Puppy early development stage

[M.R.Ducks]

I am getting a pup first of the year so I have been reading up on the to-do's and not-to-do's. Came across an article online today that generally discussed early stage training of a pup. It didn't really bring up anything drastically new regarding approach of "play" training for the first 3-4 months. However it did bring up a point about raising a new pup with another dog(s) under the same roof. The comment that was made is this:

If you have another dog--avoid letting your puppy bond to the other dog instead of you! House them separately and allow little or no free time together.

I understand the housing and bonding portion of the statement, but I am not really sure of the "little or no free time together". Does this mean don't let them play together? Also on a related question...If the dogs can play together I am assuming the tugging/wrestling one another for a toy (not a bumper) is not acceptable. Please enlighten me on your experience.

MR

[Damn_It_Boy]

I believe that would be little or no "unsupervised" time together. For various reasons with bonding being one, and the pups safety the other. Many an older dog has taken a pup as a threat before they get use to them, and been killed. Play time is great, as long as it being watched. Let the pup be a pup......

Let me add this (my lab pup grew up with two 7 year old mix dogs): Let the older dogs correct the pup when it get's out of hand. They will usually just pin the pup to the ground by the snout without causing much harm. If you jump in correcting the older dog all the time, they will start to resent you, and the pup. Just don't let the older dog get out of hand with the pup. Even the nicest dogs will tire of a pups antics sooner than later. Mine got a bloody snout a time or too, and the figure out quickly when the older ones ain't up for their bullcrap.

Here's a link to a bunch of free articles....... http://www.carmodybuilders.com/retrieve ... 0info.html

[erikhsuval]

I have a 18 week old pup now that I've had since she was 6 weeks, I also have a year old dog. They play together a lot, and like mentioned before my older male will pin her down by the neck when he gets sick of her biting his lips. They seem to play well together although I watch close because my male can get a little rough without him knowing it. If she gets her feelings hurt she usually will run to me.

Something I wanted to add that I think is good is put your pup in the kennel and let it watch you train your older dog. It seems like when I do that she gets even more fired up to train and retrieve. Plus I would think this will instill some honoring traits early. Im know that there is a lot more people out there that know more then I do so please feel free to comment and let me know if you think I'm right!

[waterbug]

Something I wanted to add that I think is good is put your pup in the kennel and let it watch you train your older dog. It seems like when I do that she gets even more fired up to train and retrieve. Plus I would think this will instill some honoring traits early. Im know that there is a lot more people out there that know more then I do so please feel free to comment and let me know if you think I'm right![/quote]

Dont think it would hurt if the pup is sitting quietly in his crate, but if he is yipping, barking or clawing at the door to the crate while the dog is working or birds are going down then I wouldnt do it.

[M.R.Ducks]

DIB...Thanks for the info. I will look it over the next couple of days.

So what about the other question regarding the two playing tug-a-war with one another. The comment about let a pup be a pup...does this mean let the two dogs play as long as it isn't overly aggressive. My only fear is don't want the pup do develop the idea that tugging is ok. I also don't want to let the dogs do one thing when playing together and then me want the to do (or not do) something while we are working. Not really sure if the pup will be able to associate the difference between play with dog and play fetch with me. Sorry for all the questions... Just figure there is a helluva lot more people on here that know a helluva lot more about training dogs than I do!

Thanks again!

[Karen Klotthor]

We have always had an older dog with a pup and never had any problem with them knowing the difference between play and work. My dogs live in the house and have run of the yard. The only thing I would do is not put a collar on the pup or older dog when they are playing together and not supervised. I know of one of our club members that lost a pup that way. Pup and old dog were playing and the older dogs tooth got caught on the collar and he twisted to get it off until he choked the pup. Other than that, mine have always played together but pup was in kennel at night. We always have a tug rope for them also. When doing FF they will learn the difference in play and work.

[Sundown49]

Right now I would keep them seperated except for just a very few minutes a day supervised at that. The young pup needs to BOND to you instead of the other dog. I have a pup now that is going to be 4 months old tomorrow and a year old pup that do the same stuff but only after I have spent many hours bonding with my youngest pup. I can call his name and he will quit playing and come to me. This is based on having dogs all my life and currently 17 Labs. I find that a pup that is bonded to other dogs does not pay as much attention to you as a trainer as they do wanting to go play with other dogs.