Another 'our dog hasn't taken a shining to our new puppy' post

[Fabforester]

Just wondered if you could post your hints and tips on gradual acceptance of the newbie by one of our terriers. We have 2 male neutered boys, and new addition is a very sweet whippet. Have been given lots of advice already, but always have so much help on here.... cheers.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Since you give such vague information about your problem and how it shows itself, I can only say that personally, I doesn't expect that my bitches will love each other, only because I have decided that we will live together in my family, but they have to accept that that is how it is.

The only time I have had a new puppy and one of the two old bitches who lived then, had become grumpy with age and was not at all interested in having a puppy in the house, both learned quickly, that the only place I allowed Raya to say anything about it, was if she was in her dog bed and Jonna also jumped/climbed down into the same dog bed.


When I get a new puppy I also make sure to take some separate walks now and then, so, as an example, when I got Jonna, sometimes when we went out on the older bitches longer daily walk, I took Jonna with me and carried her a lot of the way, but sometimes it was only me and the older ladies, just as they were accustomed to.


So basically, I suppose that I would probably tell your Terrier with his own ideas, to get over himself and the new Whippet to leave the possibly "grumpy" Terrier alone. But, again, I see it as a bonus if my bitches really loves to live together, but if they don't do that, I'm okay with that, as long as they simply accept living together.

 

[sessierose]

Whats the age difference?

I had two pugs the same age and one of them died in an accident. I got a 9 wk old puppy shortly after, and my 2 1/2 yr old neutered male hated her until she was about 6/7 months old. Now they are absolutely fine together.

I'm now having an issue with the B1tch now she's reached 2 1/2, she doesn't seem to like young puppies.

 

[Fabforester]

Thank you both. Newbie is 10 weeks, male terrier is 5 in September. Our other male terrier cross is a PAT dog and perfect with her. Oliver has today attacked her and split her bottom lip.
They met on neutral territory, and we have been careful to give Oliver his usual fuss if not more. The pup is not cheeky with him, and only approaches him to say hello. He is literally waiting to get her at the moment.
Pup goes in her crate well, and so does our terrier go in his, so they are able to watch each other from afar and we are trying our best without forcing the situation. What can we do to stop things from worsening.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Okay, personally I would begin with stopping the puppy from going up to say Hello to Oliver, there is plenty of dogs out there for your puppy to socialize with and, after all, your other dog is okay with her.

However, the moment you see that Oliver begins to wait on the opportunity to go for her, that is the moment when he begins to focus his thoughts on it and that's when I would let him know that he was alive. But because he is a Terrier, I would be careful with how I literally flogged him, so that I not only triggered him to want to fight more. E.g. I would probably try to make my voice low, calm, ice cold and demanding.

In your case, besides continuing with the crate training, when you have time to train him, I would probably try to divide e.g. the living room with compost net, Oliver on one side, puppy on the other, the moment you see that Oliver begins to have any wrong ideas, you demand that he quits with it. Sometimes you could perhaps use a spray of water from a spray bottle, to break his behaviour.


To go back to what I mentioned in my first reply, when I said that I don't demand that my bitches love living together but they have to accept it, it to me means, that I don't demand that my bitches interact much with each other but they have to behave acceptably around each other, otherwise, they are disobedient towards me.
If they truly enjoy each others company, I'm delighted but it is a bonus, as long as they're not frightened of each others company, I would be able to live with them together.


Good luck.