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Question
My puppy prefers playing with my adult dog over interacting with me. What can I do?
Answer
I don't allow puppies to have physical interactions with my adult dogs if they show extreme interest, as you describe your puppy.
Yes, it's difficult to keep them separate, and when the puppy is out of the crate the adult dog should NOT be accessible. There are really no other options especially when the puppy has practiced lots of fun and reinforcing
interactions with your other dog. I keep my puppies leashed at all times when they are with me in the house from the beginning.
Keep in mind that for a lot of puppies affection isn't a valuable currency. Maybe when the pup is older she will value it but for many dogs it's simply something they tolerate for their owners. They want play, interaction,
fun and food. So you will need to up your game to become more interesting and dynamic than the other dog while removing access to the other dog from the equation right now.
FYI, I see you are not too far from us. We'll be hosting Michael Ellis here in September in case you are interested. He almost never does seminars anymore, he was here in December 2019 and it was a great event. We're very excited to have him back again this fall.
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