Introducing pup to older dog

[Sarahjs81]

Hello

We have recently got a 12 week old deaf pup. It's going really well so far with regards to teaching him signs and he is really well behaved in the night. The one big problem we have is getting him and our older dog used to one another. The pup is good sometimes and they will both have a good sniff of each other but 90% of the time he jumps at the older dog and bites her (and his bites really hurt) being deaf he isn't hearing the growls she makes to back off. We don't want either of them to get hurt. Any suggestions would be great fully received!! Tia

 

[Laurab1984]

Unfortunately, I have no experience with deaf dogs but am wondering if this will help: when your older dog growls at your puppy, maybe poke the pup - softly - to startle him and he should stop. Your older dog should be giving out other 'back-off' signs to the pup so hopefully he will learn to pick up on other body language your older dog is giving out and associate it with a 'shock' from you. I truly admire you for giving the deaf puppy a home, as it is obviously a lot more work than usual.

I have very recently brought a new puppy into our house, where we already had a very spoilt staffy and I'm happy to say they're getting on great. I introduced the dogs gradually over a period of time and they were fine when pup eventually came to stay. I hope you get good experiences with your new arrival too. Good luck!

 

[Sarahjs81]

Hiya

Thank you for your reply. Yes it's been hard work, but totally worth it as he is a lovely boy. We use a sharp tap with 2 fingers on his shoulder blades to get his attention so I don't know the poke would work as we don't want him to get mixed signals. To be honest since posting my last message they have come on really well. He still dives at our older dog but not as much as he was so hopefully he will get better with age. The older dog growls and the pup thinks he's barking so barks back at him! I'm sure with time all will be good. We are going to puppy classes next week so we are hoping we will learn some things.

Glad everything is going well with your introduction! It's great how they adapt to each other.

Sarah