Our puppy Oakley is just now 6 months and we have an 11 yr old black lab. They play with each other but it starts to get loud, where they start barking at each other. How do we get them to stop when we want them too? We always result in putting the puppy in his crate which I don't think is always fair since our other dog will initiate the barking that sets of the puppy when they play. We tell our older dog to go lay down but he wont because he wants to play or feels like he's going to "miss out" on something. The puppy hasn't learned to settle, he will at times but it's like they both keep each other going. Any advise on how to keep them from doing this or getting them to stop when we need them too? It's always at the worse part of the day when no one wants to hear them, or are we screwed because we decided to have 2 dogs?
Well, it's great that your 11yo dog wants to play with your pup - since most older dogs really at best ignore the pup and wish they would just disappear back where they came from! So this isn't a bad problem to have... I would just separate them when it becomes too much. If you have a stair gate between some rooms, this need not mean putting the pup back in the crate - if you want to allow him some freedom - just ensuring there's a stair gate between them until they've calmed down again.
