giraffez

Thanks, he is a cutie. Many people have provided some excellent advice on this post so thanks to all! The whinning is still there but i noticed that its not as much in the day time as compared to night. Today's play was quite friendly, but my older dog is rather rough so i have to step in from time to time. I also observed one more thing that causes my older dog to snap. My pup is teething so he will chew anything and everything - including my older dog I suspect my older dog got bitten by his razor sharp teeth at one stage so he is sensitive to my pup snapping so the older dog snaps first. This pup is quite stubborn, when he bites me, i turn him on this back, hold his muzzle and say no. Whilst it works for me "just", it doesn't when he does it to my older dog. When this happens, i take him straight away and turn him on his back and do the "no". But as soon as i let him go, he snaps at the older dog again. I've tried the "yelp" and ignore method too but that doesn't work for this pup... he simply goes on playing. Any suggestions for this?

Thanks kynta

Thanks, yeah he is a good boy. Thats the problem with being a mum - worry too much

Thanks schnauzer, i hope so too. We block his bed out from the older dog so that he can't get to it. As for toilet training, he has his big brother to thank (and so do we), he knows he has to go outside for that Haven't had an issue with that (yet).

The older dog has the sofa which is very close to his bed. Unlikely he wants to be near the older dog as he only whines louder when i walk out the room. I thought it may be he is scared of the dark so i turn on the light closest to him but he still cries.

What i'm doing is if he is snappy, i call him over to the treat table and ask him in a excited voice "where's puppy", he usually settles down when i get to the treat table and he would touch his nose on the puppy and then i treat. He totally forgets by that stage he was growling. Puppy's bed is nice and comfy with lots of soft fleecy blankets. Oh and he has a soft animal that is soft with him. He sleeps just outside my room. It seems he wants my presence until he falls asleep or too tired to move......it takes him a couple of minutes to fall asleep, should i stay with him or am i encouraging the whinning in the future?

i think i spotted whats aggravating my older dog - one of the reasons anyway. Its the pup crying. The pup is still crying since leaving the breeder. A lot less than initially and mostly at night. He is so tired but cries when we leave the room at night. We have been trying to ignore it but he is very persistent and goes on and on and on...... The older dog tolerates it until the puppy does it in his face and then he snaps. I'm trying to correct the behaviour of the older dog by offering treats which settles him down. But i can't seem to get the pup to stop the whinning.

Ok thanks all for the helpful advice. We keep it in mind when dealing with them. so far so good today so its turned out to be a pretty good day.. but not over yet!

Yes thats correct. I was concerned because the existing dog was not properly socialised with other dogs. But the whole point of getting a second dog was to keep him company so i was praying it would work for the better. I could be subconsciously doing it, but i think unlikely because during the first encounter, he saw the puppy a couple of seconds before i did and charged straight at it before i had time to react. Sounds kinda weird but i was focusing on taking him out of the gate and didn't expect the puppy to appear that quickly whereas he saw it straight away. The funny thing is that even now, they are getting along fine, running around together and playing with the toys together but its those sudden moments when my older dogs had enough that worries me. The older dog stands behind the puppy when they are together to make sure he isn't doing anything wrong, he really is trying to be the big brother. The puppy snapped at the older dog this morning and got a chase for it but no aggression from the older dog.

I don't know. It's hard to make an educated guess without knowing the dog. Say I was doing this with a dog I didn't know and a puppy I didn't know, I would be watching for small warning signs from the older dog that might indicate he felt in competition with the puppy. Like if he stares at him, lifts his lip, growls, snaps, or whatever. If I saw that, I would most likely keep going, but I would be very careful that before I popped treats to the older dog he was not looking even the tiniest bit tense. I would be cueing downs and sits and targets or whatever else the older dog knows and rewarding any and all behaviours that AREN'T aggressive towards the puppy. That includes sitting around doing nothing. I think that often resource guarding in these situations is more about guarding you when you're training with him than food in general. It's a tough one, and if it starts happening and doesn't get better quite quickly with rewarding non-aggressive and calm behaviour around the puppy, I'd abandon it and concentrate on one problem at a time. It's up to you, though. You know the dogs and are able to judge the risks. Aww, that's good. Whether you treat the pup or not depends on what you want to do with him. If you don't mind rewarding him away from you (some folks do), you can toss treats to puppy when he's doing things you like, such as anything that is not leaping at the older dog, for example. Otherwise, you can feed the pup treats closer to you if the older dog is nice and comfy with the pup coming that close. If he looks worried, licks his lips, stares or looks out of the corners of his eyes at puppy, gets up and moves or anything like that, just keep the puppy at a distance while you work with the older dog until he's more comfortable. It shouldn't take long. Maybe he's feeling a bit anxious about the puppy being in the house. If he's feeling like he has to pay attention to where the puppy is all the time so he can stop the puppy from jumping on him or doing other worrying things, it makes sense that he would be paying less attention to other things like you. He's got more on his plate than usual. Thanks corvus. I'll keep an eye out on it. They have been good all morning except on one occasion and when i separated them for a little while and it went back to normal. I'm not sure whether its jealousy or not, the older dog doesnt seem to display any signs of it except for the barking and growling last night - that i'm not sure is jealousy either. These sudden outbreak I'm trying to narrow down what is causing it and i still don't know. For example, initially i thought it was the puppy wanting to pounce on the older dog but this morning, the puppy has done it so many times without any problems. Then i thought it was the older dog guarding his bed (the fiasco when i had to break them apart this morning) but 30 mins later, the pup was trying to get into his bed and he was fine with it. So i'm terribly confused. If there was one thing i would have thought he would would have an issue of, it would be food. He loves his food but has no problem when the puppy is around his bowl so there goes that theory. Getting a male is just a personal choice. I did read up about it before getting and generally the consensus is a female is better if the first is a male. However, having two males is just as possible. This was confirmed by my vet and my breeder also agreed and they know more about the pups personality so I trust their advice. I don't think the growling and all is gender related. The pup is too small to know whats right and wrong and my older dog is inexperienced with puppies i don't think he would know what is male or female.

