Introducing puppy to "cranky" older dog

Hey guys!

Another Lucy question!

Lucy (4-month old) and I are currently living with my parents who have a 10-year old yellow lab. We call him the "cranky old man". Although he is super loving with us, he can be very solitary and not happy with others in his space.

Enter Lucy. A wired, energetic, just wants to play, puppy. Any good recommendations on how to introduce the two of them together? Or should we keep it very slow until she's a little older and calmed down?

Right now, her crate is in the main area so she is around the older dog a good portion of the day.

About a week ago, she accidentally slipped by us and ran right between the older dog's legs while he was eating - heart attack alert! He barred his teeth, growled (all rather aggressively, more than I've seen out of him), and Lucy took the submissive stance. We broke it up before anything bad could happen.

I appreciate any and all advice!

i'd start with stuff like side by side walks on leash, time in the same room with them on leash so no one can harm any one. For the walks, make sure the first few times at lest the puppy can't jump on older dog. Manage the space as needed. Reward the older dog when he is calm and relaxed (really read the body language) when puppy is in the room.

Honestly the older dog didn't do anything terrible. the puppy ran into him rudely and he told her firmly that wasn't acceptable and the puppy wasn't hurt. I wouldn't push it to see if the older does nip but an air snap and growl can be a totally legit for of communication. i wouldn't correct the older dog is anyone is doing that.

I'm in a similar situation with Scout (almost 10yrs) and brand new baby Trigger. basically the rules around here are:

1. no bouncing at the big dog's face
2. no nipping anywhere at the big dog
3. when the big dog is eating, baby goes in his playpen or crate (not an issue anymore as puppy now eats dinner at same time as big dog, see #4)
4. mealtimes baby is in crate (and big dog eats dinner in his own crate - breakfast is a more casual affair but baby is still in his crate)
5. when baby sits nicely and licks up at big dog, baby gets rewarded, even when (always at this point!) big dog moves away
6. errands to another part of the house, baby goes in playpen and big dog comes with the errand-runner (ie they're never left loose together unsupervised)
7. big dog goes in and out of the doorways (inside or outside) before baby does.
8. baby may not take anything the big dog is chewing/playing/etc with.

Trigger so badly wants to play with Scout, to curl up with Scout, etc. follows him around the yard. But Scout so far isn't wanting anything to do with baby. He sniffs him, but thats about it. Its funny when i'm working with Trigger's simple obedience commands, to see Scout also doing them, in hopes of getting what Trigger is.

My Sophie is way to tolerant of puppies up to a point. When Brooks starts bitey facing with her she will roll on her back and let him be a jerk. Right up to the point she's had enough, then chase begins and she rolls him with impunity. Did the same thing with Bruce. I'm always close by and control things as not to get out of hand. I always find it amusing when Brooks is on his back, Sophie holding him down and he's got this look like "how the hell did that happen".

I think the biggest thing is YOU control the interaction. I started when Brooks was 8 weeks old. When I say "enough" bitey face is over, and I enforce it without question or hesitation.

We use "enough" as well. In general for us, it's stop what you're doing (bitey face, chase, ahem...humping) and look our way for your next command.

We also do everything with Maverick being first.

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Originally Posted by barry581

My Sophie is way to tolerant of puppies up to a point. When Brooks starts bitey facing with her she will roll on her back and let him be a jerk. Right up to the point she's had enough, then chase begins and she rolls him with impunity. Did the same thing with Bruce. I'm always close by and control things as not to get out of hand. I always find it amusing when Brooks is on his back, Sophie holding him down and he's got this look like "how the hell did that happen".

I think the biggest thing is YOU control the interaction. I started when Brooks was 8 weeks old. When I say "enough" bitey face is over, and I enforce it without question or hesitation.

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Awww .... that reminds me of how Scully was when Mulder was little. Generally, I watch the older dog to see if they are getting annoyed. If they issue a correction and the pup continues, I say “enough”, but if all involved are still having fun, I tend to let them go at it.

Chloe is horrible about correcting her pups - she’s probably done it less than a dozen times in their lives. She lets them climb all over her and grab her ears, tail, etc. It’s not that she is incapable of sending a message, it’s more that it takes a lot of provocation to get her to do it! On the rare occasions that she does snark at them, they usually back off IMMEDIATELY, so we haven’t had to step in much.

We have that issue here. Cassie, our 9 1/2 year old is pretty tough dog. Tobey who is now 13 months, is a very rambuctious intact male. Its been quite the year with him as he engages Cassie all the time, sometimes pretty rough, for play. She deals with it pretty well, and enjoys 'bitey face' quite a bit. He is annoying at times and it occasionally escalates to her nipping him, and he yowls. never any damage. And he's back for more. We do break it up when it seems shes had enough. Im waiting for Tobey to get the hint but so far no luck, he's relentless.

My only question is how much of Tobey's obnoxiousness with Cassie is because he's intact? He's not aggressive, just way over the top pushy and annoying. His breeder has asked us not to neuter him, but i struggle with that every day.

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Originally Posted by mhb

We have that issue here. Cassie, our 9 1/2 year old is pretty tough dog. Tobey who is now 13 months, is a very rambuctious intact male. Its been quite the year with him as he engages Cassie all the time, sometimes pretty rough, for play. She deals with it pretty well, and enjoys 'bitey face' quite a bit. He is annoying at times and it occasionally escalates to her nipping him, and he yowls. never any damage. And he's back for more. We do break it up when it seems shes had enough. Im waiting for Tobey to get the hint but so far no luck, he's relentless.

My only question is how much of Tobey's obnoxiousness with Cassie is because he's intact? He's not aggressive, just way over the top pushy and annoying. His breeder has asked us not to neuter him, but i struggle with that every day.

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I doubt it has much to do with his being intact. I’ve had girls who are the same way.