We have just introduced a 5 month old puppy to our two 9 year old Labradors. It's only been a week. I knew our female Labrador (who was a rescue dog 6 years ago) was going to get jealous of this new puppy but our male Labrador (who we had from a puppy) is normally such a softie with all dogs that he meets. However both have been barking at him when we have supervised them all off the leads together in the garden. They are all ok when we take them out on walks but so far have not reached a compromise whilst in the same room of the house. Has anyone here used a dog trainer to help with this situation as considering this might be the best for all of the dogs.
Hi Audrina and welcome to the forum. I had similar when I introduced my puppy at 8 weeks. My two other dogs, two and a half years old, took an instant dislike to her. I was very surprised with the reaction of my boy, Shadow, because he loves female dogs and is very playful. Yet, he acted as if he wanted to kill her. I kept them separate for a long time. It took weeks of careful introductions and positive but tiny interactions before they accepted her. Now they absolutely adore her, and she them. I did call on a behaviourist to ensure I was going about things in the right way. She observed the dogs and puppy and gave feedback. What I was doing was right, I just needed to persevere. She reassured me that it was quite common, and she herself had experienced the same thing, twice, when introducing puppies. It just takes time and for the puppy to start smelling a bit less like a pup and more like a dog. Here is a post I wrote about it on my blog: https://thislittledoggy.com/2017/02/27/let-me-introduce/ If you're unsure, it's worth getting a behaviourist to have a look and offer suggestions. Make sure they're positive reinforcement only and have moved on from outdated thoughts about dominance etc.
I haven't used a behaviourist. We introduced our 8 week old puppy to our 10 year old Lab back in February. It did not go well. The older one just did not want to know and the puppy was just too full on. Didn't help that the older one went lame at the same time with (later diagnosed) arthritis. Once we had sorted out medication for her then we would have the two together in the evenings. It had to be very very carefully managed for months. Our older lab is very gentle and soft but the puppy has learnt to respect her and they get along with each other now. I have used kongs, a ruffle snuffle mat and 'find it' games to get them together. They are together all the time now but I found it very tough during that time.
We did not have any real problems when we brought Cooper home. She was 7 weeks and Tilly was just over 9 years. Tilly has always been pretty laid back, and got along with most all other dogs. Sometimes she would shut Cooper down a little but for the most part they were fine together. Cooper was in a play pen most of the time for the first month. When she was about 14 weeks she and Tilly had the run of the house, and we had a dog sitter for 5 days while we went to a wedding in Mexico.
