My adult cocker spaniel HATES our new puppy! Advice please!

[TomHardyswife]

We have a gorgeous, placid 8 year old male cocker spaniel.

For many years, he has been our only dog in our family.

On Thursday, we brought home a 10 week old cocker spaniel male puppy.

Puppy has been used to playing (and serious rough and tumble!) with his brother from the same litter, and his mum.

However, when we introduced our adult cocker to the puppy, things didn't go well. Our adult cocker absolutely hates the puppy to the extent he more or less refuses to be in the same room as him. He won't interact with him, won't even look at him and has on occasions preferred to sit staring at the radiator on the wall as opposed to looking in the direction of the puppy and everyone else.

Puppy just sees our adult dog as another version of his mum and just wants to snuggle up to him and play. And box his ears.. And swing off his tail! Whenever he is in the vicinity, our adult dog growls at him and retreats. Yesterday, the puppy stepped into our adults bed but we got him out. Since then, our adult won't go in his bed.

Although the puppy is demanding a lot of attention, we are aware of our adult feeling left out, so we are trying to make sure we are devoting lots of time to him. Lots of walks, playing with his ball and so on.

The sleeping arrangements are hard as we do not want to put them together (in seperate beds) in the same room (the growling from our adult does not seem to deter puppy from wanting to play) so we have kept them in seperate rooms at night and when they are unsupervised.

What the heck can we do? I really hope our adult comes round and starts to accept the puppy as I would hate for things to carry on for good the way they are now!

Because I feel for your 8 your old dog and he is obviously miserable.

He's pissed off now but in a couple of weeks he almost certainly won't be. My older dog was pissed off for three weeks when we bought a puppy home , now they spent most of their days following each other round and playing tug of war. It's boosted his confidence no end (typical nervy border collie) because he has a very confident side kick.
Dogs are generally (not always of course) sociable creatures who like the company of their own kind and an 8 year old spaniel is definitely not old, unless you overfeed and under exercise them he probably has another seven years to live and isn't yet ready to retire with pipe and slippers.

@Whisky has a weird mindset which seems to think that love and lifelong devotion can only be a singular process. Not so. Nothing wrong at all with wanting to cuddle a pup whilst loving and owning an older dog which I'm sure is caressed and stroked too! Puppyhood is a magical time.....why not enjoy the experience fgs.
I have an old adopted stray cat and recently introduced a puppy ....at the end of the day, the resident animal needs to know that their 'place' is unrockable, that full-service (walks, strokes, food etc) doesn't wobble and that they get their personal space. In the end it will settle down. I think the antics of a pup provide amusement for other animals.....our cat loves watching the pup now!

Keep at it OP. I had a similar experience and a crate really helped, older dog could peacefully be in the same room as the pup which reduced resentment. Older dog could then have a good sniff of the pup in the crate without being jumped on. Brought anything that claims to help dogs relax, plug ins, sprays, calming dog music etc. All of which worked on older dog, the puppy stayed over zealous

Also brought new toys every couple days and gave them one each. Rotated different high reward treats. The toys and treats meant they both started to experience excitement together which helped them bond.

They are now inseparable and completely besotted with each other and it's ADORABLE!

Took about a year before I left the two alone in the house without using the crate. That was partly to ensure old dog was comfortable and partly because the puppy kept eating furniture.

Jesus Christ people give the OP a break!

Who are you to question WHY she got another puppy? What does it matter? Is there a rule saying people can’t have two dogs? No - so she’s done nothing wrong!

Yeah the older dog does sound unhappy but it’s literally been a week since the puppy came home. That’s nothing. They’ve got all the time in the world to bond and form a relationship and quite often when a puppy is brought home the older dogs nose is put out of joint for a little while

I agree in that you need to let them settle things by themselves but still supervise just incase. The puppy will learn quickest and best this way. Give older dog lots of attention so he doesn’t feel pushed aside.

But it’s been a week. I’m sure older dog will come round eventually. It’s no different than having a 3 year old child and a newborn. Often the 3 year old will feel jealousy and behave differently for a while until they realise the newborn isn’t going anywhere

Good luck!

Another one agreeing that people on here seem to be over keen to get their teeth into someone.

An 8 year old dog is NOT an old dog. In fact, having seen a pic of TomHardys cocker on another thread, he looks to be in very fine fettle indeed.

That said, he is an adult dog and so it's probably understandable that he doesn't have too much in common with this puppy (yet).

We introduced Battendog to two older JRTs and in my experience it was absolutely clear the female JRT was a socially savvy dog who understood exactly how much tell puppy off. She would give clear and obvious escalation of warning behaviours, was consistent in what she would and would not allow and when she snapped she was totally under control of herself. I know because my hand was accidentally in the way of a snap and she caught me - her teeth had no pressure behind them at all. She was allowed to tell the puppy off whenever she felt the need to and, if it was obvious he wasn't listening to her, the puppy was removed from the room to give her space.

The male JRT is not socially aware and was always nervous around the puppy. He does not understand the warning signals and could snap without giving clear warning (he has no teeth, but still) so the two dogs have been kept separate much more so that there is never a telling-off scenario.

As battendog has aged he has learned more about being around other dogs and as I type this, all 3 are asleep on the floor around me.

OP, a week is not very long at all. I think the key for you is to make sure your older dog associates the puppy with nice things (when they start walking together this helps) and gets plenty of space away from the young 'un. If your older male is good at giving clear and fair warnings you might allow him to do so a little bit but otherwise, you need to keep look out and remove the kid whenever he's being pesky - even if it doesn't look like pesky to human eyes.

My guess is both will settle down into a good relationship as the puppy ages - but this could take a few months yet.

My DM has 3 dogs. When she got the youngest last year, the oldest was then 4 and wouldn't acknowledge the new pup at all. It took him about 2 months tbh, but now they love each other, and whilst the youngest clearly does oldest's head in at times, he definitely loves him and always plays with him.
Don't give up on them just yet, your older dog just needs to readjust to not being the only dog and also having a much younger and more playful pup around.

@missbattenburg makes a vital point re: associations. We've always done this when socialising cats and dogs over the year. So when cat appears dog gets extra fussing and a tiny nibble of delicious stuff. Resident dog then over time sees the newcomers presence as a bonus. We just quietly separate when there's nasty behaviour .. lunging etc. And give no attention. They soon learn. Then as time goes on and the dust settles we just start to reduce or wind back the treating.

My big dog has just come and barked madly at me (he never normally barks) on investigation I found that mad puppy had got himself shut in the bathroom. Post puppy rescue they've both gone for a game of chase in the garden after puppy was thoroughly washed by his big brother. Very heartwarming behaviour from the dog who couldn't stand his little brother when he arrived.

They’ll get over it once they adjust to the new normal. I wouldn’t worry at all.

Had a similar experience with working cocker spaniels. It took about six months for my girl to accept the new dog, but they became inseparable. Stick with it, I'm sure it will be ok and worth the trouble.

Photo shows my Big Young Fella, came home 3.5 months ago at 10 months & my Little Old Fella, who is 13.5 years & has been here for 10 of them. On paper, the age gap is far too much, and initially LOF was most disgusted, but with lots of work on separate spaces and maintaining LOF as top dog, it has worked out remarkably well!