We brought our female lab puppy home last night. We also have a 4 year old male chocolate lab. We introduced them through a gate and they did fine. We let them roam around together inside , but the 4 year old was growling at her so we separated them. This morning my husband let them roam around together outside and they were doing their own thing, but then the puppy ran over to our dog and tried to nurse and he nipped her ear. We aren’t sure what to do as far as having them together, even when supervised???
Maybe just indoors for now so that you can supervise closely? But the nip will be a lesson, I doubt she’ll try it again
Gus and I are glad to be at work today. 2 days down and he doesn't even want to look at Bella at all. Wow this is unbelievably stressful to say the least. Hope time passes and he takes a liking to her.
I also see that we are going to have to keep them pretty much separated for a while too. If I could just carry them walking on leashes together that would help so much but Bella got quite a bit of time before she can go out on walks.
My two 3-year-olds hated my puppy. I had to keep them separated for a couple of months. They were ok mooching in the garden (still under very close supervision) but in the house it was a no-go. I kept the pup in a large puppy pen, which I spent a lot of time in, or used baby gates to keep the dogs in separate rooms. It was hard work. I was on my own for the most part (I was in the UK, my husband was back home in Andorrà except for a couple of brief visits), but we muddled through. Indoors, I would have very closely supervised 1-2-1 sessions where I would sit on the floor stroking one of the adults on one side and the pup on the other. Other than that, they had no indoor interaction; they were too aggressive towards her. When she was old enough to go on walks, I would have her out with one of the others at a time. They would mostly ignore each other but it was good for them to be in the same place without any problems. In time, we saw improvements, but it was slow. We travelled to Andorrà when Luna was nearly 17 weeks and they still had to be kept separate then, but it wasn’t long afterwards that the older dogs started to relax with her. Now, they are best of friends. What I’m saying is, don’t expect Gus to take to her immediately. It may take a not inconsiderable amount of time, but I’m sure it will work out in the end if you’re patient and understanding.
Could take time but you will get there. One of the most stressful periods of my life last year when we got our 8 week old pup. Our then 10 year old Lab didn’t want to have anything to do with the puppy. I spent most of my day and evening in the kitchen with the puppy (fortunately I have a large kitchen). All interactions had to be managed. Now they live alongside each other all day and sleep in the same room - they seem to rather like each other. I documented a lot of how we managed to get the two together in a thread called ‘Puppy Blues’. It was exhausting but also very rewarding.
