we recently had to have our dane put to sleep and were left with a male dane who pined terribly, he wouldnt eat and was thoroughly depressed, he was a rescue dane and his previous home he shared with another dog, so we decided to get a puppy and he has become a sulking brat!!! He has growled at her a few times and the worse thing is is that she has no fear of him so keeps going back for more, if she comes near him he just flounces off in a different direction, i feel really upset by this as he usually has a lovely gentle nature. We have tried everything, we always pet him first, hes fed first and we tend to pet the pup when hes not around.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this.

Sorry about your recent loss - it will have had a terrible affect on all the household and your lad is probably still very confused.

Re your new addition, congratulations.  Is she another GD?

Adult males are very often quite fearful of pups so don't be alarmed that he's not instantly taken to her regardless of how friendly he is with other dogs in general :)  The 'big boys' are usually more 'big girls blouses' around those sharp teeth, high pitched squeaks and never ending zoomies that are the tiny terrorists otherwise known as puppies LOL.

He will become more used to her over a few weeks so in the meantime ensure he has time away from her and that you don't make him feel left out (difficult with the intensity of toilet training and all those extra meal times).   Once he realises that she's not quite as scary as she seems now, he'll soon enjoy a few tentative games with her which doubtless will lead in a short period to many manic ones with her so be cautious about boisterous behaviour when it reaches this stage :)

My boys have always looked worried about tiny pups but have always come around with no accidents :)

Best wishes, Teri

How long have you had the pup?

Years ago our GSD bitch died and the male was left alone, he too pined quite badly and we brought forward the date for our new addition.  So along came a bouncy little Rottie bitch who wanted to play and our boy was not impressed to say the least.  He growled, moved away generally didn't go near her until a few days later when the pup threw herself and landed on him...all of a sudden he came to life and lived another 4 years until he reached the age of 14.

Give you older dog a place to escape to but keep letting them mix together, take them out for a little walk up the road together, sit in the garden with them.  It might take time but they should start to get on soon.

We have had similar things happen with our lot, one of our older males would not have anything to do with our young pup last year but now they hate to be parted.  After a couple of months they all of a sudden started to get along.  Wouldnt worry about it unless he starts to rush at the pup growling and snapping. Usually they just growl and skulk off for a sulk.  I would imagine he is still morning the loss of your other dog, some dog like people take longer to get over the loss.

Emma

I too echo what everyone else has said.  We have an 11 year old rescue boy who came from a house with two other dogs.  We already had a puppy arrival planned, and thought he would enjoy the company.  Like yours he's very dog friendly usually, but there was lots of growling and trying to escape and find somewhere to hide from the puppy in the initial weeks.  With use of baby gates to give our boy some space from the puppy teethies and walking them and feeding them together, he was soon playing bitey face like a good 'un with the puppy and he has really come out of himself now and seems much younger than his age.