13 year old Spaniel & 10 week old Newf Pup

[cherylb]

New Newf Puppy & 13 Year old Spaniel
Hi, my name is Cheryl. My husband and I brought home a beautiful 8 week Landseer Newf 2 weeks ago. She is full of life and non-stop energy.

I have an urgent request for other Newf owners. What suggestions do you have on how to deal with a 13 year old English Springer Spaniel who is an alpha male and an insistent non-stop 10 week old female Newf who appears to also be alpha.

We have always had to go through a few encounters with the Spaniel, but the other pups have always respected him as the 'pack' leader. Mattie (the newf) does not. She just wants to play and nip and shows no regard for his fierce growls and snaps.

We are concerned for her safety and need some suggestions very quickly. Please share your wisdom with us because we have tried everything that we know to do.

Thank you,
Cheryl Benoit

 

[new_2_newf]

I think you are already getting some great suggestions on another thread, but if you are bringing in a trainer, great. Otherwise, your older pup is just teaching the little one the rules. Unless he is putting his teeth to her, I would just let them work it out. Put the puppy in time out if she gets to be to much...he may be a little bit sore in his old age and not happy about a puppy jumping on him, it might hurt him.

 

[Charlie'sMom]

I would probably keep the puppy on a leash that is tethered to me, if the puppy goes for the older dog, you can correct, and either provide some play yourself for the puppy, or give the puppy an appropriate toy to jump on!

 

[Alex]

I would keep them separated when you're busy and teach the pup to leave him alone when you're not. You could use leash corrections if you want, with my puppy for leaving the cats alone, I rewarded her with toys or food for ignoring the cats, kept her busy with her own toys, and taught her a good name response so I could call her off if she started to pursue. If I were in your situation, I would not make it the old guy's responsibility to teach the puppy manners, I'd let him be and do it myself so he can have some peace.
I'd also caution you to not get too muddied up in "alpha" ness because that can really blur what you're actually trying to accomplish in varying situations. In my experience, think in terms of "dog is doing x and I would like him to do y" and it will usually be easier to come up with a solution.

 

[dumainedogs]

I would not make it the old guy's responsibility to teach the puppy manners, I'd let him be and do it myself so he can have some peace.

I'm with you on this one. Lesson learned here. I relied on Betty the 12-yr-old Corgi to set her own boundaries when Obie was a pup.. and she did to a great degree. She would correct him when he got too rowdy. Unfortunately, she loved playing with Obie when he was smaller so she didn't set those boundaries -quite- strong enough for the 130 lb playful mess he has become I've had to step in and enforce because she is no longer able to.

 

[R Taft]

I would also leave the older dog to dish out the manners...Dogs need to be dogs and dogs need to know how to behave around other dogs. Unless an older dog is full on aggressive i prefer to let the dogs do the teaching. So that the pup can be good around dogs in his future. We as people interfere too much with the natural dog teaching.
When Katy was a little pup, Tessa was quite snarly too. And Katy was quite obnoxious. One day Tessa just gave her an above average telling off and Katy went Oops.....Tessa has always been Katy's manners teacher. And now Katy is very polite amongst her peers and even dogs she does not know. because she has learned dog manners, she never rushes into new dogs, which a lot of dogs that do not know dog manners do. Which cannot be taught by people. We as people teach avoidance and that is not good for dogs. Dogs need to be allowed to be around other dogs and interact and receive the consequences. It will all pay off when the dogs are mature and have to be in the social world.
Good luck with your training Ronnie