[Sats]

Hi all, this is my first post.
I am mom to two miniature dachshunds, a male and female. They are both about 2 years old. They get along beautifully. We got my female first, and then when she was about 6 months we got our male. They are best buds.

We never planned to expand, but we just adopted our third dachshund, a puppy who by chance was offered to us by a shelter we are very close with, as my SO does promotional work for them. He is 9 weeks old, and has an extremely sweet temperament. He and my grown male dachshund get along very well. He is gentle and plays with him constantly, and sort of "watches out" for him.
The problem is with my female. It's only been a few days so I'm trying not to worry too much. She will randomly lash out at the pup and has caused him to yelp very badly about 3 times. She will play with him occasionally with tails wagging, and even sleep with him or let him lay against her, but if his face gets too near hers at the wrong moment she will go off. I move him away but there have been occasions where shes tried to really go for him and caused him to yelp continuously for about 10-15 seconds and tried to bite him in the face. This issue appears to only happen when his face gets close to her face so it's situational. Is there any advice anyone could give? Is this normal behavior? I'm worried she could hurt him. I know dogs have their own way of establishing ranks in their pack and she has definitely always been dominant. In the pics my female is pure brown and tan. You can she she will sleep next to new pup so that why I'm confused on the outbursts of aggression.

Thanks.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

my best advice is to be gentle with your female. Being too harsh can cause your female to become more nervous about the pup, and more reactive ,out of concern she will be corrected when the pup is around. And your right that dogs do establish what is acceptable and respectable interaction for them as an individual. For me a quick abrupt lash out verbal with or without the poking them, in your face, is acceptable (nick it in the butt) type of approach meant to be direct specific and scary (don't do that to me) and it's over, no harm done ready to move on to other things. Thing about pups, as they grow can start being pushy back that the correction is more of a challenge then a deterrent to stop. Those are the times you step in and assist and support your older dogs and remove the pup for a time out. I always try to find that balance for the older ones that I will support them and take care of the pup while they learning to have manners so the older ones catch a break when it's not right for them. Beautiful group you have.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

Any adult dog to be reactive to a young puppy is a little unstable. I can see it if the puppy tried to nurse, but this is more a reaction to puppy rudeness (F2F is rude to dogs and often why toddlers get bitten in the face.. they are, by size, F2F with the dog and dogs find this rude).

Be sure to give your adult dogs some "no puppy time," especially your female.

Last but not least, there is a reason they are called bitches...

 

[WesselGordon]

Quick question: are you certain that it's aggression from the female?

It might just be that it's a noisy correction. The barking/growling and flashing teeth certainly seems aggressive. From what I've seen around my dogs over the years is that a stable dog will purposefully aim the ''bite'' to within millimeters of the offender then back off. Having said that it might be a good idea, already suggested, to remove the pup from the two older dogs for awhile so they can have some time to themselves.

So personally I wouldn't worry about it too much at this stage unless the female draws blood or doesn't stop the aggression/correction in a few seconds.