How To Introduce A Smaller Puppy To A Bigger One?

[Ah Ngau]

Dear all,

Some backgrounds:-

1. Our golden retriever is now 6 months old. We had him since he was 8 weeks old. We gave him basic puppy obedience training. He is very submissive bordering on lacking self-confidence. (We are slowly building his confidence with ball catching games and retreiving in water.)

2. The new Sheltie come home at a very bad timing because we recently moved to a new flat, the goldie is still adjusting to the new environment.

The new Sheltie is a very aggressive puppy. Wouldn't go down without a fight, so the goldie can't subdue this little guy. The problem is that I can't let him to be too physical because of the size difference. Yet I can't restrain the goldie too harshly because the Sheltie needs to know his place in the pack.

I now put the Sheltie in a crate and let them sniff and yap to each other across the crate door. What else can I do?

[cowanbree]

Just because the Goldie is older and bigger does not mean he will be boss, certainly my 25kg aussie is bossed round by every sheltie here. Let them sort it out themselves but make sure the play doesn’t get too rough, the difference in size can result in the smaller one being hurt

[Ah Ngau]

Thanks cowanbree,

That's exactly my problem. They can't sort it out without playing rough. The little guy is already limping. Vet said he is ok but I am a bit nervous to let them play together. I am not quick enough to stop them.

[cowanbree]

Sounds like they are going to have to be kept seperated for a while. I personally would never run two puppies of such vast size differences togeather. Quest my aussie is 2 1/2 and only allowed with the shelties when I am directly supervising, just too rough

[sas]

Supervised play and the bigger dog understanding what gentle means, will take time though.

[Dogsfevr]

Unfortunately this is a common problem when people get to breeds that arent ideal & dont have the facilities to cater for the differences.

All our big dogs are taught how to interact with our small dogs & the small dogs are taught the same but we also have the facilities to give each one there time out without crating or having them forgo there daily routine.

Was the shletie baby that way before you got it & did you tell the breeder you had a goldie??Just curious as most breders will tplace the right up for the right scenario.

Putting the shletie in the crate to yap at the other dog will only create a new set of problems.If you do need to crate do so out of view of the other dog .Allowing it to go offthat way doesnt lessen the problem

[Flaves]

I have a jack russell and a SHepx.

THe shepx is far more careful with the jrt than the other way around.

She is definitely the boss.

I introduced them slowly an ddid not let them alone until i had had the shep cross for 10 weeks.

By this stage Mitchi was 5mo and Barker was 6.5month (shepx).

I would separate them. Can you divide the yard? We did and it worked great for us.

I would introduce them slowly as it may be a negative for your Goldie and his confidence.

Barker was very unconfident due to his life before us. He has gained confidence slowly, but steadily.

I did this with training and having separate time for each of them.

Hope i have helped.

[Ah Ngau]

Thank you all for sharing. I'll let them play when I can supervise closely.

BTW, I found that if I let them play near the sofa, the sheltie can get under it when the playing is too rough. This is not perfect but that will keep them interacting without damage.

showdog, could you share briefly how you teach the smaller dogs to play with bigger ones? The sheltie is the dominant one in the litter. The goldie is quite gentle with him at first until this little guy growls, bites and screams.

[Muttaburra]

Ah Naghu - there's probably more refined training techniques than the following, but I found it works with mine.

As soon as one of them got overboard (it was rare anyway), and biting is not allowed, but fake air biting and mouthing is, so if someone bites or there is a real escalation that appears to be looking like going into a fight, I would just clap my hands loudly, two or three times and yell "settle".

This has worked in many scenarios, with dogs I didn't even know well. They ususally just stop what they are doing and look up at you. Then you say, "ok, gentle now or you'll have to go lie down in your baskets" or "calm down" etc. They usually know by your tone of voice to cool it. If the pup won't chill out after that, then put it on the lead and take it to it's crate. It will soon figure out that it is more fun to "settle" when told than sitting in the crate or alone in the backyard.

Even a gentle giant can have too much to bear if constantly harrassed, so definitely supervise and correct.

[Livi]

That works for me too IDWT.

I haven't had issues with dogs going too far in play but find they like to 'perform' inside the house

So they get asked to "settle" and if they return to rumbling in the lounge room they get nicely asked to go outside..where they invariably don't want to play but prefer to sit at the door looking at me

Takes a few repetitions but they soon learn if they want to be inside they have to "settle" so I guess the same principle would work for general too rough play.

I don't mind a little bit of controlled rolling about on the floor but when they are full on wrestling and bounding around off the lounges etc it is a little bit too much for inside

Out of curiosity Ah Ngau how long have you had your little pup and where did you get him from ? Do you have support from the breeder ?

How many weeks old is he? Your ticker suggests not yet 2 months old so I'm thinking he probably isn't from a registered breeder ?

[Ah Ngau]

Thanks InDogWeTrust and sunny70.

The method worked! They learn to settle on command after just being forced to do so twice.

We are not in Australia, so it is not from a registered breeder. Chili is 57 days old now, we got him when he is 51 days (a week after the first shot). The breeder did warning us about the problem and asked us to supervise play at all time.

Again, thank you all for your inputs.