Puppy and dog help

[JackWatchy]

Good afternoon,
I currently have two 6 month old, olde English bulldogs and a 5 year old English bulldog.
We are trying to get the English bulldog used to the puppies but as she is very timid we are struggling.
The puppies are very interested in her and like to play and lick her but she tries to stay away from them.
They are well behaved with each other when they’re out on walks but seem to be too hyper in the house.
Any recommendations?
Kind regards
Jack

 

[JudyN]

I'm not an expert, but I think the key here is to make sure that she can always get away from them and not have to put up with being pestered by them. Stairgates can be very useful here. Or even, if she is happy in a crate, let her have time out in her crate. Keep everything calm and low key - if you tell the pups to leave her be in a sharp tone, she may feed off that and get grumpy with them herself. It's probably better for you to move the puppies elsewhere than her though - you don't want her to see the puppies approaching as a sign that she's going to be shut away from you in the kitchen or wherever.

Your eventual aim is for the pups to see her as boring, and her to see them as a mild irritation which she can remove herself from if she wants to. If you can manage this, she may get to like them more when she doesn't have to worry about them hanging off her ears or whatever.

You could also reward any 'good' interactions she has them - but you don't want to get to the stage where you can see she's trying very hard to tolerate them, because if she's trying that hard, then she's not happy, however good she is being.

 

[JackWatchy]

I'm not an expert, but I think the key here is to make sure that she can always get away from them and not have to put up with being pestered by them. Stairgates can be very useful here. Or even, if she is happy in a crate, let her have time out in her crate. Keep everything calm and low key - if you tell the pups to leave her be in a sharp tone, she may feed off that and get grumpy with them herself. It's probably better for you to move the puppies elsewhere than her though - you don't want her to see the puppies approaching as a sign that she's going to be shut away from you in the kitchen or wherever.

Your eventual aim is for the pups to see her as boring, and her to see them as a mild irritation which she can remove herself from if she wants to. If you can manage this, she may get to like them more when she doesn't have to worry about them hanging off her ears or whatever.

You could also reward any 'good' interactions she has them - but you don't want to get to the stage where you can see she's trying very hard to tolerate them, because if she's trying that hard, then she's not happy, however good she is being.

Thank you, I totally agree.
SHe has her own time as the puppies sleep in the kitchen.
We are going to keep trying them all together more often whilst keeping a close eye on behaviour.