Older dog aggressive towards new puppy

[marymagdelene]

I have a 7 year old dog who often seems very timid. He is fearful of other dogs, and when trying to bring him around my new 10 week old puppy, he is aggressive. He has a bit of an unfriendly history with other dogs. The older one was raised with 2 other dogs, (we have 4 total now including the puppy) and he is absolutely fine around them. When introducing him to the new puppy he was growling and lunged at him aggressively. He didnt bite him, he was more just letting the puppy know to back off when the pup was being a bit too playful with him. Im worried about them getting along, as my older dog just seems so fearful of the puppy.

How can i help get him acclimated to the puppy? We havent even had the puppy for a week, so should i give it more time? Is there hope for the situation? Im really worried.

I have done some research online but was wondering what others thought about the situation. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated

 

[kyx]

@marymagdelene Why did you get a puppy if your dog has a history of not liking other dogs?

 

[marymagdelene]

@kyx Because he has been fine with the rest of the dogs in the house. We know he has it in him to get along with other dogs if he gets past his fear

 

[kyx]

@marymagdelene Ah, sorry, I must have misunderstood.

Have you tried positive reinforcement? Feeding him treats around the puppy, etc.

The incident you described sounds like he was simply correcting the puppy for being too boisterous, which isn't necessarily aggression as long as it doesn't escalate.

 

[marymagdelene]

@kyx No i haven’t, i will definitely try that out. Thanks for the tip. Today was their first encounter, it was really brief but he seemed bothered when the puppy entered his personal space. It may not be typical aggression, but he was growing and was a bit scary when telling the puppy off. I appreciate your response. I am going to do my best and take baby steps, we haven’t even had the puppy for a week.

 

[kyx]

@marymagdelene I think the most important thing you can do is make sure you don't punish your dog for reacting negatively towards the puppy. Redirect his behaviour and reward the behaviour you want rather than telling him off for any unwanted behaviour.

You might want to consider contacting an animal behaviour qualified dog trainer too.

 

[marymagdelene]

@kyx Will do, thanks again!

 

[kyx]

@marymagdelene Best of luck!

 

[yahwhshua]

@marymagdelene I don't know if I'd bring food into the situation right away here's what I would try put a little bell in the puppy it makes him seem like a toy I don't know I do it with cats and cats are notoriously more snobbish than dogs.

 

[oof_what]

@marymagdelene I had this problem with our dogs.

Our trainer recommended lots of walks together so they associated being together with having fun.

At the end of each walk he had us lie them down close to one another and give them treats.

They became and still are best friends.

 

[marymagdelene]

@oof_what How close were ur dogs when they were walking? Theres a chance they might be an issue with them if they are right next to each other on a walk. Do u think being on a walk together but being semi-separated would still help for the time being?

 

[oof_what]

@marymagdelene Our dogs were very close together, but certainly try with your dogs semi-separated.

My husband took both dogs on trail hikes, trips to the pier, etc.

 

[marymagdelene]

@oof_what Will do, thanks for the great tip

 

[mammabear7355]

@marymagdelene Walks and treats sounds good advice. Maybe a muzzle walking tll he calms down. My pup got a bite from mean old bitch,
didn't get hurt. She learned to be more cautious and learned to back off a little and play with others

 

[brownie]

@marymagdelene I would start with them pretty well-separated, puppy in front so that your older dog is only facing the non-threatening rear end. Reward both dogs with treats frequently as they walk as long as they’re calm.

 

[hiwaystar]

@oof_what How long did this take? We are in a very similar situation and have been doing the walks with the two dogs. It’s been a month or so maybe so I’m just wondering what others experiences are

 

[oof_what]

@hiwaystar It took us a couple weeks.

Our older dog didn’t hate the puppy. He snapped at her when she was pestering him by jumping on him and licking his face.

We also started giving him breaks from her when it seemed like he wanted time without being pestered.

 

[hiwaystar]

@oof_what We have the issue of it seems our puppy doesn’t really get the our older dog means leave him alone for more than 30 seconds so after a few seconds we jump in and call her away or distract her. Do you find the same with your puppy?

 

[oof_what]

@hiwaystar Yes, we would move the puppy to a different room when we saw that our older dog was getting annoyed with being licked, jumped on and being used as a chew toy.

 

[marymagdelene]

@hiwaystar How has this been going for u? Would u mind sharing a bit more about your situation?