My 13 week old pup is mugging my older lab. He has arthritis in 3 legs so just can’t be bothered with puppy rough and tumble, but is too polite to say so. Suki jumps up at him licking round his mouth, barking Kuro just stands still, at most a grumble. She has now started jumping onto the sofa just as he tries to get up. Any advice would be welcome. I can call her away (Mostly) to sit, she then goes back to have another go, repeat the sit.... When we go our pup our old boy was much more sturdy on his legs, but is getting worse. I really would like to help Suki to learn to leave him be (at least some of the time! I have invested in a play pen where he can retire for a break. Thanks in advance.
Hi there, it's fairly normal for young bouncy puppies to be a bit over the top and annoying to older dogs. It's important to ensure that your older dog can get away from the puppy whenever she wants to and has her own space where the puppy can't go. lWe keep our young puppies in a dedicated 'puppy zone' and only allow them access to the rest of the house (and the other dogs) under close supervision and for short periods of time. In the garden we put up a temporary low barrier around the puppy area where the dogs can interact and the older dogs can step over the barrier when they have had enough. When you let the puppy in with your older dog, have her on a house line so that she can't actually reach the older dog, and reinforce her strongly with (yummy treats) for moving away from the older dog, turning to look at you, anything which involves not paying attention to the older dog. You could use her entire meal up this way, hand feeding her in the same room as the older dog and rewarding the puppy for ignoring her.
Thanks for the reply. I would struggle with the separate areas as we don’t have a very big space downstairs. I can’t leave her in the kitchen as she cries if I’m not physically with her. We’re working on crate training but it’s a slow process and I still have to stay beside/in the same room. I’ll definitely try more distractions and treats and get a house line. Do I keep hold of the line all the time?
The house line is a great tool. I use one on my 8 month old lab. He just drags it around, but if he gets something he shouldn’t have I can step on the line to get it from him instead of playing chase. For those times I need to limit where he goes, I loop the handle on a doorknob. You could get one long enough to give him good room to move around, but give your older dog space to get away from him. Of course, he would still need to be supervised.
Thank you. I’ll be trying the house line today and the hand feeding as Pippa suggested. Fingers crossed.
I’ve got the house line but my pup fights against any pressure I put on to try and keep her away. Don’t have a very big house so not a lot of room.
You need to keep hold of the house line and provide distractions for the pup so the pup wants to come and play with your distractions. You also need to use 'crate and rotate' - one dog out the crate, in the room, the other dog crated - then swap, as often as needed. We only had a very small house when I had an older dog which hated puppies and a puppy... crate and rotate and houselines are the answer.
