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Older dog with a new puppy

920 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Sibe 
#1 ·
I've had a lurcher/terrier cross now for 6 years, and other than his first year, he's always been alone. The dog we once had, Jet, a little terrier around 12, attacked Ben (6 y/o dog) one day for no reason at all after spending a year with him, both got on as good as a gold and he was great with Ben when he was a puppy. When he attacked him, we tried to integrate them back together and hope it was just a one off but it wasn't. Jet sniffed Ben's rear and then attacked him which I believe has scarred Ben mentally.

Now our new puppy - note we put Ben first for everything to make sure she knows he's top dog -, Bonny is a 16 week old Doberman/German shepard cross and absolutely adores Ben, but whenever she goes within 2 feet of Ben, he growls and snaps. When they first met it was Ben chasing her around, but now it's been reversed. Ben is absolutely fine with her being around the house, shares food, sleep on the same bed etc. But as soon as she goes near him to play or smell he snaps and growls and I'm thinking this is due to him being attacked when he was younger. Will he change in that sense? If so how long do you believe it'll be?
 
#2 ·
To me it's not entirely related. Does he get along with other dogs he sees regularly? It could be he's nervous, especially if he's not well socialized. This type of thing is usually more about the dynamics between adult dogs and puppies. Something to consider. Adults dogs often don't tolerate puppy antics. They don't like being jumped on, mouthed, and wrestled with all the time like puppies do. It's pretty typical for an adult dog to "put a puppy in its place" by baring teeth, growling, looking away, turning their back, or ignoring the puppy. That's how dogs teach puppies. Puppies need to learn those social cues mean "leave me alone, I don't want to play right now." You should ALWAYS supervise and make sure the puppy gets the hint. Fights are never ok. It's fairly normal to have little scuffles that last a second or two when introducing a dog of any age into a home that already has dogs but fullblown fights are not ok and it should never escalate to that point. Personally I let my dogs give warning cues. I have a foster boxer right now. Both my dogs will show teeth, grumble, do air-bites, or turn away from him when he wants to play and they don't or when he gets in their space and they want him to back off (they are 2 and 1/2 years old, he is 1 and 1/2). It's social behavior and I like that my dogs display their feelings. You should NEVER punish growls or teeth baring. If you try to correct him or punish him for doing that he will learn to skip those warnings and go straight for a bite.
 
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