its a mini schanuzer - well two of them. thanks for the great tips. It really does sound like he is unsure of how to behave around the puppy. He does not guard his belongings or food and shares them with the new puppy. Having said that, i don't want him to start being possesive of his food... will giving him treats in front of the puppy cause that to happen. So far, its been okay... he has been nicely sitting and waiting for the treat while the pup is around. Could i also give the pup a treat too or do i ignore? I also noticed since bring the new puppy home, he has been less responsive to the commands and harder to get his attention. is this common?

The two boys are okay this morning. The older dog a bit of growling at first but stopped quickly. Not really sure what triggered the change in behaviour yesterday. The little one still wants to pounce on the big one and that is annoying the big one a bit. Hope it will be better today, the older dog is still not completely relaxed when the pup is in sight but is accepting.

The thing is the pup starts to cry for attention, and as soon as my older dog hears it, he is fixated on the pup, no treats, toys, play can get his attention straight away. I feel so bad ignoring the pup, i know it has to be done but it feels terrible I also dont get why the sudden change in attitude. They were doing so well this morning and afternoon and now they are snapping at each other... Well my older dog is anyway

Yes im not sure that i am reading correctly either. It seems rather rough and out of control for a pup. As soon as the pup moves, the older dog would snap at it No the older dog has had no experience with puppies. He has only met one in the last 6 months and was nervous but ok with it.

The older dog on the leash and I just walked out with him and make it appear as though he found the puppy. Both are asleep now, tomorrows either going to be a good day or a terrible one.

I just got my new puppy. My current dog is 2 years old and when he saw the puppy at first there were quite a bit of growling and barking. However, that calmed down after about an hour and my current dog became more accepting to the point where he would let the puppy play with his toys and drink from his water bowl. He is still on alert, if there is any fast movement from the puppy, he would chase him down and growl a bit but no real aggression Anyway, for nearly 2 days it has been like this so I sense that the pair should be ok over time. However, this late afternoon, the puppy wanted to play and at once stage barked once at the older dog and made a pouncing movement, and from then on, the older dog barked at the pup and tried to chase him down - there has been a lot of growling from the older dog. It started off less frequent but as night drew, as soon as the older dog saw the pup, he wants to growl at him. I have since seperated the two because i don't want things to get out of hand. I've read that I should not intervene and let them fight it out but the puppy is small and the older dog is growling and pouncing around. Its a complete turn over of behaviour from my older dog compared to 24 hours ago.... i'm not sure whether he really wants to hurt the puppy or not or whether he is just trying to show him who is boss. I'm a bit worried.... he was fine up till this afternoon. What should i do? I'm really worried he won't accept the puppy now.

Its about the size of a marble around 1cm in diameter. Is that big? Anyone else in sydney that has done the surgery and can share with me the cost involved? I rang a couple of vet around the area and they are all around the $100 mark. $100 compared to $30 for the same procedure seem a bit odd to me. Thanks

Hi, I finally got my puppy! But the little fella keeps crying. I think he misses his siblings. As soon as we are out of sight, he starts crying. Sometimes during play, he crawls up to me and starts crying. He is so persistent! I have try my best to ignore it. I feel so guilty for it. how long does it take before he overcomes this period?

My dog had a undescented testicle. We got it removed when he was 6 months old when he was desexed. It costed a bit more but i have been told if you leave it in, it can most probably become cancerous. He is a normal healthy dog now, doesn't mark his territory or hump at all.

Ok thanks. How complicated is the procedure? So chnaces for a 9wk pup to have it pushed back is rare? Does the size of the hernia detrmine the complexity of the surgery?

Ok thanks al, i will avoid it in that casel. Then is there good paid puppy schools u can recommend?

Do you have a puppy? I thought your dog was older now? Haha yes, that one is no longer a pup. I,m getting another soon. Very excited

Hi My dog has an umbilical hernia. I was wondering whether it needs to be removed and how much roughly does it cost? My vet has quoted around $100 at the time of desexing. I also read somewhere that it can be pushed back in. Is this possible/likely? Thanks

hahah thats so cute!

Does anyone know of any free puppy playgroups in sydney. While googling, i found one in Qld (Urban dog training). It sounds like such a good idea but no results found for sydney