Older Retriever Snapped Today

[Golden Monk]

Today, after we got home from the park where both the puppy and Beau the 2 year old had been playing together,

Beau was trying to get some sleep and when the puppy went to snuggle up as they had been doing last night Beau had a bit of a snap at the pup, this happened 2 times and now we have them separated.

They had been in the car together most of the day as well no problems the pup was cuddling up in the car without any issues either.

I know Beau now has the poos cause he went and lay on the bed by himself.

Is this little bit of agression normal with an older dog and a pup considering last night the older retriever could not leave the pup alone and wanted to sleep and be near him all night?

This was them yesterday....

Thanks

Edited December 3, 2006 by Golden Monk

[kamuzz]

How worried was the pup by all this?

I know when Coda is playing too rough or too long, Robbie will tell him where to go. It sounds bad to us, but Coda seems to understand Robbie perfectly well.

And everything settles down again pretty quick.

[mita]

I can't say so....because I didn't see it. But could it just be the older dog 'correcting' the youngster? So the young one learns what the limits are...?

[Rebanne]

sounds totally normal to me. Fern is my 9 week old greyhound pup. Emma is an older beagle X and is constantly putting Fern in her box! Only time they play is when Emma wants to, otherwise it's leave me alone kid. Piper, older male greyhound, also will put Fern back in her box occassionally but know where near as much as he should. At times Fern gets to meet Mr Squirty Bottle because she will not leave Piper alone and he will not correct her so I do it for him. From experience Piper will never correct Fern enough, he's too much the softy and I'm not allowing him to become a chew toy again, his life was absolutely miserable with the last pup we had.

[Guest Dianne]

What you describe is called pack heiracy..the more humans interfer the more you upset the balance [iMHO]. This is why so many puppies and some older dogs become "unbalanced" by the inconsistency of humans.

Good luck,

Dianne

*spelling edit

Edited December 3, 2006 by Dianne

[Golden Monk]

sounds totally normal to me. Fern is my 9 week old greyhound pup. Emma is an older beagle X and is constantly putting Fern in her box! Only time they play is when Emma wants to, otherwise it's leave me alone kid. Piper, older male greyhound, also will put Fern back in her box occassionally but know where near as much as he should. At times Fern gets to meet Mr Squirty Bottle because she will not leave Piper alone and he will not correct her so I do it for him. From experience Piper will never correct Fern enough, he's too much the softy and I'm not allowing him to become a chew toy again, his life was absolutely miserable with the last pup we had.

Yeah, I hope so...the wife is worried :D ... well me as well, but I think it is putting him in his place, if the pup walks around near Beaus though Beau still seems a little bit touchy, and we are on tender hooks hehe.

[Miranda]

The older dog is simply putting the puppy in his place and telling him who's in charge. Young puppies can sometimes drive older dogs mad and they'll only tolerate so much. Does your older dog have somewhere to go to get away from the puppy, if he doesn't you really need to provide him with a place of his own where he can get some peace. As you have two males you may possibly have problems when the puppy gets older, I'm not saying you will, but there's a possibility so keep an eye on their body language. Goldens are usually fairly amiable dogs so everything will probably be fine, but it's something you need to be aware of if you have two dogs of the same sex.

ETA I read that you have been taking your puppy to the park, you didn't say how old he is, but if he hasn't yet had his second vaccination I would be keeping him away from places frequented by lots of unknown dogs and I wouldn't be taking your older boy to parks either just in case he brings something home. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Edited December 3, 2006 by Miranda

[Golden Monk]

The older dog is simply putting the puppy in his place and telling him who's in charge. Young puppies can sometimes drive older dogs mad and they'll only tolerate so much. Does your older dog have somewhere to go to get away from the puppy, if he doesn't you really need to provide him with a place of his own where he can get some peace. As you have two males you may possibly have problems when the puppy gets older, I'm not saying you will, but there's a possibility so keep an eye on their body language. Goldens are usually fairly amiable dogs so everything will probably be fine, but it's something you need to be aware of if you have two dogs of the same sex.

