We are bringing home our GSD puppy in 3 weeks. We have an 8 year old Golden (very submissive) and a 6 year old tabby cat (very social and gets along with Golden really well).

The puppy crate will be in our room. Our Golden also sleeps in our room on the floor. I know Leerburg is big on keeping them separate. I'm not sure how to do this? Any suggestions?

Walks at different times? How long before I could walk them together? If playing with the puppy, should I put our Golden in another room? Puppy should be in crate unless I can be 100% available - get that.

I don't want to feel like I'm neglecting my Golden but still need to give special attention to the puppy. Not sure how to balance this. Anyone else's experience would be helpful.

The way that I handle it is that the pup is on a tether to me (check out the one that Leerburg now sells ) and within a couple of feet and under control at all times. I allow my older dogs to be out, but they are not to play with the pup, nor is the pup allowed to harass them.

If you are going to be playing with the pup, and the golden feels the need to join in, then yes, I would put the golden up and give the baby undivided attention. Then when it is nap time for the pup, give that time to the golden. You will be surprised at how quickly you fall into a routine. If the golden has a hard time staying away from the pup even when everything is calm, then having a second person to tether him/her to will be great. Teach the golden that the pup is not a toy and to respect your space and that of the pup. If you don’t have a second person, you can take notes from Jenn ( ) and put a tie ring or some other attachment point in the room and tie the golden up or just put him/her in the room until they can learn manners.

I do walk them separately until the pup is at the point where they are walking nicely on the lead (or almost there) and able to make it around the block. What fun would it be for the golden to have to stop every two feet and go so slowly that they might as well lie down? Teach the pup how to walk nicely and then work on them both together. I would have a second person walk the golden at first so that you can reinforce the correct way to walk for the baby now that there is a cool distraction, but eventually you should be able to walk them together. Since there will be a disparity in the length of time the two need to walk, I would find a circuitous route and drop the pup off in the crate and then finish the walk with the golden.

Oh and yes to the crate when you can’t watch the pup, but most of the time you should be able to have it tethered to you so the pup will get lots of out time. Are you familiar with house breaking a pup? Lots of good refresher stuff on here.