Hi everyone! So, we brought Paddington home three and a half weeks ago and he absolutely. Loved our older lab Barkley. Barkley is a total softie, I'm talking he will only growl when a absolutely necessary and so when Paddington is wanting to play and jumping at his face and nipping and biting, Barkley is just trying to run away. I thought it would take a few weeks but it doesn't seem to be getting better, we had a slight incident where P latched on to B's ear momentarily and B helped a little and ran upstairs. I tried to keep the door open to upstairs at first to allow Barkley his space of needed but it's turned into him staying upstairs more than he did before. We have done training with them both together and that seems to help do I'm praying that works if we keep at it but it's almost as thought I want Barkley to almost give Paddington a good telling off so he knows not to push so far! This morning I was up with them both and always feed them at the same time then Paddington was having a mad few minutes trying again to play and nip at Barkley, so he came and sat on the sofa tucked behind me quite settled at first as Paddington was laying with his toys but once he'd had enough he came over to Barkley again at his ears and I could feel Berkely fully shaking on his legs. Its making me really sad as Barkley is such a good boy and so chilled, I'm genuinely worried he's seriously unhappy and that breaks my heart thinking it wont improve. (It could be the puppy tiredness from lack of sleep as to why I'm having almost a meltdown of tears thinking about poor Barkley but I just feel like it's never going to improve even though I can see teeny tiny differences like Barks will stay downstairs or lie down more often downstairs before wanting to go out but still! Has anyone got any similar experience or any advice at all please? Many thanks xxxxx
I think it takes a lot longer for new pups to settle in with older dogs than you think or hope. One time for us it took ages, but they got there. Just allow space, distraction activities for puppies and time. They will get there in the end.
Thank you so much. It's the older one I'm worried about. To the point I'm sat I'm in tears as he came down for his dinner,the little one jumped at him and he went straight back up and now won't come down. I'm so sorry to give ridiculous detail and sound so silly I just feel totally lost!
I am having the same situation right now, except my other dog is a poodle mix and so now my lab puppy outweighs her too. I was really worried for awhile but now that the puppy is over 6 months they seem to be getting along better. I wouldn't say they are best buds, but the puppy is chilling out and understanding that our older dog doesn't like the rough play and the older dog is getting better at telling the puppy off. Giving the puppy other outlets and play spaces has helped a lot in teaching her dog manners and when it's appropriate to rough play and rewarding our older dog when she stands up for herself has also helped. Anyway, in time, as long as it's not aggressive and just rambunctiousness, it will get better I think.
