How do I help my small scottie to get a long with my new large puppy. They fight often. Do I interfere?

Question

The new puppy is a soft coat Wheaten Terrier. She has a lot of energy and my Scottie has not been patient at all. When I tried to separate them today during a fight, the puppy bit me on the arm (no broken skin). I'm just trying to nip this in the bud

Answer 1

Only interfere if it gets rough. They are trying to establish a pecking order (who's the boss) They do need to do this. Things will settle down. We are going through much the same thing ourselves at the moment but I think we're probably about a week ahead of you. The new dog now knows not to pinch the other dogs food ('cos dog has warned him in past), she now knows not to try to take the other dog's toy from her. But there were lots of growing, snarling and snapping. At last things are beginning to calm down a bit.......however we DO have to stop the old dog from taking her boss role too seriously so when she oversteps the mark then as supreme bosses, us humans then step in to keep the peace!!

So interfere when it gets too snappy (you can do this by dropping a bunch of keys on the floor next to them, they'll usually both stop for this and you won't get bitten.)

Otherwise let them have little tussles, they do need to go through this.

Good luck.....know what you're going through!

Answer 2

How old is your scottie? A lot of older dogs have a very low tolerance for the exuberance of young puppies. Your scottie needs to be able to get away from the puppy whenever he needs to. The wheaten needs to be trained to respect the boundaries set by the scottie, but that's going to take a lot of time and perseverence on your part.

Were these dogs properly introduced when you got the puppy or were they just put in a room together? They should have been introduced with them in different rooms and a baby gate between them so they could see and most importantly, smell each other. When they're ok with each other's smell is the time to physically put them together.

Your scottie was there first and needs to be the one to get fed first, greeted first, petted first, etc. The wheaten is not used to being an only dog and won't care, but the scottie needs to know he's not been replaced.

Give them time and make sure the scottie can get away from the puppy - as the puppy matures and gets a little smarter, they'll work it out.

Answer 3

You can roll the more aggressive one over (I am asumming the scottie) and let the puppy come over and sniff him. Hold the scottie down by the neck using your fingers to dig in. (I know this sounds mean, but it's like a dominent dog holding him down. ) This will put the scottie in a submisive state and he won't dare growl/bite if this is performed correctly. Check out Caesar Milan (The Dog Whisper) site, it's full of GREAT advice.