Puppies and Adult Dogs in the home

Are you hoping your older dog will teach a new puppy the ropes, or “put them in their place”? 🤔

⚡️Your existing dog didn’t sign up to be a baby sitter or teacher for the new puppy.

⚡️They didn’t sign up to be jumped on or chewed up by a puppy shark.

⚡️And they didn’t sign up to have their existing life turned upside down.

Expecting them to just put up with it is setting everyone up for a lot of conflict.

Sometimes we luck out with a really social existing dog who loves puppies and is happy to interact with them a lot. Often they are just tolerant and really just hoping someone will pull this puppy off them. Regardless, even if we have a really social older dog, they will have limits to their patience. They may put up with it to an extent and grant some puppy license, but there comes a point where enough is enough and they might just correct that puppy beyond what is appropriate and cause real harm (psychologically, if not physical). Or depending on the dynamics, may actively try to avoid that puppy or push them away. Not the foot we want our dogs relationship to start on if we want a peaceful household. Not fair on either canine.

🌟 If you want a new puppy, go into it with the understanding that this new addition is your responsibility. It’s not a gift for the older dog to deal with. 🌟

Some steps we can take to support positive interactions between our new puppy and dog include:

1️⃣ Putting the effort into training our new puppy ourselves, separately from the older dog, to ensure they are learning the important stuff from us.

2️⃣ Having management in place that gives both puppy and older dog their own space to relax independently of each other when unsupervised.

3️⃣ Supervising interactions, utilising management like drag ropes and regular interruptions in play to bring down the excitement levels to ensure both parties are feeling comfortable. Don’t leave it to them to “sort it out”. It’s not fair, even on the most lovely adult dog, and could put your puppies wellbeing at risk too.

4️⃣ Making time for the older dog separately. While we need to invest a lot of time in our puppies - especially during the early days when we are really going hard on the socialisation - we also need to keep up with our older dogs needs as an individual. Make time for connection 1-1, take them on their own decompression walks away from puppy and keep up with your training together.

Yes, our puppies can learn from older dogs too. However this shouldn’t be at the expense of our older dogs comfort and happiness, and it shouldn’t be the only source of learning for that puppy.

It’s your puppy, and your responsibility.

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Do you need a hand with a new addition to the family? I offer owner coaching services throughout Waipa and surrounds. Message me for more info.