We've took on a 8 month old lab called Ozzy, at the moment he is living outside in a run with my two older labs, Magnum & Razer. I've started training him and would like to get him to used as a gundog. The question I would like to ask if someone can answer it. Is it best to keep Ozzy in a separate run or leave him with my other two labs. My other two are not gundog trained
Re: keeping a gundog seperate from family dogs Hi there and welcome to the forum. How do the dogs interact? For example, do the older dogs play with him a lot?
Re: keeping a gundog seperate from family dogs hi thanks for replying. Magnum and Ozzy will sometimes play together but with Razer, Ozzy will sometimes bark, try to nip his ear and also try to mount him so Razer will tend to stay in the kennel. Ozzy is fed, walked and trained separate from the other two.
Re: keeping a gundog seperate from family dogs from a teeny tiny black 5 1/2 year old Lab known as The DivaDog and her pet human
Re: keeping a gundog seperate from family dogs The main risk with kennelling a young dog with an older dog is that the young dog will become deeply bonded/attached to the older dog. In theory this could impact on your own relationship with the younger dog. So, if I kennel a young dog with an older dog, I always pair the young dog with an older dog that does not play or interact much with the young one. This makes sure that my young dog gets all his fun from me. Obviously you also have to consider that pairing a young dog with an older dog who finds him irritating, could be risky. So it isn't necessarily a straightforward decision. If the young dog is happy in a separate run where he can hear and see the older dogs next door, that could be the best solution.
