Dear Critter Corner: We have recently adopted a new puppy and during the initial introductions our resident dog seemed to enjoy the puppy but now our resident dog is growling at the puppy. Do you have any suggestions on what we should do?
Congratulations on your new pup! While your resident dog may have been fine with the puppy outside of his home, bringing a new one in can be hard for some dogs. This is especially true if there is a large age gap between the 2 dogs. There are a few things you can do to help make the transition go a little smoother.
First thing is be sure to give both pups some alone time. Take your resident dog and do some of the activities you all did before the new pup came along. With the new pup, I would work on some basic obedience cues, you can include the resident dog in on these exercises.
The new pup will need to learn to respect the resident dog as well, so you will want to make sure that you are monitoring play and interactions in general and if it gets too much for the older one, you separate the 2 out for a bit. This is a great time to teach the new pup how to settle on their place and be able to relax with everyone around.
If your older pup growls at the new pup, don’t scold him for doing so, he is giving a warning to the little one which is perfectly acceptable. I would much rather have the dog that growls to show their discomfort with a situation than the one that goes straight to the bite.
Try to do some fun actives with the 2 of them too, this can help build positive associations with one another. Depending on the age difference it may limit what you can do but do try find some fun stuff they both will enjoy.
Lastly look at our website to see the resources we offer in the form of Behavior Handouts, 1:1 Consultations, or you can call our Behavior Hotline.
Tasha Suda is the Lead Dog Trainer for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA Behavior Department. For more information, please visit www.phs-spca.org, call 650-340-7022 or email tsuda@phs-spca.org.
Source: www.mercurynews.com