Sometimes people cannot get access to a trainer coming out to their home or simply want to learn more about how to deal with their dogs difficult behaviour. This is an opportunity to learn from others problems and to let you know you are not alone. Dogs not getting on with new pup’s can be a serious problem so learn how to combat this.
Email from owner
Hi Louise,
Both of my dogs are mini schnauzers. The baby is female and Kane is of course is the male. He has been so very very good with her and all she wants to do is go at him. She has hurt him a couple of times with those sharp needles in her mouth. Finally today he has been a little tougher with her but never hurts her. Sometimes her voice has become so aggressive when she growls while so called playing with him. I did pry her off Kane once because she would not release her bite and he was yelping. She had him in his beard area.
Also, I had been keeping her in her crate quite a bit because I am trying to housebreak her but someone suggested to take her out and let her have more run time with Kane and they may simmer down. That part is doing better today Far from perfect but better. I can keep her outside for 30 min and bring her in the house and then she lets it go. Kane was trained in 2 weeks but I only had him at the time. Am I expecting too much or is this all happening because of having two dogs this time vs one.
Thanks Yvonne
Reply
Any way back to the pup/older dog problem which seems to be the biggest issue. Try teaching her the ‘leave it’ command. This will help as you will be able to give her a command she understands to stop pestering him all the time, without chastising him. Telling them off for over the top play can cause anxiety which can lead to aggression so you want to avoid this at all costs or you really will end up with two dogs that don’t get on as you will not be able to have them together. It can also cause jealousy.
http://www.teachingpuppies.com/how-to-teach-my-puppy-to-leave-it
and see http://www.teachingpuppies.com/reading-your-puppies-body-language
This will give you a better idea of the signals your dogs are sending each other. Make sure you reinforce Jake’s place as head of the dogs by feeding him first, not letting the pup push in and not carrying her about too much around him. You will probably find she ends up as the more dominant, this is entirely common for new dogs but this won’t happen for another 6 months or so but keep your eye out for the changes (the body lang link will let you keep a tab on this).
I would suggest when they spend time together when she jumps all over him you give the ‘leave it’ command and as she comes away from him towards you reward her with a kong toy stuffed with her food (he can have one too). You can actually freeze them so it takes ages for them to get through and they love it. This will give both dogs a positive association of being around each other and teach Kane that the new pup isn’t so bad after all, whilst teaching her she can be around him without actually being a terrible pest.
Dogs do tend to bite and growl when they play and the roughest play to us is just fun and games to them. My dog will happily hang off my older dogs ears and he does not bat an eyelid as he is so laid back. Then every now and then when he has had enough he will bark at her to tell her so, at which point she backs off immediately. This will happen with your dogs too. It actually sounds like Kane is a bit too tolerant of the new puppy, which is lovely to know as he is obviously a very gentle dog but give him a chance to tell her off and if he doesn’t but yelps (like you have mentioned with the beard) another few times you can begin giving her time outs. So if she is over the top take her by the collar and lead her into another room for one minute (don’t use the crate or she will end up hating it).
Okay well that is a fair bit of information to digest so I will leave it at that for now. Get back to me with how you are getting on.
Thanks
Louise
Picture by aresauburntm’s photostream
Our puppy and older dog are doing so much better. When puppy becomes to aggressive or wrestles for a prolonged time with the elder dog.. I pen not crate the baby. It gives her room to move around and it is not like a punishment for her. I use her crate stricktly for sleep. She is basically housebroken so things are now starting to fall into place for us. Was tough for a bit and it was a tad too much for the elder dog but he now looks forward to short periods of play time with his new little friend. thanks for your help. Suzanne
Hello Louise
Firstly, thank you for the site which I’ve found most useful.
I wonder if I could ask you something – we have 6 cats, all aged approximately 11 years. We have recently added a three and a half-month old puppy to our household (he is a Jack Russell/Corgi mix).
One of our cats has started to stalk our puppy and attack him at every possible opportunity. When she first met him she scratched his nose which took him by surprise and scared him and since then he is very nervous around her. We fear that unless we do something soon it will become an ingrained fear of the puppy’s. This morning we thought he was quiet and when we went looking for him we found that the cat I mentioned had cornered him in a dark place underneath some shelves and was just sitting watching him, while he was sitting there too frightened to come out.
Any advice you may have would be very gratefully received!
Okay well this is a tricky one as you are dealing with cat behaviour as well as dog behaviour. Have you heard of feliway? Its an appeasing pheromone that may settle your cat as this kind of behaviour indicates the change has caused the cat stress. A DAP collar or spray will also help your puppy in a similar way but both are expensive so if you have to buy only one go for the feliway at this point.
I would try and keep them separate when you are not around for supervision. Do not reinforce the puppies fear by stroking, talking to him etc. I would also allow the cat to eat in the presence of the pup maybe on a high surface so your puppy won’t interfere to build up a positive association. Make sure the cat has personal space where the puppy is not allowed. You can also feed you puppy treats when he is not displaying signs of fear around the cat. Did you read the article on introductions?
Many thanks for the advice, Louise. In face we ordered some Feliway this morning.
7mos schnauzer Jill stays outside with me for up to 30 min and when I bring her in she poops in our sunroom. She asks to go out then does nothing till she comes in. She comes to me and runs to the door and back to me which tells me she wants to go out. We have an older dog but we can not take them both out at the same time as she becomes so distracted. Quite hyper but our older dog finally will stop her at times when she is too aggressive in her play. I guess I have two problems here. Your articles are so well written but it seems that I am flunking out . Thanks Louise
Not a problem, its not so easy without specific advice for each individual case. House training wise, it sounds as if she has learnt ‘going’ outside means she gets brought in. It is important that once she has been you stay out for a few minutes so she doesn’t make the association of time outside is ended when she pees or poo’s. I would take your older dog out to go first so he can lay down a good scent which should stimulate her to go more. Also if you have a good play with her first (inside) it can get things moving so to speak. Have you put a command to her toileting? You can also have a pee post that is wooden, so it holds familiar scents really well which will encourage her. Does she ever get scolded for going inside? This can lead to them not wanting to go in front of you, so try to avoid it. Also she may benefit from being taken outside, then in for a minute or so (try to time it so you know how long after she goes inside). Then take her straight back out before the accident occurs if that makes sense? Crate training can help a lot here.
Try not to get involved when your older dog tells her enough is enough. They need to work out boundaries between themselves and it is actually a good thing that your older dog puts her in her place. Its tricky but you need to just stand back and let them work out their relationship. A bark or a gentle nip is only like you saying ‘no’ to her. If you get involved in this it can lead to the pup being more rough as she knows you will interrupt or to your older dog really saying enough is enough leading to aggression towards her and that is the last thing you want. Let me know how you get on with this and maybe more detail on their relationship if this advice is not in-depth or it has gone past this point.
I also think you are doing the right thing with the toilet training separately if she gets distracted easily.
Thank you for this inspiring article. I will definitely come back to your site and read more articles written by you.
Cheers,
cool post. I haven’t tried this before but you have given me something to think about.