Shelly, Don't forget to give the older dog it's share of quality time. Often with the newness of the pups, the older established dogs get slighted.

 Quote:

Chuck F
Never allow them to "work it out themselves". YOU decide what is allowed to take place and what is not. You are the pack leader. That being said, you should be fair to your 7 year old dog and not allow the pups to run crazy all over her.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Please heed his advice, if not many more problems will manifest themsleves as the pups get older.

What sex are the two pups? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

When you have more then two dogs kept together they become a pack. This will be a consant challange. Set all ground rules now to help with this concern.
Keep us posted as they grow and mature.

hi - I think your older dog is just showing the pups that she is the boss and showing them the boundaries. If she is only growling it is generally a signal of don't bug me. A couple of bouncy puppies can be kind of a shock to the system to on old dog. My old siberian bitchs will snarl at any new puppies once they get to certain age until they get with the program. As long as she is kenneled separately when the dogs are kenneled and not subjected to them unsupervised and has a place to get away from them it doesn't sound like it will be a problem. What sex are the puppies? I'm assuming your old female is spayed and you are planning the same for your pups. You might get some friction same sex wise but usually with spayed females it isn't as bad as if they are intact. Your puppies are probably pretty much in awe of your older dog and will fall in line with her authority.
Deanna I know of what you speak - I get a lot of calls of people wanting to dump their unwanted sibes and if you don't take them they will blame their impending death on me for not taking them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Well I definately try giving the 7 year old her space. She has full run of the house, so I let her do her thing, and gate off the kitchen to keep the pups in there. I always try to give her an escape when the pups are bugging her. They seem to be getting the message though, because they are being more submissive to her. The pups are a male and a female. My plan is to get them both fixed.
I definately spend a lot of time with my old girl so that she doesn't get slighted. At least she hasn't started glaring at me or anything. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Should I start moving the pups' crates apart from each other and eventually keep them in separate rooms? Or should they be fine together since they're so pack oriented anyway.

In the book "The new knowledge of dog behaviour"( I can't think of the author and couldn't spell it anyway) it is commented that two pups from the same litter,raised together, one will become very domanant and the other will become very submissive. The pourpose of the studies were to test sutability for guide dogs and the submissive dog never became a guide dog. Two puppies raise together and not related did not have the same problems. They couldn't explain why. I have raised many multiple dogs and the only problems I ever had was with two sibling. One was extremely dominant over the other and the submmissive one,although very lovable, was useless when the other was around. Looking back, I should have spent more individual time with these dogs but 30 yrs ago I just didn't know any better.

Is the name of the book "Applied Dog Behavior and Training" by Steven R. Lindsay? I read the same exact thing in his book. Very technical stuff, but has some good insights.

The New Knowledge of Dog Behaviour - Clarence Paffenberger- yes this is a very good book. I don't think Shelly should have too much trouble as her sibe siblings are boy and girl. I have found if they are same sex littermates you will notice more submission in one pup but this isn't usually a problem in a pet or sled dog. It would probably have bigger implications in a working/protection type breed or a guide dog etc. Sled dog litters are often kept together longer than they would in other situations to make sure they are well dog socialized-very important when your job as a sled dog puts you working in very close proximity of your team mates and their teeth. Good dog manners and social skills are a must.

Thanks guys for all the info and advice. I'll keep ya posted on how they do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Once again this topic is closed. Unless you keep puppies separated in separate kennels and separate dog crates and raise them as indivuals you are going to have nothing but problems. I have written extensively on this on my web site. Anyone who wants to can go and read the Q&A sectons on my site.