I have a 2-year-old rescue who is very smart and is training fairly easily. However, my niece, who I spend a lot of time with, just bought a new Brittany Spaniel presently 9 weeks old. The puppy wants to play and socialize but my dog is not cooperating at all. He growls and lunges at the puppy and is not interested in playing or socializing with him. Both my niece and I are training with your program, including the Alpha Dog stuff. Can you give suggestions on what to do? We would love for our 2 dogs to, at the very least, get along as they will be together a lot. Thank you for your help.
Thanks for writing in to us! It is great the you both are training your dogs to be well-mannered pets. Keep it up! Also, it is fantastic that you chose to rescue
Sorry to hear that introducing him to the puppy isn't going so well.
Puppies are often regarded as obnoxious, ill-mannered brats by many older dogs. They often have poor manners and too much energy for them. So for starters I would recommend that your niece socialises her pup with other dogs so he/she learns good doggie manners. How is your dog with other dogs on walks or at a dog park? If he has no problems socialising I would say it would be fairly safe to let them interact, preferably after the puppy has been tired out nicely. Supervision at all times is a must, say for the first five months or so.
I hope this is helpful. Please do keep us posted on your progress with them.
