Hi, We've got a Cavalier puppy,Rosie,who's 14 weeks now and a 4 year old Border Terrier bitch,Poppy.We got Rosie to be a friend for Poppy and had visions of them playing together and loving one another but after 6 weeks together now I have to admit it isn't really happening! Poppy tolerates Rosie but doesn't seem to like her very much and seems scared of her sometimes.Rosie is obviously boisterous and wants to play but Poppy just growls at her and keeps showing her who's boss.They just don't seem to be getting along at all although there hasn't been any physical harm being done it's hard work sometimes when they're in the same room and want the same toy.We're giving Poppy lots of attention and praising her when she's nice to Rosie but I'd really welcome advice and reassurance that she'll love Rosie as much as she seems to love her!

Dont worry, 6 weeks isnt long. "tolerating" is quite enough at this stage. Remember that Poppy was used to being an only one, and it takes time to adjust, especially to boisterous pup. Poppy is just trying to keep her place at the head of the household :)  My Delilah was shellshocked at the arrival of Zorro, but now they love each other.

i wouldnt hold my breath!  im sure loads on here will disagree, but my bitch still only just tolerates the younger one and the baby is 2 now. they never touch unless they have a humping session if one is in season. my dreams of them sharing a bed and following each other around were never realised. however, i do intend to keep them both in spite of people on here saying it might be better to rehome the younger one even though we have had her for 2 years, they said dogs dont have feeling like us and they would be better as only dogs. well sorry but after 2 years of trying to get them to like each other im not giving up now! and of course i adore them both.
it sounds as though your 2 will be ok. my older bitch used to pin the pup and make her squeal!

Hi
When our Spaniel Dog was 2 years old we brought home a labrador bitch puppy, and they seemed to get on great for a few weeks.  Not sure at what point the dog started to get mithered by her, it was almost as if he thought she was just a visitor, but then he realised she was for good and got quite sick of her.  Sometimes, even now, almost 3 years on he just about tolerates her, lowering his head to growl a warning whilst running away to some quiet place.  I could understand it if he was getting on a bit, but he's only 5!:rolleyes:

She does mither him though, always licking his mouth, and she does seem more for dog company, he seems more for human....I believe he wouldn't miss her if she left tomorrow, but she would miss him sorely. 

Our bitch had puppies 11 weeks ago, and we have kept a little girl, he doesn't tolerate her much either, and yet she only ever has a sniff of him, never hangs off his ears or anything (which I did expect to happen) She just waddles over to him wagging her back end and he warns her off with a low growl.  I really dont think they'll be best of friends any day soon, but who can tell, it's still early days.

Is it considered to be a good enough reason to re-home one of your dogs because they don't get along?  Good job we dont treat our children this way

It is early days yet, remember you have a baby and an adult, so they are not going to be best friends they are totally different ages, with different needs.  Your adult dog will tolerate baby play just for so long then go off to be in peace, or give a warning growl that she has had enough.  Also as already said, she is just getting used to no longer being thee dog of the house.

As your Cav grows one of three things will happen they will either bond really well, or become complacent with each other, and just sit at opposite parts of the room, nicely getting along but never really being close.  Or they will not get on at all.

It is difficult to know, it will depend on their characters. All dogs and bitches are so different. I would expect your terrier to stay the Alpha bitch so don't predict any major bitch problems in that way.

I can give you some examples with the bitches I mix with all the time. My girl gets along with all dogs and bitches and is happy to sit with any puppy for a while and play, she never growls or is unfriendly but after a while will toddle off and want some peace.

The opposite end of the scale.................

My mother's Alpha bitch has no best friends, they don't play with her or her with them, she sits as though she is the queen surveying the others, she watches, though is very protective of the other dogs and has shown this in the past, but will have nothing to do with any pups and turns her nose completely up if they approach her.

The only bitch I have ever met who is completely puppy soppy is my mum's terrier cross, who loves puppies, would sit with them all day and never gets fed up with them, so you see they all have different characters, you will have to wait and see what happens.

I hope that they will get on, but it may take many months to truly find out. :-)

Thanks for your replies.I hope they become friends but as long as they're both happy that's the main thing.I just don't want Poppy to be more unhappy than she was before we got Rosie because that'll completely defeat the object of getting her in the first place! They do have sessions sitting together and licking each others mouths but I'm not sure if it's a friendly thing or not even though it looks so cute! Does anyone know why they do that?

Puppies lick mouths to stimulate food, it goes back to when the bitch would regurgitate her food for the pups to eat, a pup would lick the mouth to stimulate this and still will do this to us and other adult dogs.

