# Working with walking adult dog and puppy together



## AnnainOK (Sep 19, 2015)

I have a 10-week-old male Lab puppy (Woody) and a three-year-old female ACD/Australian Shepherd mix (Snoopy, a working cattle dog). 

I have been taking the dogs out for an early morning walk along the perimeter of our 60-acre farm, without leads. Woody stays close, and is good on the recall. Snoopy will wander a bit--as she has always been allowed to do, but also comes well when called. What concerns me is that the puppy seems to be annoying Snoopy at the outset, puppy-snapping at her and pouncing. Snoopy can get tired of the nonsense and will either run beyond Woody's range (over about ten feet from me) or knock Woody over. 

I'm wondering if I'm going about this wrong. Should my son take Snoopy for a short run to burn off some energy while I play with Woody before commencing the walk? Or is there a way to calm Woody down when she meets up with Snoopy? (In the past we have exercised Snoopy by letting her run along with the four-wheeler, and we still do that as she loves to run and never gets enough of it when we're walking...we've just changed it up a bit since adding the puppy.)

(Woody stays indoors while Snoopy spends a great deal of the day/night outside minding the stock except during inclement or cold weather, so they don't have tons of time together right now. )

I kept them apart for the first two weeks, only letting them see each other through the fence. They get along fine after about halfway through the walk, hence my feeling that it's an energy issue more than a "getting along" issue, but I do want to work it right before I start having them spend more time together indoors and out.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

This is common for baby puppies. They just want to play and don't have any manners yet. Mostly I would let it go - if the older dog is annoyed she will correct him. At this age she's probably given him puppy license to do what he wants, but it won't last forever. You could also put the puppy on a long line so that she can more easily get away, then work on off leash walks with him alone. In general I like to do a lot of walking alone with the new puppy so they can discover things on their own without relying on the older dog, and they can learn that you are the most interesting thing in the world rather than fixating on the other dog.

You might be able to stop some of it by giving him exercise first, but possibly not. Puppies seem to have an infinite capacity to play, and they often get more obnoxious as they get tired. A 10 week old shouldn't be doing long forced exercise anyway, so bounding around off leash at his own pace is perfect.

But for the most part he'll grow out of this and she'll start correcting him. My 6 month old rarely tackles my adult dog when they are doing a leashed walk together. She will still tackle him when off leash but she takes the hint more quickly now and leaves him alone if he's not interested in playing with her.


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## AnnainOK (Sep 19, 2015)

Our walking path is around a mile, but we take it pretty slowly, and let Woody rest (I use this time to do cattle checks, make minor fence repairs, etc.) I don't push him, but it definitely tires him out for a few hours. I like keeping him off-lead with Snoopy, as he is learning the perimeters and getting the chance to explore a bit with supervision. White puppies and cowpies are an interesting combination.  

Snoopy came into our family as a pup with our chocolate Lab, Harley, who was 11 at the time (he passed in early spring at the age of 14). They had issues only coming in and out the back door, but it wasn't an easy situation, and required careful moderation. I'm hoping to avoid any repetition of trouble with Woody.


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