How do I stop DDog hating puppy?!

[Howmercurialislife]

We have a 3 year old male chihuahua, he is lovely soppy thing and is great with people and kids alike.

We got a male chihuahua puppy almost 4 weeks ago so he is 12 weeks old and DDog hates, hates, hates him.

As soon as puppy goes any where near him his back goes up and he growls and barks...I don't think he would bite though.

Currently we have a gate separating them and Ddog is in a separate room most of the day from the puppy apart from when supervised.

We have tried to get them together gradually and give ddog his favourite treats and lots of praise to encourage good behaviour but we are not pushing him.

When puppy is asleep ddog is curious and will come and look and sniff but all other times he hates him!

I think it is just puppies exuberance and jumpyness that ddog finds difficult to cope with.

Anyone got any advice or any tips or just some reassurance that it will get better?!

Trouble is, it might not get better, and especially with two males. How was your older dog with puppies before?

Oh please, please don't say that! He had not had a lot of exposure to puppies but when he had he had been ok with them.

Puppy is like a spring lamb and I think he finds that alarming!

I’m old fashioned and I’m probably gonna get flamed for this but used to just throw them in Together and let them assert who’s boss I think all this separating them makes it worse to be honest

@Hm2020 I have thought about that but just didn't know if that was wise...and if they would just sort it out between them..

I always thought you weren't supposed to get two males.We have a 4 yr old chihuahua and if we had another it would be female.Good luck op!

@AriesTheRam we did think about that but spoke to a couple of people who have two males and they said after an initial period they settle down...my initial period is just seeming a bit long!

I am not sure if it’s too late or even if this would work but could you try to desensitise the older dog? By this I mean make the older dog feel closer to the puppy by exposing it to something associated with the puppy. Maybe you could put something that smells of the puppy and something that smells of you in with it? Also provide some sort of reassurance or reward when the older dog is exposed to the blanket, piece of clothing etc. Sorry if this sounds thick but I am sure that this is something people do before they bring a new puppy home when they have an existing dog.

My friend has 4 male huskies and they all get on just fine.

Sorry if came across negative op.It wasn't my intention.

@AriesTheRam no, not at all.

@Happycamper1978 I'm up for trying anything so will give that a go. Thank you

@madcatladyforever that gives me hope!

Did you introduce them on neutral ground?

@vanillandhoney no we didn't, we had planned to as I'd read this was the best way to approach it.

Unfortunately ddog had a bad reaction to a CT scan that week and was unable to go out so we had to introduce them indoors, which I know is far from ideal but was unavoidable.

How does your dog get on with other dogs , particularly boisterous ones generally . We have an only dog purely because I know that he would hate another dog in his house so I wouldn’t impose that on him . As for the suggestion of letting them get on with it if someone did that with my dog you would probably end up with a dead puppy .

@Floralnomad never had any issues with other dogs.

I would not let them just get on with it unsupervised, only whilst I am in the room with them.

Ah okay, so I suspect part of the problem is that you brought the puppy into your dog's territory without checking they got along with each other first, and without giving your 4yo a chance to "sniff out" the newcomer.

Hopefully someone a bit more knowledgable comes along to help you, though!

Do not worries it is very early days and this can usually be sorted. 2 males together is fine - I have 6 males and no issues so take this off the worry list!

It is great that you have them separate. I think your older dog is naturally a little wary and the puppy being a puppy just wants fun.

It would be good to get them doing good things near each other but not together. Have them in separate rooms and as far away from each other as possible with a gate between them so they can see each other but not get to each other. Then scatter feed with very low value food eg kibble. DO NOT do this if older dog has any resource quarding issues.

What you are aiming for is quiet relaxed company together.

Outside do the same can you have one person walking one dog and you walking the other one? If you can walk parallel to each other with a big distance between you again they are doing good things in each others company but not having to communicate together.

The more you can do this the better and over time (do not rush this) you can bring them nearer together to do the activities.

Do not ever let them get on with it. When big dog is happier and more confident you may find them playing happily together but never ever hand over your job to the big dog. You are the owner it is for you to train your dogs not him.

Also save some yummy treats so that when puppy is in sight of older dog, older dog gets the yummy treats.Puppy = good things.

There is no hurry so go at the pace of the older dog. Give both of them your time individually which is great for the puppy.

My older dog wouldn't even look at the puppy for two weeks. I was so worried. But one day she just picked up a toy and they started playing. I think going for walks together helped greatly. Being near each other but the older dog isn't the focus of the pup.

My older dog would have happily taken chunks out of the puppy to start with. Puppies are a bouncy PITA!
I kept them apart. Then allowed very short playtimes. Then when I could I walked them together. I won’t lie. She still sometimes thinks pup is a PITA but they get on fine now!

Thank you very much @PollyRoulson that is really helpful.

I have tried to focus on relaxed quiet time, we have made progress this evening. Pup is asleep on me and DDog is up on the sofa looking, sniffing and sitting closely and I have been giving treats.

Pup has his injections on Friday so will walk together as soon as I can.

Have not been rushing Ddog as want him to be comfortable but have wondered if I should just let them get on with it supervised. I will keep taking the approach I have been a perservere.

@RedRiverHog and @Wolfiefan thank you...Happy endings are what I need to hear!

Another really good way to help them get on is to have two tea towels

Rub them on each so they have their smell on them.
Then roll each t towel up with bits of food in it.
Give it to the opposite dog
As they unrole the t towel to get the food they smell the other dog.

This is good old classical conditioning at its best smell of other dogs and great things happen.

Do this for a few days for each meal and it will make a huge difference

I had a terrible time introducing my adult dog to our puppy
I think some male dogs just don't do puppies
I was really at my wits end with it - He absolutely hated her and I am convinced he would have injured her without very strict supervision , so I was constantly on edge
He had to be kept on a soft muzzle and lead in the house for weeks , when she was out of her crate
The thing that helped us was walks - he was absolutely fine with her ,outside the house or garden , and I think he gradually just accepted she was here to stay
Three years later they are best of buddies , and currently cuddled up with each other on the sofa

@PollyRoulson thank you that sounds a great idea. Actually had a massive breakthrough today and DDog went up to pup and had a sniff.

Have been able to take the gate away this afternoon and whilst supervising and rewarding/saying no when needed they have actually been ok.

It's four weeks since the puppy arrived tomorrow and it's almost as if DDog has finally accepted he's not going anywhere!

@pobparker thank goodness it worked out in the end. It is so stressful isn't it?!