After 15 years we are getting another puppy, and as the family is so excited, i'm a little nervous about a couple things. We had two dogs a couple years apart in age and they were great, then kids and now last year we lost our oldest. Hence now it's time to bring on the puppy and my worries are for my current Senior girl and if I can remember how to train a puppy. This site looks to be a great resource to refresh my puppy skills, so I was curious to hear how other senior dogs have taken to new younger pups and any tips i could get. Background on my senior Sydney girl. Our older was always the dominate male type and she was happy being the energetic puppy even at her advanced age. Currently she is 12, in good shape but slowing down quickly. She likes other dogs and the kids, so I was hoping that she will be a little energized with the addition. Any help or ideas of how to help her with the new puppy would be appreciated.
Hi and welcome. Not much advice except make sure you have a room with a stair gate or similar that you can give Sydney some peace from the pup in there, or pop the pup in for a bit. Pups can be a bit energetic. I really recommend The Happy Puppy hanbook by Pippa Mattinson as it will help refresh your puppy skills and gives you lots of good advice re positive training and things such as night times, toilet training etc (dominance, pack order and punishing training is very old school and outdated).
My Gavin was 15 when Puppy Tatze arrived. I had a place in every room for him where the pup couldn’t reach him. I fed them totally separately and had stair gates everywhere so that I could separate them at any time. I let him growl at her to say ‘do not jump on these old bones’. By 12 weeks old she was respecting his growls and he’d let her on his bed - so long as she didn’t move a muscle! One paw moved and he sent her off. She did give him a new lease of life Here they are - you can see he’s keeping an eye in case she moves a paw! .
My 10 year old Lab did not take well to our 8 week old puppy. It coincided with her becoming lame and consequently dianosed with arthritis. It was all a huge shock to us as she is such a placid gentle dog. I thought we had made a massive mistake. We used a baby gate on the kitchen door - fortunately we have the space to keep them happily apart. We carefully managed the situation (it’s all documented on this forum) and eventually she accepted the puppy. They are together all the time now (no baby gate needed) and get on great. I think our situation was rare and there is no denying it was hard but all good now and very special. I used lots of strategies to make their time together successful. Good luck - sure it will all be fine .
I'm currently working with a client with a 12yr old dog who devided to introduce a pup into the family so that they weren't with out a dog when the oldie passed. Three months the oldie still hates the pup. Growls when she approaches and has started snarling and baring teeth. Oldster has also started resource guarding which the pup has learnt from and has also started. So be aware that your oldie may take many months to thaw towards the pup. Ensure that oldster has plenty of spaces and time away from pup and also time spent just with you with pup on another room/asleep etc. Pup wil also need special time alone with you and 121 training. It may be worth having a house line on pup so you can gently lead away from oldie and into another room if things get problematic.
My two weren't old when I introduced the latest puppy, but they absolutely hated her and it was several months before I was completely comfortable having them free in the house together. She was brilliant towards them, never once bounced on them and gave wonderfully clear body language. Still, they were completely horrible monsters to her. She basically had to live in a pen for those months, except when I was specifically working on them co-existing. It was hard work, especially as I was a single mum to them for most of that (my husband and I live in Europe but I bought my pup from the UK so had to stay there with her until she was old enough to travel, at just under 17 weeks). I spent a lot of time in that puppy pen! This is an exception in the world of Labradors, especially young ones, but I imagine it's more likely the older the resident dog is, especially if they're starting to feel their age. So, I would prepare for the worst - and the worst of the worst is feeling horribly guilty about ruining your existing dog's (or dogs') life. It's really good advice to give the older dog somewhere she can go to get away from the puppy but still remain with you - or for you to use a pen to pop the pup in when she's getting too pushy. It's good for puppies to learn manners from older dogs, but I don't think it's fair to allow them to pester, even (especially?) if your older dog is really tolerant. Good luck! When are you getting your new puppy?
Yes - my Tatze is nearly five now and less tolerant of the pups than she was. She’ll play with them but only in the mornings when she’s feeling bright and fresh! She’s still amazing with tiny pups, but as they grow she has less patience.
I introduced an 8 week old pup into a household with a 13 years old and 10 year old dog recently. I was careful to get the pup from a good breeder who raised the pups carefully in her own multi dog house. The pup was used to dogs of all ages and did not get over excited when he meet my dogs. He was encouraged to he calm and respectful and the older dogs were given breaks from him. The 10 years was so upset she refused to eat or leave the sofa and the 13 years old chilled confident male looked him and sighed. He then took the pup under his wing and gently introduced him to the joys of weeing in the garden. 3 days later the 10 year old decied he was ok and taught him bitey face. they then started to look after him. They were brilliant with him. One look from the old boy and the pup would stop any silliness. I was careful I didn't leave them alone together until I was sure they all could cope. I supervised completely and watched for any stress. I found it a easy process once the initial first few weeks were over. The old dogs seemed to enjoy the pup the played with him and snuggled with him on the sofa. The pup was realky good too he was a very respectful calm boy around them. The old dogs gave him confidence too and if there was a situation he found scary I would take my calm old boy along as support.I loved having 3 dogs it was the most fun ever. I knew the old dogs had accepted the pup when he cried when he banged himself on the radiator, they galloped over to him and were sniffing him all over to see if he was ok. I have some lovely photos of the pup copying the old male dog like a mini me. It was hard and worrying sometimes but I'm so happy I did It and I'm so grateful for the help my old dogs gave me. I'm down to 2 now I'm convinced the young pup helped get my female through the death of the old boy. She loves her young boy he's sweet with her and I think had kept her young and happy.
Aw, bless! Maybe you could take some photos along to your next group walk - someone could use their phone to take photos of the photos, and then upload them for us to see? We need to see more of your dogs!
