[Tvztommy]

Hi all. My dog is a 1 year old Aussie Shepherd/dachshund&terrier mix.

we recently got a new puppy in the house and it’s been going alright. The puppy unfortunately is not picking up on the 1 year old’s appeasement signals at all yet. This leads to the 1 year old getting frustrated and even more uncomfortable and he starts snapping. No real injuries yet, and I do allow for it to happen from time to time so that the puppy can start to learn such signals.

what can I do to help my 1 year old just simply “walk away” when he is done with the puppy? Rather than getting upset and start snapping? He currently runs and hides on the couch now but the puppy is due any day to just be able to jump up on his own.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Deacon.dog]

Allow your adult dog to correct your puppy. Your puppy will learn to leave your adult dog alone, nothing can teach a dog something better than one of their own kind can.

Teaching your dog to walk away will cause more problems. Let the dogs be dogs.

 

[LeoRose]

Interrupt and redirect the puppy when you can see that the older one is reaching the end of his patience. Letting them "work it out" can lead to a situation where they cannot be trusted together, and you wind up in a lifelong crate and rotate hassle.

 

[DaySleepers]

Agree with LeoRose. It's fine if the older dog is occasionally getting snippy, but I'd be proactive in making sure to redirect the puppy when he gets obnoxious. Make a real effort to give your adult dog safe spaces where you don't allow the puppy to bother him (a crate, a pen, a bed under a table, etc), and/or somewhere to put the puppy for a while to give your older dog a break, like a crate or pen or puppy-safe room. For the former, you have to be really on top of redirecting and removing the puppy every time he tries to get into the adult's safe zone, and when you can't supervise make sure the pup doesn't have access to the safe zone at all (again, pens are awesome).

I'd also try really hard to make sure the older dog gets some puppy-free one-on-one time with you, whether that's walks or training or just hanging out and cuddling/playing with you in a room or yard while the puppy is put away somewhere.

Essentially, it sounds like your older dog is being entirely appropriate - air snapping is a totally normal part of dog communication. It's the puppy who needs reinforcement of boundaries and to learn how to settle and give others space, and by enforcing safe zones and puppy-free time, you should help your older dog relax and unwind and improve his ability to be patient and tolerant with the pup in general.