I recently adopted a new dog. He's an Alaskan Malamute and an Belgian German Shepherd named Ramses. He's about nine to ten weeks old. I have a white Malti-poo who's about a year old named Odin.

Odin doesn't seem to really like Ramses even though we've introduced him slowly to each other. First sniffing and then introduction a day later. Odin hates him. Anytime we praise Ramses for pottying outside or doing well on obedience training he's just glaring or giving us puppies eyes. We're even teaching Odin new tricks and praising him for that. I shouldn't place human emotions on him, but I think he's jealous. Any advice?

Also house training. Ramses is only nine to ten weeks old, and I'm crate training. When I got Odin he was almost three months so I'm so lost at this age. He pees in his crate. We let him out right before bed, take up water an hour before bedtime, and he still pottys in the crate. I don't know if he doesn't know potty area from sleep area, or if this is because he's so young.

Any other advice with this specific breed or anything you can lend advice about would be great.

Altenweg

Dogs can get jealous, it's part of their nature. He may feel that this young pup will be ahead of him in the pack.

The fact that you're giving the new pup is getting a lot of attention, which is necessary, is probably making it worse. After all, you're the pack leaders, in his doggy mind you make the rules, you choose who follows you and paying a lot of attention to the pup means he may be ahead. It's a scary position for him.

There are many things you can do. Too many to go into. It does help if you try to make sure that the older dog doesn't feel put out. It's tricky though.

Are you a fan of Cesar Millan? I think he's spot on when it comes to dogs. He has many books out, maybe going to the library or book store would be a great step. I'm not sure if he has a book about introducing a new puppy, but it wouldn't surprise me.

As for the crate training. At 9 weeks of age your puppy needs to potty a lot. How long are you leaving him in the crate during the day?

The usual rule is 1 hour for every month of age. At 10 weeks he shouldn't be in the crate, during the day, for more then 2 hours.

We do have a dog expert on the site, she's marvelous. Sadly she's in Australia so her hours are a bit different. Check back often, I'm sure she'll come to contribute.

uhhleesha

It's about eight hours at night. I'm guessing that could be why. He didn't do it last night, though. Which was good. We don't leave him alone more than three hours of the day. I have a few pdfs of his, so I'll skim through and see if I can find anything.

Altenweg

At night it's not necessary to obey the 1 month one hour rule, but he probably does whine during the night to be let out.

Cutting back on his water intake before bed does help. Also, a clock, or something else that ticks, can help to make him sleep longer.

At this age puppies are a lot like human babies, they need tons of attention and can't go long without a potty break.

Cesar Millan really is great. In all my years of having dogs I haven't found an author yet that's as accurate as Cesar Millan.

uhhleesha

I wake up to him whining at 2am now. He takes about five mins to do his business which us a pain considering how cold it is in tennessee right now. Andy says that we should put him outside as punishment for pottying in the house. That doesn't seem right I me. Because if we ever put him outside when he's bigger wouldn't he think he did something bad? Plus with it being so cold and him being only eight to ten weeks couldn't he get too cold or get sick? On top of that Im worried about rabies. One last thing I'd like to address is his eating habbits. He doesn't like his dog food that the pound gave him and refuses to eat it. He lives the upstairs DOG food for SMALL breeds and he's a puppy who is a giant breed. I won't let him eat it and I'm going to need more reasons other than he's a puppy for everyone around me.

shazamataz

Outside shouldn't be made as a punishment, outside needs to be something he associated with good things such as his favourite treat or toy when he pottys out there otherwise he is not going to want to go out there at all because it's his 'naughty corner'

Definitely don't let him eat the small dog food, also stay clear of puppy food in general unless it is less than 24% protein, large/giant breeds have different dietary needs than most dogs as they are growing.

You can change what brand you give him, it doesn't have to be what the shelter gave him as long as you change the food over slowly a sudden change in diet can result in an upset stomach and diarrhoea... just gradually mix in the new food over a week or so until you have completely fazed out the yukky shelter stuff.

Catsmine

Altenweg has addressed the jealousy and potty training issue pretty well. His food obviously needs changing to a puppy food. You may wish to season it with a little beef bullion or some table scraps (not many, just as a bribe) to introduce him to the new food. Keeping the little guy's food seperate might help with the jealousy, too. By the way, both Malamutes and shepherds are medium to large breeds, rather than giant.

shazamataz

Good point Cats, they are medium to large so the protein is less of an issue...
For some reason I thought Belgians were larger, just checked the breed standard, yes, I'm a doofus.

Oh, and yes, Altenwegs posts are awesome as always just have to spread the love.

uhhleesha

Another issue I have is that my older dog, Odin, has been acting weird lately. Pretty much since the day we brought home Ramses. He doesn't act like his normal self. He's more skittish and doesn't play at all. He doesn't really do anything. I think he's depressed. But just like five seconds ago Odin and Ramses were both on the SAME pillow and Odin just laid there. We, me and Andy, praised him for being a good puppy. Normally he listens well and is a great dog! But, now, not so much. He doesn't come to me at all. He use to be very loving and affectionate, but now, he's not. Only if Ramses is gone will he give me the slightest amount of attention. I'm thinking Ramses is the problem. However, I don't want to give him Ramses, and Andy wouldn't let me do anyways. I just don't know how to tell Odin that he's my number one and we want him to be the Alpha above Ramses but below the two leggeds. Any insight to this?

Catsmine

Another sign of jealousy, not depression. This is difficult for him, as he cannot dominate the larger puppy. Our pound puppy cocker never did get used to our younger, bigger dobie.