ETA I read that you have been taking your puppy to the park, you didn't say how old he is, but if he hasn't yet had his second vaccination I would be keeping him away from places frequented by lots of unknown dogs and I wouldn't be taking your older boy to parks either just in case he brings something home. It's better to be safe than sorry.

The older dog can go on our bed, the puppy cannot get up there...

Also the older retriever gives the pup a bark even when the pup is locked in behind the baby gate?

Although when we let the pup out the older retriever seems happy enough.

GM

[sas]

I think it's perfectly acceptable for the older dog to air snap (repremand the puppy).

I wouldn't seperate them whilst I'm home with them as the puppy needs to learn and there's no damage done. Sometimes it can take up to 4 weeks for things to go back to normal again with no snapping.

It can be hard to watch but as long as it's just an air snap I don't see any issues.

For the first week of having a new foster, Leila will repremand quite a bit, she'll also chuck the dog out of the lounge room and the bedroom, then after a couple of weeks things are back to normal.

Edited December 3, 2006 by sas

[Tonymc]

Normal Dog behaviour. Tonymc

[Golden Monk]

What about food agression, the puppy ran over and he snapped again, but we jumped in which we probably should not have based on what you all are saying, but its hard not to.

The only thing is we yell when this happens and the older dog goes off and sits by himself in the bed room, I tihnk we need to learn to let them sort it out on their own..but damn its hard.

It is gonna be a long few weeks.

Edited December 3, 2006 by Golden Monk

[Dogsfevr]

What people forget is for 2 yrs this goldie has had it all to himself,he has had a daily routine where all that mattered was him,puppy comes along & the dynmaics change,older dog suddenly has to share & puppy just wants to be a pup.

Its important to allow them to sorts things out but you can also do things to minize unneeded happenings.

We dont feed our dogs together ,whilst we dont have food issues,we sepearte because its easier ,we now who has eaten what & you dont allow bad behaviour to happen.

As to the grumle at sleep time ,besides putting it in its place i dare say it just didnt want to have that cosy feeling.the dog has been to the park ,run around & most probaly just wanted to rest,its normal routine & the pup most likely didnt want to & the older dog just had enough.

You also need to remember the older dog could start to resent the pup if its always getting in trouble,whilst you dont want issues,you need to give the older dog a chance to have the changes to its routine aswell & accepting the pup in all aspects.

[sas]

What about food agression, the puppy ran over and he snapped again, but we jumped in which we probably should not have based on what you all are saying, but its hard not to.

The only thing is we yell when this happens and the older dog goes off and sits by himself in the bed room, I tihnk we need to learn to let them sort it out on their own..but damn its hard.

It is gonna be a long few weeks.

The adult has every right to have space whilst he eats, allow both to eat in piece and pop them in seperate rooms or one inside and on outside until they both are comfortable with each other and know the boundaries.

No need to yell, may even make the issue worse.

[Akitaowner]

it took my boy a little while a 'get' that he can control my pup! at first he would just let her eat his dinner and look at me to help him - now he know if he grumbles at her she'll back off!!!

they will work it out make sure your not favouring pup accidently - older pup get cuddles first etc theyll work it out

i know im going to have a few tentative weeks when my girl becomes alpha - as he'll let her rule the roost - then i may have to seperate them at dinner or she'll eat everything!!!

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I feed all my dogs separately. It may not matter whether he's a puppy or not, some dogs don't like sharing or being disturbed.

This all sounds very normal behaviour to me.

[kiahzen]

We get the same kind of behaviour from our two... We have a 5 yo rotty that we have had since a puppy (8 w/o) and have only just recently got a male Rotty 8 w/o and they have the same little arguments sometimes the older one will let him do anything then other times she just wants to be alone and she tells him so... Nothing different to a human needing some alone time.... We have no real issues with food our older girl has never really cared if someone else is eating out of her bowl as long as she can go over and share with them too...