Dogs also lick the Alpha male or females mouth to acknowledge their status a lower level dog in the pack who did not do this would be in big trouble with the Alpha.

Your pup is probably signalling a bit of both.

Hi Carrington
Is it normal for the dog having his mouth licked by the bitch to growl whilst she does it, if its a respect thing....I did presume it to be linked to food, although she is well fed, being a lab:rolleyes:
I can also understand it being respect, and do feel the dog is boss, but would the bitch continue 'respecting' in this way if the 'alpha' dog  hated it so much?  Now he has the puppy doing it too

In answer to your question yes, it is a normal way to behave. I am surprised that your lab bitch is now not the Alpha they generally do take over. You must have a very dominant male, or submissive bitch.

My mothers Alpha bitch, she is not a mixer with the other dogs at all, all the dogs do lick her mouth, but she will always growl whilst this is being done especially by my mothers male dog, it is a way of enforcing leadership, so this is all your male dog is doing, does he sometimes grab her nose and almost swollow it? This is also a way of enforcing himself.

You mentioned in your earlier post, is this a good enough reason to re-home? (I don't know if that was a serious question or not but..) In your case I would say no, your dog is the boss, your lab knows it, and the pup will know it too, all pecking orders are sorted, he probably won't be best friends with the pup either, but perhaps your lab bitch and the pup will bond closer.

He may not mix with the other bitches, but they are his pack now and he will look out for them in other ways. It can surprise you how protective the Alpha's are of their pack.

Thanks for that.It was really interesting but Poppy licks the pup's mouth at the same time so I'm not sure how she sees herself if it's a dominance thing! maybe they'll be equals-if that's possible!!

Hiya,

I really don't think the pup is thinking about itself as an equal or it's a dominance thing - it's a natural instinct and I don't think I've ever met a pup that didn't do this :-) It's also an appeasement gesture, so more likely the other way around that she just saying "love me I'm only a harmless puppy"

I'm sure they will settle given time - just make sure you give your older doggie some time out from pup when needed :-)

Karen

Hi there,  :-)

I'm having a similar licking problem with my lot i have a 10 week old bitch pup, a 2 year old entire male and a 10 year old neutered male.  We've had our pup for a fortnight.

The pup and 2 year old are getting on like a house on fire, but the elder dog goes through phases of licking the pup like mad and hovering over her and panting quite heavily, nothing we say to him will make him stop and he won't come to us despite him having good recall usually.  He has snapped once at the pup (she wasn't harmed at all) because she was licking him on his mouth.

The elder dog did this when we had our 2 year old as a pup (we also had another 15 year old dog then who was pts through cancer) and they both get on fine now.

Could this be a dominence issue or somthing else?  I 'd love to hear your opinions 8-)

Thanks

I think the only thing that's coming through from everyone's messages is that all dog's are individuals when it comes to dealing with new pups! Poppy can be lovely with Rosie one minute and growl quite fiercely at her for no apparent reason the next! We're just trying to leave them to sort things out themselves as much as possible and just hope they end up as friends as Rosie gets older!

I didn't realise how lucky I was. In the past I kept a neutered manchester terrier along with his spayed mother & then introduced a mini-wire dachshund dog. They all got on very, very well. I lost the manchester terriers round about the same time & introduced a rescue GSD bitch (she had the most amazing temperament) to Muffin the dachshund. He hated her for the 1st few weeks, but soon settled & they became firm friends. Muffin outlived her (bless her) & then I got Zak (5 month old male GSD) who was also desperate for a home. Muffin hated him for a few weeks, but I used my common sense & always gave Muffin a large cage or put him in another room when I wasn't there to supervise. After a couple of months Zak learned not to be so boisterous & they were together all of the time although Muffin was now 13 years old & didn't 'do' playing! They lived very happily together even though they really were like 'little' & 'large! Muffind passed away just over 2 years ago & I have again been lucky, as Zak now has a 'X' terrier spayed bitch called Tilly. They get on really, really well, they have great games & she can practice her throttling routine, he just lies on his back & lets her. They have never had cross word between them. I didn't realise how lucky I was!

Hmm, that's interesting. Ellie often licks Henry's mouth extensively, with him politely trying to hold it out of her reach. But she also sometimes jumps on him and starts humping, which I generally discourage. He also humps her, usually in the evenings, to the extent that he will make himself sick if he's eaten recently! She does the licking mostly after dinnertime, so perhaps it's more trying to get any hint of the food? Or perhaps they're all just weird! :-D