Advice on new puppy and old dog.

[Equus Leather]

As per other post, we have a 10yr old Italian Spinone called Amber. She's a lovely dog, very obedient and well trained. Very much her masters dog.

On Thursday we pick up our new puppy. Another Spinone called Millie.

Neither myself or the OH have had a puppy before (though I was a VN in a previous life), so we're quite apprehensive.

We want to make sure Amber doesn't feel left out...how do we make sure both dogs get the same attention?

We're aware of having the vaccinations done etc...but Amber is unvaccinated, and at the age of 10 I don't think there's any point in having her done now.

Any advice?

 

[CAYLA]

Most importantly, give your olg girl rest and an escape from the little mite, crate as fab for this, you can crate train puppy at the same time, let them have supervised interaction with yourself, then place puppy away for some sleep time, ans meal times to give your old girl a break, and also when u are not there to supervise....older dogs can have a snap, if the puppy becomes to much, if u are there u can tend to the situation, if not, the puppy could get hurt, so crate acts as a protective barrier.

Place the crate beside the old girls bed, she then gets to be beside your old girl, but cannot pester, and when you remove the crate at a later stage, she will know where she needs to lie.

If she does bother your old girl too much, try and ware her out yourself with toys, so she tends to sleep alot around her, she then sees the puppy in a calm low energy stage.....she will not irritate her as much, obs puppy will sleep alot more at that age, so all sleep time, can be spent pampering your old girl

 

[Equus Leather]

Thanks Cala, we have a crate for small one, so will def be using that. Just conscious that Amber might feel left out...not sure what she'll make of a pup, she's great around other dogs, but always assumes the submissive role. She's def bottom of any pecking order.

Thanks for your advice. Scary, yet exciting!

 

[FinnishLapphund]

About the vaccination, I think there's a risk that she could carry something that doesn't show on her, but could infect and make the puppy ill, but I don't know if the risk is high or low. I can only say that I kept vaccinating my old dogs according to the requirements from SKK.




About the other thing, it's very easy to get carried away by the young dogs energy and enthusiasm, and I think it's a little bit like with babies, remember to make the most out of your opportunities when they're sleeping. When my puppies slept, I gave Jonna some extra attention, read books, watered my flowers, vacuumed etc.
It also doesn't hurt that the puppy learns that it has to wait on it's turn, just do it at the appropriate times, so don't do it when the puppy needs to go out for a pee. And personally, if somebody tries to interfere when I cuddle one of the other dogs I just ignore them, pretend that the other one isn't there, they do it to get attention and any attention from me in that situation would be perceived as success/a sign of that it works, for the interfering part.

I also tried for the first weeks, months to give each dog some time alone with me, either outdoors in the garden or for a walk in private, once a day. Then Jonna got to do the things she's used to do with me, and the puppies learn that they're out walking with me and can't always look on the other dogs to see what they should do/think about new situations.



Remember to take it calm, let things take the time it takes. For every puppy I have, I think it feels easier, and they're more or less the same as other puppies, but I've changed. Now when an accident happens indoor, I mostly just shrug my shoulders and tell myself that "I'll be more observant next time." I actually shrugs my shoulders on most (but not all) things the last three, four puppies have done, and think that "They'll learn, no need to worry yet."
When I had my first puppy, more than 18 years ago, I felt more like every indoor pee was a failure ("What if she would never become house-trained...")
Now for instance, I make sure that I put up compost-net around/in front of furniture's I'm careful with, thereby they can't gnaw on it, and there's one less potential "No!" situation for us to worry about with the puppies. It's very easy that the majority of the puppy-time is spent saying "No, don't do that!" and "No don't do this!", and I've learnt to avoid, ignore a lot of such behaviour and concentrate on the positive things.
So if they gnaw on a knob to a drawer, I start talking to/bouncing a dog bone, I wander by and Oops happens to put something that blocks the access to the knob on my way past/accidentally drops a bone nearby instead... If they want to bite my hands when I lift them up, I try to hold my hands so they can't reach them etc.




I've also made a list on the five things I felt was most important that my puppies learned. So if my puppy turns out to be incredibly daft, and is only capable of learning one thing in her whole life, what feels most important? That thing is number one, and as an example, here's my list :
1 Being able to go loose on walks. Includes lots of different things, but my puppy training level begins with that puppy should come with me when I want to continue the walk ("This way"/"Let's go") and in the direction I choose, some simple recalls, and if the puppy seemed calm and responsive, I let it wait a second or two before being allowed to be off the leash (but actually it just meant either having a short rope-tie on for me to grab hold of, or harness with long line). Already here, there's several things included for the puppy to learn.
2 House-training. I'd rather have a dog that can go loose, but is not 100% house-trained than vice verse.
3 Not going out through the open front door without permission. If the need isn't acute, I take the chance to train "Wait" --- "Forward".
4 Wait for permission before being allowed to eat.
5 Not pull on the leash.

The first week or two, I only focus on number one, I try to also train the second on my list, but it's not as important. Of course, if they happen to sit down for instance, I might take the opportunity to say "Sit", "Good girl", but I don't feel that the most important thing for making my dog owning pleasurable is whether they can sit on command.


from Sweden.