[amharris]

Wow. I got a female puppy now about 7 months old to have as a dog friend for my 9 year olf female dog. The pup is a lab/rottie mix and the adult female is a rottie. From the beginning the rottie did not accept the pup when when brougt her home at 2 months old. The rottie was moved to another family member home and now my husband wants to just put them together. I'm afraid and now after reading some of the comments feel we should just keep them apart. Any additional comments on this subject

Thanks

[labman]

The nine year old is well past the time most dogs enjoy puppy biting games. Young Labs, which I know best, and other puppies tend to very bad about
Biting. You see a litter of them, and all the ones that are awake are biting
Another one or themselves. I am not even sure they realize that when they are
Alone, if they quit biting, they would quit being bitten. At 3 to 4 months
They are getting their adult teeth, and it seems they spend every waking
Moment biting or chewing. One thing you can do at that stage is to knot and wet a piece of cloth. Then freeze it. The cooling will soothe the gums. Only let the puppy have it when you are there to watch it. I maintain a Lab's favorite chew toy is another Lab. Otherwise they settle for any person they can. They keep hoping to find one that won't yelp, jerk their hand away, and leave.

If the old dog is going to accept the younger one, you must work with her in teaching the puppy to leave her alone. Allow her quick snaps and growls to discourage the puppy. When you see the puppy heading for the older dog, divert it with a safe chew toy. It will take a while for the puppy to learn neither the old dog nor any of the people want bit.

Things will go much better if you are firmly established as leader. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss

It will be a long time before you will be able to leave the2 of them alone together. For now, I would say crate the puppy. For that, read through sticky starting at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post251802


As the puppy matures, she may challenge the older one for pack rank. If both are spayed, it will help. At that point, it will be even more important for you to be top dog.