Younger new dog too much for older terrier? Help.

Fabforester

Fabforester

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We have a new dog to the family, a lovely little whippet bitch, and she is absolutely lovely in every way. She has the most beautiful temperament with the children, amazing recall, good manners allround, and is just lovely. However....... our 9 year old border x terrier doesnt think so. When he runs, she runs, when he chases, she chases, and she is all legs, and often takes him out in one swoop! He is a mild mannered boy but our last dog (his companion for 8 years) bullied him terribly, and we are petrified that he is going to hate the new whippet, never adjust to her bounding ways, and are panicking that we have made a bad decision. My husband thinks I have, and should have got a terrier size much smaller, gentler companion. She is on trial with us until Sunday and Im starting to panic. Advice much appreciated.
 
Grumbling, then snapping but in a deterring way not an evil way, but when she flies ontop of him he does scream and run off and hide. We know that we can work on her charging into him, and channeling her energies lol but, its whether he really would just be better off on his own, or with a very placid, smaller dog.
 
The first thing that I thought about when reading your post, was that if you feel worried about the situation, there is a risk for that your older dog will sense that, but of course without understanding that your panic is about whether he will accept the new dog or not. So personally, I think that it instead, makes him more likely to not accept the new dog, because you're worried, so he feels uneasy about the situation...

The second thing I thought about, was that I would try to make sure that the old dog is allowed to have a little fun now and then, without that the newbie is always allowed to participate, = if he runs, she's not always allowed to run after, if he chases, she's not always allowed to chase.

A lot of dog owners have dogs of different sizes, different temperament etc., and they make it work. Maybe if she is perfect in all other ways, it is possible to live with that these two dogs perhaps isn't a perfect match when it comes to playing together? There is after all no guarantee that you'll ever find another dog that is 100% perfect for your whole family, so my question would be what can you live with? I presume that a dog not good with children would be a big no no, but how about a small, gentler dog that can't ever be let off lead because he/she has no recall/too strong hunting instinct, would that be okay/better than this whippet bitch?
 
Maybe walk them separately while you work on commands with her, so that when they are together she can be told to stop bothering him. I also have an older dog who frankly hates young bubbly things annoying him. He is an old curmudgeon stuck in his ways!
 
How long have you had the whippet? I always end up with an older dog and a youngster and currently have a 7 year old Bernese Mountain Dog (all 11 stone of him) and a 4 month Flat coat. The older dog had the serious hump for the first 2 or 3 weeks but 5 weeks in they are the best of friends. Older dog tolerates being chewed, climbed over etc. but tells pups off in no uncertain terms. You need to give them time imo.

I keep them separate at night so old boy gets peace and also take them out separately sometimes to give one a break and the other independence training!
 
My lurcher used to like nothing better than playing 'Waterloo Cup' with our old border. I would keep the whippet on the lead for now when they are out together and make sure he has plenty of 'me' time.
Lurcher never did outgrow it, wwhenever the terrier ran she chased and mouthed her across the back, but once they were friends it was more mutual playing and border stopped minding.
 
Clodagh said:
My lurcher used to like nothing better than playing 'Waterloo Cup' with our old border. I would keep the whippet on the lead for now when they are out together and make sure he has plenty of 'me' time.
Lurcher never did outgrow it, wwhenever the terrier ran she chased and mouthed her across the back, but once they were friends it was more mutual playing and border stopped minding.
Click to expand...

sounds like mine but my old fella still does not like it so on group walks the lurcher is on the lead and she gets extra walks to burn of some steam and let rip without scaring the oldies
 
The terrier may tell off the whippet, and there's no reason why you can't tell her too. Your house, you're the alphas, your rules. I have a 'no fighting in the house' rule with my two, who like to wrestle with lots of noise (it's hilarious) but they don't get to do it in the house as the house is too small - easy enough to impose the rule, and I simply step in and discipline if I feel either is acting in a way I don't like. Prior to this I had a 10 year old GSD who'd always been on his own with us, when we got a GSD pup and honestly, it made our old dog's last years so much better - we just made sure he still had time with us by himself and time on his own to relax. When he died, his last act before lying down for the last time was to chase the pup (then 3) round the garden and nip his bum. Good luck, she sounds like a nice girl, just boisterous!
 
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