11 Week Old Puppy Meets Adult Dogs

[rooster78]

We tried to introduce our 11 week old male labrador to my OHs parent's adult dogs - a female staffy and a male bitsa - both about 5 years old. The staffy was tolerant but the bitsa got agro straight away and snapped which saw our puppy run away and wait with us. He tried again to play and rolled over to his back immediately and let himself be sniffed. But still the bitsa showed his teeth, growled and then snapped. We didn't want our pup to be put off so the in'laws took their dogs away.

We spend a lot of time together as a family so the dogs will also be spending a lot of time together so we wanted to get them acquainted.

The bitsa is a bit of an old ball anyway - very protective of his male owner (it was the female owner who brought them to visit) and not tolerant of another family member's dog.

We are planning to have the two dogs over again and introduce them again so they can start to get used to each other.

Do you think this is a good idea? When the bitsa snaps is it 'good' for the puppy as it tells him who is boss? We thought it best to introduce them at our place because then it is on our puppy's ground but that made no difference to the bitsa.

[Cosmolo]

Its not good for the puppy if he is already showing submissive behaviour and getting punished by the other dog for it. How about just taking them for a walk together? Don't do the same thing again- you will only allow the older dog to practice the bad behaviour and to confirm in your pups mind that they should be worried.

[rooster78]

Its not good for the puppy if he is already showing submissive behaviour and getting punished by the other dog for it. How about just taking them for a walk together? Don't do the same thing again- you will only allow the older dog to practice the bad behaviour and to confirm in your pups mind that they should be worried.

We haven't taken them for a walk because Bronson is still too young. We were hesitant about introducing them in the first place but I was told that if you KNOW the history of the other dogs you can introduce them.

Yep I guess we'll not go down that path yet.

Thanks

[Dogsfevr]

personally i would never allow any of my dogs to play/meet a dog that is constantly aggressive.

You will either end up with a pup thats submissive & fearful of dogs or a pup that decides he will respond & be aggressive too.

I would be backing of & ensuring your pup meets freindly/good experience dogs

[staffshih]

Ive got 2 pups here and my older shih tzu bitch is very dominant. I do not trust her with the pups so she gets put in a crate when the pups are out having a play. They greet each other through the crate but there is no risk to the pups of being hurt. She is slowly learning to accept that they are here and in time i will introduce them slowly.

[sidoney]

Yep, I'd be sticking to the staffy and keeping the other one out of the picture for a while.

[rooster78]

Thanks for your comments. It is a difficult situation to be in as they are the in-laws dogs who we see often. Bob (the bitsa) is not agressive all the time - he settles down after a while but he is too much for a 12 week old pup so we'll keep him away. Perhaps if Holly (the staffy) gets to know Bronson and they play, it may signal to Bob that he is ok. I think Bob left his mother too early.