How to Socialize an Older Dog with a New Puppy

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Uploaded on April 20, 2012 • 4 min

I have a mellow, neutered, male 12 year old mix breed, medium sized house dog and recently acquired a new female puppy. Is it alright to let the old dog correct the pup with growls and barks when she pesters him or jumps up on him? He wants nothing to do with the puppy and usually walks away from her. He is tolerant of sharing his bed if she lies quietly beside him. The pup doesn't always get the message, however, and continues to bug him until he gets up and goes to another spot.

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3.6 stars (7 ratings)

NRogers

April 23, 2012

Excellent advice but not what most of us intuitively do. We foster puppies for the military working dog program at Lackland and also have our own house dog. I've been feeling guilty for not allowing the puppy to be off-leash in the house or to play with Regal unless we have her restrained. We have taught Regal to "Get Off" and to "Place" (go to a carpet square), so if there are two of us present we let them interact as long as things stay calm, but we always have a leash on the pup. We didn't want things to get out of control. Your comments appear to validate our caution. Also, the puppies don't seem to have enough self-control to obey a voice command alone which is what you confirmed here. Thanks! It helps a lot.