Help with puppy/older dog interactions
My husband & I just returned from a very stressful day at his parents house where we spent most of our time trying to keep our puppy from mauling his parents' very old, sick dog and we'd like some advice on how to keep their interactions a little more controlled in the future.
Charlie is a 5 month old Aussie mix (that's her in my userpic). She's very high energy and loves all sorts of people and animals. We take her to a basic puppy class at Petsmart where she gets to meet other dogs her age. We often walk her down on the riverfront in our town so she gets to meet a lot of other dogs and people. Unfortunately she's not had much off-leash exposure to other dogs. A week ago at puppy class we had "puppy play time" where the dogs were allowed off-leash and she spent the whole time frolicking around & "wrestling" with a 5 month old pit bull which is very close to her same size & energy level.
We're not sure how old my in-laws' dog, Kiki, is or really what she is, although we imagine she's at least part pekingese. She's very tiny though. She's been with them for 12 years but she was probably a year or two old then. She had been abused by her previous owners (her tail was broken and she had other injuries when they rescued her) and since then she's always been very non-trusting of new people & dogs. I've known her for 6 years and she has only rarely ever come up to me or allowed me to pet her. She's extremely protective of my mother-in-law too and has been known to snap or outright bite people who get too close to her. They tried training her when they first got her, but they quickly gave up and adopted the "we'll just pick her up whenever she acts up" method of dealing with her aggression and fear. Now she is very old and has failing health. She can barely see or hear anymore and has limited mobile function.
So we took Charlie over for the day. Charlie & Kiki have met before. The first time was the first day we brought Charlie home. They met each other at the park behind my in-laws' park, both on leashes. Charlie was just 9 weeks old and we kept them pretty separate from each other. Charlie was mostly concerned with us so she didn't care about Kiki. They just sniffed each other and that was that. The second time they met Charlie was a bit more bold and started herding Kiki. She would basically sniff around Kiki's back heels, pushing her around the downstairs and backyard, herding her into corners, etc. It seemed harmless at the time, practically cute. It's not so cute anymore. Charlie stayed with my in-laws for a week while we went on our honeymoon & they said the dogs did fine together. After spending the day with them both, though, I'm not so sure anymore.
Today Charlie wanted to play with Kiki constantly. My father-in-law would carry Kiki around and Charlie would sit at his feet begging and crying, much the way she does when we are eating and she wants some chicken or something. We used her toys as distraction but then a few minutes later she was back to bugging Kiki. We went through all her training regiments -- sitting, staying, waiting, leave it, drop it, etc. and she would pay attention for a while and then she was off to bother Kiki. Charlie would start out nice, sniffing nose to nose while Kiki growled and sort of shook. The growling did not turn Charlie off at all. Then Kiki would start snapping and barking loudly, which still did nothing to avert Charlie. At this point we'd usually separate the dogs, if not Charlie would start putting her paws on Kiki's nose and Kiki's barking would get crazier and crazier. For the most part Charlie would stay quiet and calm, although every once in a while Kiki would nip at Charlie's nose and she'd jump back and hunch down. At that point we'd pick Kiki up and herd Charlie off somewhere to do some sits and downs, etc. At one point we put Charlie on a leash and kept her on it till we left. We tried keeping them in other rooms, but as long as Charlie knows Kiki's in the house, she's trying to get at her.
In the end I came home feeling so awful, like a really bad parent. I can't imagine the interaction was anything but stressful for either dog and I'm really at a loss for what to do. Does anyone have any tips for acclimating them to each other? We'd like to be able to take Charlie when we visit, but it looks like this just isn't going to be possible as long as they react this way to each other. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Charlie is a 5 month old Aussie mix (that's her in my userpic). She's very high energy and loves all sorts of people and animals. We take her to a basic puppy class at Petsmart where she gets to meet other dogs her age. We often walk her down on the riverfront in our town so she gets to meet a lot of other dogs and people. Unfortunately she's not had much off-leash exposure to other dogs. A week ago at puppy class we had "puppy play time" where the dogs were allowed off-leash and she spent the whole time frolicking around & "wrestling" with a 5 month old pit bull which is very close to her same size & energy level.
We're not sure how old my in-laws' dog, Kiki, is or really what she is, although we imagine she's at least part pekingese. She's very tiny though. She's been with them for 12 years but she was probably a year or two old then. She had been abused by her previous owners (her tail was broken and she had other injuries when they rescued her) and since then she's always been very non-trusting of new people & dogs. I've known her for 6 years and she has only rarely ever come up to me or allowed me to pet her. She's extremely protective of my mother-in-law too and has been known to snap or outright bite people who get too close to her. They tried training her when they first got her, but they quickly gave up and adopted the "we'll just pick her up whenever she acts up" method of dealing with her aggression and fear. Now she is very old and has failing health. She can barely see or hear anymore and has limited mobile function.
So we took Charlie over for the day. Charlie & Kiki have met before. The first time was the first day we brought Charlie home. They met each other at the park behind my in-laws' park, both on leashes. Charlie was just 9 weeks old and we kept them pretty separate from each other. Charlie was mostly concerned with us so she didn't care about Kiki. They just sniffed each other and that was that. The second time they met Charlie was a bit more bold and started herding Kiki. She would basically sniff around Kiki's back heels, pushing her around the downstairs and backyard, herding her into corners, etc. It seemed harmless at the time, practically cute. It's not so cute anymore. Charlie stayed with my in-laws for a week while we went on our honeymoon & they said the dogs did fine together. After spending the day with them both, though, I'm not so sure anymore.
Today Charlie wanted to play with Kiki constantly. My father-in-law would carry Kiki around and Charlie would sit at his feet begging and crying, much the way she does when we are eating and she wants some chicken or something. We used her toys as distraction but then a few minutes later she was back to bugging Kiki. We went through all her training regiments -- sitting, staying, waiting, leave it, drop it, etc. and she would pay attention for a while and then she was off to bother Kiki. Charlie would start out nice, sniffing nose to nose while Kiki growled and sort of shook. The growling did not turn Charlie off at all. Then Kiki would start snapping and barking loudly, which still did nothing to avert Charlie. At this point we'd usually separate the dogs, if not Charlie would start putting her paws on Kiki's nose and Kiki's barking would get crazier and crazier. For the most part Charlie would stay quiet and calm, although every once in a while Kiki would nip at Charlie's nose and she'd jump back and hunch down. At that point we'd pick Kiki up and herd Charlie off somewhere to do some sits and downs, etc. At one point we put Charlie on a leash and kept her on it till we left. We tried keeping them in other rooms, but as long as Charlie knows Kiki's in the house, she's trying to get at her.
In the end I came home feeling so awful, like a really bad parent. I can't imagine the interaction was anything but stressful for either dog and I'm really at a loss for what to do. Does anyone have any tips for acclimating them to each other? We'd like to be able to take Charlie when we visit, but it looks like this just isn't going to be possible as long as they react this way to each other. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!