the older dog has fetched the ball it is impossible for her to bring it back to us without the puppy charging from the side and stealing it off her.  They have never hurt eachother - neither shows any real sign of aggression (I think it is probably just over exuberance on the part of the puppy) but the older dog is starting to be very wary of the pup, won't come back in the house if the pup is anywhere near the door and has started running off on walks to get away from the pup whereas before she never left her side.  Is this a phase that will pass and is there anything we can do to help out?  We do try and stop the pup from biting the older dog whenever we catch her at it, but we can't watch them all the time.  Any ideas?

Hi FeeBee,
I'm no behavioural expert at all. But until someone else comes along, I will give you my opinion.
As we usually have two or three dogs, all bitches, at a time, there is always a difference in their ages. At the moment I have two old girls, 11 and 9, and the youngest one, who's two and a half. If I see any signs of a young dog pestering an older, I will always side with the older dog, making sure the young dog knows it's just not on to take advantage of the older dog being well behaved, and maybe reluctant to defend herself.
It doesn't matter if the pestering is done mainly "for fun", it's still not fair to let the older dog feel uncomfortable just because a young dog hasn't been taught to behave properly. The young dog won't be doing this because it's mean, dogs aren't mean, it will be doing it because it can.
From what you describe about your older dog's change in behaviour, I think she is quite unhappy at the moment. You will have to step in everytime you anticipate the unwanted behaviour from the puppy, to stop this, and preferably steer her exuberance in a more appropriate direction. The biting is not the only thing that should be stopped, all bullying should be banned from now on. That includes charging, body-smashing, stealing balls and any behaviour your older girl seems to dislike. If she feels you are backing her up, she might after a while start to take a firmer stand towards the pup. If she does that, be sure to back her up, she needs you permission to do this.
If nothing is done about the current situation, you might end up with two adult bitches not getting on at all.
Best of luck,
Karen

I definitely wouldnt leave the pup alone with the older dog.
I would also give the older dog time with me without pup to let her know she hasnt had her nose shoved out.
When my pup was younger and began annoying the older dogs jumping on them nipping etc:she would go in her crate and in the evenings she would  go to bed in the kitchen alone and my older dogs would have a bit of peace and quiet and the pup would fall asleep.

I have a very large 10 month old Rottie x GSD and a tiny 14mth JRT.  My JRT is so soppy he never retaliates always backs down so because of my younger girls much larger size and strength I have had to teach her she cannot jump all over him in play or at any other time as he would have ended up scared.
Now and again quite naturally the big one runs at the little one but I only have to say her name sharply now and she stops. 
She has learn't if she wants to play to lay on the floor so they are evenly matched and they then have a good old game, without charging around and little one getting hurt.  She learn't this herself I didn't teach her but she found when she layed on the floor my little lad would come and play and I wouldn't interfere.
You must teach your pup that it cannot leap all over other dogs as it pleases and reinforce your older dogs status so it is learn't how important she is.

Keep a watchful eye out and make sure the older dog doesn't get bullied too much, whilst still allowing them to decide their own hierarchy - there's no rule that says status goes with age! ;)

Yes my oldest dog is the very LOWEST in the pack here. He too gets to put up with a younegr friend that hangs from his tail etc, so we make sure to at times lock the old dog up in his crate so he can have some much needed rest -he does need to slepe a lot at his age. (Locking the young one up would be worse because he is so full of energy.) The youngster then finds something else to do, simple as that. :)

All of our pups have tried to drive my older dog crackers, hanging off his tail and ears.  I simply put up the tallest crate and he jumps up on it when he has had enough.  I would never leave them all alone together unsupervised.  The puppies stay in one room if I am busy and the older dogs in another.  No one can watch a dog 24/7 but you can take steps to keep them safe when you are not watching. 

Thanks for all your replies.  We are doing our very best to stop the puppy every time she lunges at the older dog, and hopefully in time she will get the message that it isn't acceptable.  We do occasionally leave them alone together for an hour or so but it seems that the two of them just sleep then - no evidence of them falling out anyway.  I was just wondering whether this is a common problem and whether it passes as the pub gets older. Interestingly we have noticed recently that when the dogs are outside the older one is much firmer with the pup and from time to time puts her down very firmly - something she never does inside. Anyone have any idea why her behaviour would be different inside and out?

i bet its also worse when you are there?

Difficult to know, given that I'm not there when I'm not there - if you see what I mean.  Why do you ask?

I think Morgan might suspect that you older dog is  reluctant to tell the pup off, in your presence. In the garden you are not so close, and when you're not at home the older dog might feel more in charge.
Karen

well, its just that my dog feels bolder if i am with him , if I am ahead of him on a walk and he meets a dog without me by his side, he will ofton skirt round it but if i am there he will try to lure it into play.

I would think that the older dog is reluctant to discipline the pup as it probably is worried you will disapprove.  You may have acted a little over protective of the pup when they first met and that has caused it to assume it mustn't.

The pup was very ill for the first two weeks when we got her so she did get lots of attention.  That said, we have tried to be really careful about giving the older dog lots of attention too and we always support her when the pup torments her.  As a result the pup now seems to be jealous of any attention the older dog gets and tries to butt in/bite her when we are playing or stroking her.  I guess we just carry on protecting the older one and giving her as much time out as we can.  Will the pup grow out of her jealousy of the older one at some stage?