[topfizz]

Hello all,

We own a male Shih Tzu who is 6 years old. He is generally very calm and well behaved.

4 days earlier we got a female 9 weeks old Shih Tzu. In the first 24 hours, they were very happy. We could not even separate them so that the puppy could rest. They kept running in the house, and he licked her all the time! (He did not even stop licking her while she was sleeping) Sometimes he tried to hump her (!?) and we needed to stop him. However he was generally OK in the first day, and we were very happy.

Unfortunately, on the next day, while we were not looking at them, (we were at a friend's house) he barked at her two times angrily, and my girlfriend said NO! to him very sharply. (Since we did not see what happened and whether he was who to be blamed, probably it was not best thing to do, but she was afraid.) After that incidence, he started to act really distant to us. When we tried to pet him, he ran away, and he also kept his distance with the puppy.

Even though he tried to keep his distance with the puppy, she ran after him generally, and wanted to play with him, and while they were facing each other he tried to attack her a few hours after the first incidence. (It was the first time we have seen him attacking to something.) Fortunately I was close, and could hold him so no harm was done. But after that, we decided to keep them separated.

For the last two days, I blocked the entrance to a room in the house, puppy lives in there. Sometimes I take her out to living room. But our older dog does not like this. He looks at us very unhappy, does not want to socialize with the puppy. I let the puppy go near to older dog a few times, but he shows his teeth and get aggressive, so I hold the puppy, and take her further away from him, and don't know what else to do.

I am currently very sad because our older dog seems unhappy/depressed. I keep loving him all the time, try to spend most of my time with him (10 times more than before.) However he acts like he does not care. Sometimes he gets happy but it changes when I go to puppy's room. He sneakily keeps an eye on me every time I go to her room.

Also I cannot spend much time with the puppy, thinking that older dog will not be happy, that's another problem as well.

I don't know what to do. I want both of them to be happy. What should I do? How can I win back our older dog's love, and make them good friends again like in the first 24 hours?

Thank you

edit-1: Earlier, our older dog never let us pet him for hours. He generally runs away after 10 minutes of petting. But now he stays still and let us pet him all the time. However he does not seem happy as well, his whole body is still, and does not even shake his tail.

 

[Wowlovely88]

Honestly it takes time for some dogs to warm up to a new addition.

When I brought my now 2 year old boy Kylo Ren into the house my two girls who were 4 and 2 years old at the time. We're absolutely dismayed that I brought 8 week old Kylo into our lives.

Morrison my now 11 year old Lab mix has lived through many more fosters ect. And in general is super chill about dogs. Absolutely had no problem though.

I just tried to keep interactions between Kylo and the girls positive. I did the same as you and had designated areas for the puppy, so the girls could get away if they needed.

Still they weren't above showing their teeth occasionally. Or giving a warning growl. But nothing serious every happened. I never stopped the girls from growling. Because from what I have read/learned. If you try and teach the older dog that it is bad to growl at the puppy. Some dogs then skip growling/warning behavior and go straight on to biting.

It is going to take time. It us hard for family dogs to accept a new puppy. And the fact that the puppy is the cute little attention sucker. Trust me I had days I was sure the girls hated me or hated their lives with their new brother. But we just go on one foot aftee another.

When Kylo was 6 months old I took him and both girls and had them "fixed". And though they were each crated when I couldn't be there, when I was there I turned my living room into their 24 hour post operations recovery room. In other words they all felt crappy and had to put up with each other. After that week of post OP healing everything seemed to change. And the girls finally seemed to accept Kylo.

 

[dogsule]

We have one girl who isn't real fond of other dogs. Angel is a very happy bouncy dog typically but when we got our first puppy Belle, she hated her. Angels whole demeanor changed to a sullen sad dog. However we weren't going to give up the puppy either. Took 3 months and then they were best of friends. That was in 2013. This summer we got a new puppy. Angel is 8 now and she did not like a new puppy in her home. She didn't change from the happy dog this time though but growled at the new puppy and charged at her with teeth barred. We found out quickly though that she would not bite the puppy. She has been growling at the puppy daily, puppy totally oblivious to the fact that Angel didn't want her by her. Today however they played together for the first time. So over 4 months this time for her to accept a new puppy.

Give it time and never punish growling, redirect the puppy at this time.

 

[rebfein]

Yes, you have to give it time...

When India was 8 months old, I got Navarre (who was also a very young puppy at the time), and they got along fine (I also took India with me when I was picking out another dog). Not to say they didn't and still don't have their tiffs (just like people), especially where food is concerned.

When the growling starts, I would and still do when there are puppies in the immediate vicinity, say, "look at the babies." For some reason, this puts both dogs in somewhat gentler mood when puppies and very young children are around. Although, India just can't resist going behind everyone until she can give the child in question as good slurp on the cheek.

And since I know her habits, I'm very watchful when young humans are about!

 

[mustluvdogs66]

Give it some more time. It was a rough start since you yelled at him, but don?t put too many human emotions on the dog.
I would highly recommend taking some pack walks together ASAP! If the older one needs space, let him have it, but walks can bond quite well. I?d also practice some cues with them next to each other, like ?sit?, etc... then hand treats.
Puppies have way more energy than adult dogs, so make sure the puppy is getting extra time to run off that energy and let the older one get some peace, then after you tire out puppy, you can bring them back together for a bit at a time.