My dog hates the in laws 2 puppies, advice please

[Springbuds38]

Hi

My dog (Jack Russell/mini dachshund cross) is dog reactive. We’ve worked with a behaviourist previously and him
and us have made a lot of progress.
For the most part he is now lovely to walk, no lunging, snarling at other dogs etc and will mostly walk past other dogs without much issue.
He does however still seem nervous of other dogs so will lie down when he sees them and will growl if a dog gets too close, it’s definitely worse with larger dogs (but as he’s so small basically 99% of dogs are bigger than him)

So, he’s always been fine with the small
dogs in the family even those bought after ours as they’re all about the same size.

The issue we’re having now is in laws have bought 2 Labrador puppies and our dog hates them. If they come even anywhere near him he really goes for them. They’re okay on walks together but it’s very difficult to manage them in the same room together.
As we also have a small child we’ve just taken the approach of not taking our dog to the in laws at all as I don’t want the dogs fighting with a toddler about.
But we would like to be able to take him to our in laws at some point in the (distant?) future. Is there anything we could be doing to help with this type of reactivity? Anything in laws could do with their (massive) puppies?

Just looking for anything we’ve not thought of to build their relationship and help our dog feel calm, perhaps it is a case of just never having them spend time together but it would be lovely if they could one day.

Thanks for any advice

Keep them separate. If your dog isn’t happy it’ll set them back and create more reactivity. Guessing in laws have had dogs before and know about littermate syndrome.

You are taking a small dog that is reactive to big dogs to a pack of bonded large puppies and in their domain. Of course he’s going to be reactive.

Keep them separate. It sounds like you live close to your in laws so you don’t need to take the dog with you, it’ll be ok by itself for a few hours. You can go on walks together. You might get to a point where he might be happy in the same room in the future but at the minute he isn’t happy and I don’t understand why you would keep putting him in a situation where he isn’t happy.

Thank you.
They’ve had dogs all their lives but seem to have no idea of littermate syndrome and are very dismissive of reactivity

Lots of dogs hate puppies.
It’s normal for a small, delicate dog to be wary of two
large, boisterous puppies. Keep them separate.

We’ve attempted careful introductions twice and it’s not gone well so
we don’t take him to the in laws anymore. We’ve also had two walks which have been totally fine.

Id just like to, if possible, take him on a family dog walk altogether as the other dogs he gets on with well and it’s something we’ve often done in the past before the lab puppies.

Sorry to add, the in laws are an hours drive away so it’s a bit trickier to go for a walk but nothing else/not go in the house at all, but again if that’s just what it has to be like so
be it, just wondering if there’s anything we can try to ease the situation.

Do your inlaws know what they have taken on in terms of littermate syndrome?

I agree - keep them separate. It's not fair on anyone. Maybe in time when they are not puppies (or they only have one as they have fought so badly they need to be separated) then you can do some work with them but they need to grow up first.

Thanks. No they’ve no clue, they had 2 labs previously from the same litter for nearly 15 years with no issues so they’re very dismissive of littermate syndrome, I just think they were incredibly lucky with the last two, these two might not be as easy.

Im hoping once the puppies are older and calmer we could introduce more successfully perhaps?

Given their age and your dog’s size and history, to be dead honest, I’d not have had them loose in a room together anyway.

If you were at mine and I had the puppy, I’d have done the walk and then come home and kept them on a lead while we had coffee or whatever. That way you could reinforce the puppy being a good thing to your dog and I could reinforce the not harassing the dog with the puppy.

The fact that it’s two puppies and that’s not how your in laws handled it makes me suspect that there’s not likely to be a solution because your in laws are going to be the issue.

Lab puppies are larger than your dog, boisterous, won't take "fuck off" for an answer, and are entirely capable of physically overwhelming him. It's like you dealing with a toddler that's the size of Hagrid - you'd probably not be keen.

Keep them separate - for everyone's sake, and consider trying to reintroduce them in a couple of years when the labs are out of adolescence, less obnoxious, and more likely to have doggy manners.

Thanks everyone, it wasn’t really the answers I was hoping for (guess I was looking for some sort of miracle technique that doesn’t exist) but wise words all the same, we’ll
keep them separated for now and possibly try again once the puppies are past adolescence and I’ve been able to build my dogs confidence around larger dogs in general, perhaps worth having more sessions with a behaviourist once we can afford it again.

Is your dog happy in a crate? Thinking if it creates issues with travel and visiting time you could take the crate and pop him upstairs in a room with the radio on then take him out for a walk without boisterous puppies before journeying home?

Unfortunately not, he was a rescue when we got him (albeit he was still only 12 weeks) and had had some horrible experiences of the crate in his previous home we were told.
The labs are crate trained though so that could be an option in future.

Crating him will make him more anxious. It’s a rubbish situation all round but you need to be an advocate for your dog, which you are doing.

I don't think it would be fair to crate the labs in their own house while an "intruder" dog runs free. It's just going to be stressful for everyone - even if the labs are crated in another room, they'll still be able to smell/hear your dog.

Def keep them separate. Reactive dachshunds can do a surprising amount of damage

Def can't crate the labs in their own home because of a visiting dog.