Puppies and an older dog

[Beanwood]

This time last year we had 3 adult dogs, and a young super dooper high energy Otter, then it was not long after her terrible accident, and the following 6 months of rehab.

I did little short training sessions in our lounge....but she did find the others hugely exciting. Casper was at the age where he didn't "do" puppies, he tolerated them (Bramble was a very calm puppy....). I think he was worried that she would accidentally bump him, he is quite protective of his dodgy hip and stiff back. Casper sounds a bit like Monty. He likes to be close by, whereas Bramble and Benson would just sigh and move to the kitchen.

I gave the option for Casper to hang out with us by letting him use one of the large crates. Actually, at the time, we had two of them set up in our lounge. It was useful in helping Otter learn that she couldn't access them although she could see them when we were all in the same room. Very early on we moved to working on boundaries, but as a real fun game! All my dogs have a "spot" they have when we set up this game, Casper uses his bed, Bramble one sofa, Benson the other, and Otter scrambles to her bed!( For the advanced version, I use small cut up squares of vet bed) I call "bed!" and everyone rushes to their "spot", where the high value treat is given... not by my hand so they have learnt that "bed" means "OHGOLLYGOLLYHERECOMESTHETREAAAAAAAT!" All their chews, kongs are generally delivered this way. It helps them understand that they have their own "special" space, and this is continually reinforced.

Otter is still a pain in the bum, and a challenge if we take all four out with us. So if we do these outings are managed very carefully. They are low key, meaning, no retrieves, but loads of quiet settles, stop whistle, gentle fun games, middles, hand touch, spin in heel position, release to sniff (hidden scatter... with quiet hunt whistle.) etc... huge engagement by me and a lot of close monitoring so they all have a relaxing and sniffy bimble at the end of the day.

My one tip...if Monty wants to be with you, then let him, but try somehow to keep him relaxed and feeling safe. A crate with a snuffle/ lick mat might work? Then for a literally one or two minutes try a simple game together then let Monty have his space in the crate.

 

[Natalie]

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I will take some time to read them properly (long and busy work day today) and have a think about our best moves forward. x

 

[Natalie]

So a week or so on, some thoughts about this.
Firstly, I've chilled out massively. We have a few routines now which are set, and I'm happy that they give Monty space and attention:

- Wake up - Monty comes downstairs with whichever one of gets up when Bear start squeaking. Outdoors for toileting, breakfast, then we open the hall door and he goes back up to bed with whoever is having the lie in. The good thing about this is it has broken Monty's habit of refusing to wee before he ate.

- OH goes out with Monty for a good hour / hour and a quarter's slow walk mid morning. I'm a bit sad I'm missing this but I need to work at the moment. They also take a few driving detours around the countryside to charge up the car battery, so Bear gets proper rest with me at my feet for a decent period.

- When one of us showers, or puts clothes away upstairs (anything other than vacuuming) Monty joins that person upstairs.

- 2-3 times a week I take my laptop and work upstairs in the afternoon, Monty snoozes with me.

- Nighttime - the lucky person to have the early 9pm bedtime takes Monty up with them, he easily gets 10-12 hours rest at night now

So, with this in place, I'm happy Monty is getting enough rest and sleep. For the remainder of the time, they play a lot, much of it instigated by Monty.

think the " cracks that are beginning to appear " are due to a growing confidence in Bear, he is feeling his feet and pushing his luck . It is tough when Monty is so good with him and yet here is this little monster who bites him and wont give him any peace .

Yes, I thought Bear was confident in the first few days - but he has now taken confidence to a whole new level. As my Irish cousin would say, 'he's so bold!'

Also , you will find a big improvement when Bear can go out for little walks , he will tire more easily x

Yes, we are counting on this, he's desperate to stretch his legs in our small garden.

would just pop Bear in his crate if he gets too much for Monty, just like @Boogie does.

Yes, we do this still too, most days -he has a little grumble but then invariably falls asleep.

I think the time will come when Monty will really tell Bear off and you must let him do it!

Monty is getting a bit more vocal with his telling off. I'm not sure if this translates into anything Bear understands, but I still think Monty edges on caution with Bear

I would also start working as soon as possible on having one settle on a station (could be a bed, the sofa, crate, whatever) while the other one is interacting with you. To start off with, teaching them both to be settled at the same time, and using a VERY high rate of reinforcement for them both.

So. I've been doing a bit of this, having one either side of me, just teaching the other to be calm for five seconds while the other gets praised. It's almost, but not quite, as difficult for Monty to do this, as Bear - so small steps at the moment. We've also done it with just sitting - one either side of me, and I just feed treats as long as they are calm and sitting nicely.

My one tip...if Monty wants to be with you, then let him, but try somehow to keep him relaxed and feeling safe. A crate with a snuffle/ lick mat might work? Then for a literally one or two minutes try a simple game together then let Monty have his space in the crate.

So, I've come a bit unstuck here - though Monty loved his crate up until 2/3 years old, as soon as he got the run of the house, he chose the bed over the crate. We put the (huge) crate away, now to only be used by Bear - but even when we got it out to clean and set up, Monty would not go near it. he's effectively un-crate trained! The only place we've got room for a new soft crate is the lounge, and Bear is completely unreliable with weeing on carpet at the moment so he's banned from that room . Monty has had so many places to sleep, there's no special place for him, so I'm working on Bear simply leaving him alone - as much as is possible - wherever he's sleeping on a dog bed / sofa.

The learning for this - for anyone thinking about getting a second dog - is it's really beneficial to re-enforce a consistent safe space for a dog, even if they've got the choice of ten spots.