My new upstairs neighbor got a little bundle of puppy adorableness....she's about 10 weeks old now and my neighbor asked if it would be okay if she let her puppy play with my dog outside until she could get her into a puppy kindergarten class. This is a small breed puppy but considering Ryuk has yet to eat the cat (and has had plenty of chances) I figured we'd try it. Each dog was leashed, we let them meet on grass, letting them approach each other. After a quick greeting Ryuk was laying down, the puppy chewing on his ears, the pair were adorable rolling around. Ryuk has been so gentle (and really forgiving), we've done this almost every day now since the weather has (FINALLY) been nice. The puppy has even started copying him, which her owner loves since so far she's only copied the "sitting for treats" and "don't bark at other dogs" behaviors.

While they were playing today I had a woman come up and ask how I trained Ryuk to be so gentle....uh...I didn't....but that got me thinking. This is a dog who regularly plays hard with larger dogs. This is a dog that will chase down and kill puppy-sized rabbits if I don't call him back, he'll doesn't eat the cat but we have a 16lb cat that doesn't run away and would most likely shred him if he tried. Prey drive has always been a pretty strong thing for him and he's caught me a range of small animals while off leash on hikes. Why is he being so sedate with this little puppy? I mean he literally slows down his movements, will lay down and roll over and let her play with his ears, he'll let her grab and hold his tail as he pulls her around. He's super careful with each movement. If she bites to hard he gives her a little correction bark...he's not doing any of his typical "BODYSLAM" movements or super kicking action he normally does when playing...

Do some dogs just know to be gentle to puppies? But how would that explain the not eating the cat?

My super rambuctious, monster alpha male robo-dog is absolutly googly-eyes smitten with puppies. This beast is reffered to as 'crazy' and The Wild Child' by most people that know him. He will go out of his way to tiptoe up to puppies and let them just terrorize him, he will allow every indignity they can dish out while he tolerates (enjoys?) it with what looks like a huge dopey grin on his face. We call him Uncle Coulter. Sounds like you've got one of those Uncle dogs, too. Sounds nice, though - Uncle Ryuk.....Oh, btw, Uncle Coulter is great with the cats, too. He did open a can of Whup A$$ on the neighbors Akita when it broke into my yard. Coulter 1, Akita 0. Who knows, they are again smarter than we give them credit for.
Enjoy them!

In general adult dogs will give young puppies a lot of leeway in their behavior. You might call this "puppy rights." And, of course, some dogs are better with puppies than others (kind of like people). It sounds as if you have one of the better ones. That's wonderful! Give him an extra treat or two for all his patience. Puppies can be a real hand full (or should I say paw full?).

I had the same thing happen yesterday when family brought over their 10 week old Mastiff puppy.
Both my dogs were very interested, but played very gently with the pup.
I was so pleased that they seemed to know they needed to be gentle and tolerant.
My female let the pup jump and nip at her neck as they played, it was so cute how gentle she was.

It does seem like dogs know when they are dealing with pups and babies that they need to be so gentle.

But interestingly, this family had visited someone else's dog who was not so gentle and seemed to not be able to control it's
aggressive play. Immediately, the dog and pup were separated.

So I guess it is really an individual thing and depends on the temperament of the dog.
It is really is nice to see the gentle behavior when it happens, but it should never be an automatic assumption that older dogs will always react positively, as some do not.
I agree with Elaine, give your dog lots of praise for being such a patient and good dog!

I had the same thing happen yesterday when family brought over their 10 week old Mastiff puppy.
Both my dogs were very interested, but played very gently with the pup.
I was so pleased that they seemed to know they needed to be gentle and tolerant.
My female let the pup jump and nip at her neck as they played, it was so cute how gentle she was.

It does seem like dogs know when they are dealing with pups and babies that they need to be so gentle.

But interestingly, this family had visited someone else's dog who was not so gentle and seemed to not be able to control it's
aggressive play. Immediately, the dog and pup were separated.

So I guess it is really an individual thing and depends on the temperament of the dog.
It is really is nice to see the gentle behavior when it happens, but it should never be an automatic assumption that older dogs will always react positively, as some do not.
I agree with Elaine, give your dog lots of praise for being such a patient and good dog!

Most of my dogs have puppy sense and treat them like babies- even the old biddy Border Collies. But I do have a beagle that lives at the kennel, and is a way better dog there!, because he has NO puppy sense at all and tried to kill them. Actually he started getting even more (than a beagle normally is?) possession aggressive when the bitch was pregnant. He was being very rough with her and I did not trust him with newborns. Tried him again when they were weaned and he had no sense again. Now that they are a year he plays with them. Either he has an age limit or he took a year to learn something. I am not sure which. Either way he is a much more liveable dog at the kennel then home.
I think the baby reaction carrys through smarter species to some degree. My congo african grey knows to be gentle if I say..."It is a baby"..birds, rats, kittens, puppies... She would tolerate baby cockatiels or parakeets climbing on her but when they hit a certain age...weaned and more agile, she totally avoids them. The dogs she will leave in peace as babies but now that all are a year or more she is quick to take a bite at a nose in or on her cage.

Very cool that your big old thing is baby social.