# Help - Older dog aggressive to new puppy



## epygott82 (Apr 29, 2011)

Here's my situation: we have a roughly 2 yr old Cardigan corgi that we adopted from the Humane Society when he was about 7 months old. Last weekend we bought a 3 month old male Pembroke Corgi puppy. They seemed to get along ok when they met, but this past week with the puppy our older dog (Magoo) has been getting really aggressive with the puppy (Cooper). I can't tell if it's him telling the puppy he's the top-dog or what, because the puppy doesn't seem to be challenging his authority. They be playing, and Magoo will go up and just start biting on Cooper and pin him down, and it really escalates quickly to much barking and growling by both of them and even teeth being bared. He's not causing injury, but it's really distressing watching this and I don't know what to do. Magoo loves to wrestle with dogs at the park, but this seems to be beyond playful. I'm hoping this is like an adjustment phase and it will fizzle out soon, but I don't know. Please help! Do I correct them? Let it run its course? What?


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## babybasset (Apr 28, 2011)

I have a 18 month old lab and just got a basset pup. My lab just ignored the basset for a couple days. Then they would play a little and my lab would growl and show teeth, but then walk away. I don't know about your breed, but I know that with my lab, her hair never stands up like it would if she's or barking at strangers. That's how I know it's just play. My dogs get a long awsome now and it's only been 3 weeks. They get pretty crazy when they play (growling, showing teeth), but they never bite eachother hard enough to cause pain and they never get out of control or aggressive. For my lab, I know that if her hair isn't standing straight up, she's ok. I don't know if this makes any sense! My dogs can play rough, but they don't get out of control or aggressive. They play and then they cuddle.


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## Puddin's Training Tips (Apr 9, 2011)

hmm. hard to say. Jean Donaldson and other experts say that appropriate play should be a mutual give and take. A dog getting pinned down is normal. But it's not normal if the same dog is on the ground all the time. 
A dog getting chased is normal. But it's not normal if the chaser is never the chasee.
Inappropriate play does not mean aggression though. It just means that you might have a bully or a dog with a play skill deficit.

You can step in between the dogs to break up the play and see if the pup comes back for more (which might mean everything is okay) or runs off (which might mean the pup didn't like the play).

Growling during play is normal. My Lupe growls at my Puddin in this video. It's not a big deal. It's a little bit of a play growl but I think it's also a little bit of Lupe saying "This is my hole right now" Their growls can get worse during normal play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj-PnrSZAbU

Additionally, even mutual play can get over stimulating and can escalate. So it doesnt hurt to redirect the dogs to another activity every once in a while. But don't scold or punish. This could cause negative feelings.

A book that discusses play behaviors in detail is "Fight!" By Jean Donaldson: http://amzn.to/hDh1PG


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

Some dog's just have zero patience for puppies. As the pup gets older, they'll probably get along fine, but in the meantime, I'd keep the puppy tethered to a heavy piece of furniture or something so that the older dog can choose when it wants to interact with the puppy and get away when it's had enough. It's good for your older dog to put the puppy in it's place, but at the same time, rough play can seriously hurt the puppy, so dont let them play unattended.


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