Any advice anyone has on making the introduction of our new Bichon Frise puppy (11 weeks old) (Daisy) to our existing 1 year old Bichon Frise (Poppy) go smoothly would be greatly appreciated. ..... They are both females. We introduced them on neutral territory yesterday and after a lot of initial barking from our older Bichon things seemed to calm down and our older dog started to sniff the new puppy. Today however, the new puppy seems to be getting braver and is now attempting to nip/bite and chase our older dog who now seems to be pretty terrified of the new puppy!!!!! We are concerned that our existing dog will become frightened of the new puppy and her character will change. Is this just normal playing or just the new puppy testing the boundaries? Everything I have read on the subject seems to suggest that the new puppy will straight away be submissive to the older dog initially before they naturally sort out the %26quot;pecking order%26quot; for themselves. However, in our situation it seems that the new puppy is the more dominant one straight away and our existing dog seems to be the scared one!!! As I said, any advice anyone has is very much appreciated, Many Thanks!!!|||I don%26#039;t think this is likely to be about dominance, though I know that is a highly popular answer to every behavior problem.
Here%26#039;s what I think is happening. You bring in a puppy to an adult who has no experience with youngsters. The puppy is behaving rudely, because that is precisely what puppies do. In dog social order, puppies are permitted to invade personal space and make uninvited contact. They are allowed to pounce and nip. Experienced adults are tolerant of this behavior because the puppy is trying to learn important life skills about hunting and defending herself. We call this a %26quot;puppy pass.%26quot; It%26#039;s like a %26quot;get out of jail free%26quot; card.
Inexperienced adults feel confused by the pup%26#039;s rudeness. They don%26#039;t know how to respond.
Try enrolling your pup in a good puppy kindergarten class that includes puppy socialization periods where the pups play with each other. That%26#039;s the best place for them to learn things like bite inhibition (just how hard can you bite in play without offending the other dog?).
When your pup hits around five months of age, her puppy pass would be pulled by experienced adults who would start to lay down the law on what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior. This may appear to be dominance, or could result in true fights if your older dog doesn%26#039;t know how to pull a puppy pass.
Lots and lots of socialization is your best remedy and preventive of future problems.|||your 1 year old is scared because he thinks hes gonna lose his place, you should always feed and pet your 1 year old first what ever you do. good luck and happy new year
