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  1. #1
    Puppy
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    New puppy yesterday - 2 year old lab is rough with him!

    I have a 2 1/2 year old female lab, she is extremely sweet. We got an 8 week old male lab yesterday. I was nervous about the introduction, but they both seemed happy to meet each other.

    The older female wants to play with the puppy constantly and she is rough. The puppy seems to want to play at first but then just kind of lays there while the other dog goes on with playing. The older one will stand over him and nibble at his neck. She will also pounce toward him and run toward him, knocking him over. She paws at him as well. The puppy has not yelped or whined, but seems to just disengage.

    Some people have told me to just let them play while others have said to hold the older dog back.

    I do not want to discourage play as I want them to have a healthy friendship. However, I don't want the little one getting hurt.

    The constant supervision and holding my older dog back is by far more exhausting than the sleepless night I had from the crying puppy!

    Any words of advice please?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
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    You just got the puppy yesterday...you have no idea what exhaustion is at this point.

    Seriously, you need to keep the puppy safe. Time out works for both of them...side by side crates if you have them (and if you don't have one at least for the little one, I highly recommend it).

    Be glad that your female seems to like the little guy but she could easily hurt him without meaning to.

    Welcome to the board. (we're slow on weekends)

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  4. #3
    Puppy
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    Thanks. Yes, I totally anticipate the exhaustion - I remember that from last time! I'd just rather be tired than worried!

    They do both have crates, but I've just been starting to slowly introduce the little one so as not to scare him of the crate. The older one sleeps in her crate no problem and seems to enjoy it. We'll just keep working on it

  5. #4
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    You need to advocate for your puppy and set boundaries for your adult dog.

    Supervise. *Before* things get rough and the puppy communicates his discomfort by disengaging (it sounds like he is shutting down), redirect, call for a timeout, separate, etc. With the adult dog, more exercise separately of the puppy. Running off leash or on a long-line, when possible. Playing with other adult dogs. Training a few minutes here and there, even just doing some shaping with a clicker or teaching tricks or something.

    If you need to crate one or the other to separate, do that. Just keep frozen Kongs on hand or other chewy things or interactive puzzles for crate time. It's not a punishment, just a time-out. Grabbing the adult by the collar and holding back is pretty worthless because you can only do that for so long and actually can cause more excitement. Besides crates, baby gates work well too. You can also set up a pen for the puppy, like an ex-pen.

    There is a good chance that if you make playing positive for the puppy, when he gets bigger things will get better. Puppies grow really fast so this is probably just temporary.

  6. #5
    House Broken ArchieSit's Avatar
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    Our older lab was three when we brought Ferris home in September (he was 8 weeks). We used baby gates to give them time apart when they needed it. (We do have crates as well.) In our situation, it was Archie, the older one, who wanted to get away from the puppy pestering him constantly. Ferris is four months old now and it's way better. I agree with the PP, you definitely need to give the puppy safe space. He's a baby and everything is brand new to him. Good luck! As you know, they grow up fast, so enjoy.

  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by amydeanna View Post
    I have a 2 1/2 year old female lab, she is extremely sweet. We got an 8 week old male lab yesterday. I was nervous about the introduction, but they both seemed happy to meet each other.

    The older female wants to play with the puppy constantly and she is rough. The puppy seems to want to play at first but then just kind of lays there while the other dog goes on with playing. The older one will stand over him and nibble at his neck. She will also pounce toward him and run toward him, knocking him over. She paws at him as well. The puppy has not yelped or whined, but seems to just disengage.

    Some people have told me to just let them play while others have said to hold the older dog back.

    I do not want to discourage play as I want them to have a healthy friendship. However, I don't want the little one getting hurt.

    The constant supervision and holding my older dog back is by far more exhausting than the sleepless night I had from the crying puppy!

    Any words of advice please?

    Thanks!
    I was in pretty much the same situation as you a couple years ago. Sophie was 2 1/2 when Bruce arrived, they had the same dynamic that you are dealing with. A 2 1/2 year old Lab is still very much a puppy, and they want to play like one. The problem is they are full grown. Your 2 1/2 year old can do serious damage to the new puppy, so you need to set the limits on how and when the dogs play.

    In the long run things will work out, but for the next year or so you almost have to keep them separated unless you can control the situation 100%, and do not let the adult adult dictate how they play.

  8. #7
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Not the best at puppy information since we home seniors. Wanted to say Hello and Welcome! Remember pictures, we love pictures.
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  9. #8
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    As a recommendation .doggy day care for the adult. All she might need is some play with adult dogs.on those days you can spend.all your time with the puppy . Couple of days a week maybe to start.
    We had a different dynamic 5 yr old minindox which was small and a big lab puppy hell bent on breaking him. We only dog sit him but it was tough.

    Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

  10. #9
    Senior Dog Meeps83's Avatar
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    Pictures! Pictures please!

    Your girl sounds excited and maybe not quite sure how to act. We added a pup to our house, also with a 2 1/2 year old lab, just two months ago. Guide their interactions, tell her she's good when she's giving you a behavior that you like, separate when needed, give her special time, and work on training both of them. No special commands, but I found it helpful to teach them that they both had to listen to me and follow my commands at the same time and in all occasions. You do need to protect the baby, but before too long he'll be running around torturing her! Have fun with them!


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  11. #10
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    I try to limit puppy play w/ similar sized dogs/ pups and with good supervision. I've seen lots of injuries happen over the years. Shoot, one of my owners had a pup break his elbow at 4mos in play w/ a dog.... $5000. Whenever they are growing fast, that's when you really need to be extra careful. Good luck!
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