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It took about a month for things to settle down in our household. Now, they are good friends. Well, Lucy actually loves Ringo and he tolerates her but . . no fighting so that's good!
We kept them separated of an evening for a while - that's when most of the incidents seemed to occur. For some reason, they got along ok in the living room (a room that had never been used much) so we would take them in there and start throwing toys to help them interact and play.
Believe me, I didn't think they would EVER get along. Time and patience as someone said . . . so true.
We still separate them at feeding time. No need to play with fire!
They are getting along better and better, it seems. Now if we could just figure out how to keep the puppy from eating everything. She has eaten numerous kleenexes, an Ace bandage, tootsie rolls, an attempt at taffy, duct tape (apparently), headphones, half an ink cartridge, a towel, and a wooden spoon. I guess if it's not one thing, it's another!
I have a 11 year old german shepherd, who just lost her 7 1/2 year old babe.I kept one of her puppies. We just had to put him down because he developed Spleen Cancer. We had him in VET E.R but he was not responding to treatment.
Only a couple of days later we brought home a 15 week old puppy german shepherd. She is a playful puppy, where the big dogs wants nothing to do with all that excitement.
I also have a 15 year old husky male. All dogs are fixed, except the puppy.
They only growl or nip at the puppy,
but its upsetting to the puppy. I have done research also and learned to give older dogs more attention, we do walk together and the puppy always tries to lay next to the dogs. They get up and leave. Any suggestions, because it will not be long before the puppy will aggressively fight back.
I have a 11 year old german shepherd, who just lost her 7 1/2 year old babe.I kept one of her puppies. We just had to put him down because he developed Spleen Cancer. We had him in VET E.R but he was not responding to treatment.
Only a couple of days later we brought home a 15 week old puppy german shepherd. She is a playful puppy, where the big dogs wants nothing to do with all that excitement.
I also have a 15 year old husky male. All dogs are fixed, except the puppy.
They only growl or nip at the puppy,
but its upsetting to the puppy. I have done research also and learned to give older dogs more attention, we do walk together and the puppy always tries to lay next to the dogs. They get up and leave. Any suggestions, because it will not be long before the puppy will aggressively fight back.
I suggest you get a book called FIGHT byJean Donaldson and read it as it is a practical guide to the treatment of dog-dog aggression.It teaches you to not only understand the different reasons for aggression but also how to use behavior modification to help solve the problem.And how you deal with it can actually make it more of a problem.
It is not unusual for older dogs to not enjoy puppies. Puppies do not know the social graces as they are learning and some adults just do not want to deal with that. The older dogs may also be having some pain issues due to arthritis and do not want a playful puppy leaping at or on them. Dazzle had to deal with Grumpy old Jazz who for the first 6 months wanted nothing to do with him and growled any time he so much as looked at her. But when her life long buddy Dash died it became just the two Jazz and Dazzle and Dazzle being very fast was not that afraid so he just kept pestering the old grump until she finally one day caved and started playing tug games with him. She would still grumble at him and It did not bother me as she was old and deserved respect from a puppy and I knew it was just her way to keep control and that she would not harm him even when he pissed her off so much that others thought she would shred him I knew he was in no danger as she had a very inhibited bite and was more bluff then anything.
I did not have the book back then but recently read it as now that Chaos is a grown up she does not like puppies and knows if she growls at them most will keep their distance and she will not have to deal with them..
I have a 11 year old german shepherd, who just lost her 7 1/2 year old babe.I kept one of her puppies. We just had to put him down because he developed Spleen Cancer. We had him in VET E.R but he was not responding to treatment.
Only a couple of days later we brought home a 15 week old puppy german shepherd. She is a playful puppy, where the big dogs wants nothing to do with all that excitement.
I also have a 15 year old husky male. All dogs are fixed, except the puppy.
They only growl or nip at the puppy,
but its upsetting to the puppy. I have done research also and learned to give older dogs more attention, we do walk together and the puppy always tries to lay next to the dogs. They get up and leave. Any suggestions, because it will not be long before the puppy will aggressively fight back.
NO do NOT give older dogs more attention.
They are a PACK now and YOU are the leader not any of them.
The partial solution is to WALK all of them together and treat all of them equally. Develop the pack mentality.
NOBODY can diagnose your situation over the internet, though, you have a complicated pack.
And you're using highly charged words like "aggressive" and "fight" whereas it could be a perfectly normal situation that we can't see...or NOT.
ALSO exercise the puppy more so he is not always looking to play, ask your vet how much exercise is appropriate. And by exercise I mean WALK.
I personally cannot see many 15 and 11 year old dogs of those breeds being that easy to introduce a puppy to without A LOT of experience, sorry.
But you CANNOT be the weak energy or that poor puppy may suffer the consequences. It disturbs me you say "give more attention". They do NOT NEED "more attention" they need to be calm and SUBMISSIVE. By giving "more attention" you are LOSING POINTS and they are becoming MORE powerful!
You should pin the aggressive dog every time it attacks the other dog. Hold it on it's side, gently but firmly until it relaxes and become submissive. Do this consistently.
Walk them together. Dogs usually chill out when they are walking.
I got a PM calling pinning old school and raising the potential of getting bit. Let me comment. Pinning is not an aggressive punishment of the dog, it's forcing him to transition from a fight response to a calm submissive state. If in the process my dog bites me, better me than someone else. I have an obligation to control my dog. I have a rescue dog with fear aggression and I have twice pinned him for attacking another dog. It's a last resort but something I have to be prepared to use to stop an attack. The alternative is to put the dog down.
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I guess if it's not one thing, it's another!
