Is my puppy going to be traumatised from a bad interaction?

[petekristin]

My puppy is 12 weeks old, the other day I took him round to my mums house to meet her dog. I knew that my mums dog was a little bit protective of his toys I.e. moves them when people come near but I’d never seen any aggression before.

When my puppy arrived my mum’s dog was growling so much and it was genuinely really scary. Thankfully no physical altercation.

I’m really scared now because a) I don’t want my puppy to be traumatised and now be fearful of other dogs! b) I don’t know how to broach seeing my mums dog again, realistically they are going to need to get along somehow? I just need that to be with as little stress as possible for both dogs.

The whole thing has really stressed me out and I don’t know what the best next steps are!

 

[literaturedesk]

@petekristin Hey! I’ve been working in the pet care field for over a decade and I’m no expert but I do have a decent amount of experience when it comes to this kinda stuff.

So here’s my few bits of advice:

1) the more you stress out about it the more stressed the pup is going to be. Once your pup has all his booster shots I would try taking him to doggy daycare or to a puppy play group that’s with a dog trainer (to help monitor the behavior and intervene properly if anything does happen). And I’d definitely sign them up for training as soon as you can as well.

2) you should have the dogs meet on neutral ground. You brought your puppy to your Mum’s home and her dog was protecting her space. New dog in her territory. It’s all guarding behavior. How was she growling? Low grumble and a flash of teeth? Full growl with teeth and hair on back of neck standing on end (kinda like a mohawk)?
Also how much experience does mum’s dog have with other dogs? Not all dogs are good with other dogs. Some older dogs don’t like puppies. Some little dogs don’t like bigs and vice versa. I’ve had a few dogs who don’t like dogs their own size so they go in a different play group.

And unless your puppy yelled/screamed and wet themselves they probably didn’t get traumatized. Or at least not as much as you think. I promise you’re probably more scared than he is.

 

[petekristin]

@literaturedesk Hey! Thanks so much for your response, very reassuring

Since the post I’ve taken my puppy to a puppy group and he was pretty calm (as calm as a 13 week old can be in a field full of new smells) and there were even a few dogs that barked and growled at him there and he didn’t seem overly faded. Huge relief! Will continue to take him there every week.

Mum’s dog is 3 years old and was a lockdown pup after the death of our lovely placid family dog who we had for 12 years. I think he’s socialised pretty well for a lockdown dog- mum has doggy friends and took him to puppy group when he was around 1 year old. He also has my aunties very old mixed breed virtually living with him on week days. He’s always been the ‘puppy’ of the group though and I don’t know for sure if he’s ever really met any younger dogs than him.

We’re definitely going to go on a few walks and build up their trust of each other. Do you think this will improve their relationship inside the house eventually? I’ve also suggested to my mum that all toys and food are completely out of the way in future so there’s nothing to guard

 

[literaturedesk]

@petekristin I definitely think having your mum’s dog meet your pup somewhere that isn’t her house. Have them meet in the park or somewhere they can be off leash together.