New puppy scared of my friendly, senior dog?

Question

We recently brought home our brand new Australian Cattle Dog puppy yesterday and this morning I decided I would try and introduce him to our 15 y/o Rat Terrier/Staffy mix. My senior has been introduced to a puppy once before but that wasn't a problem because she was a female and he's very partial to the younger ladies so their relationship was a success.

My new pup is a male and is only about 9 weeks. The first introduction was a little nerve-racking because my senior just seemed a little TOO excited and it was already making the pup nervous. I left pup in a crate and let senior sniff and explore all he wanted without getting near pup but pup started crying so I ended it. I tried again a couple hours later using a different method. I sat on the floor with pup in my lap and senior on a leash. I got senior to calm down a bit so I felt more confident that he would be respectful of pup. Pup wanted nothing to do with senior and was very scared when senior started sniffing and following him. Eventually when senior actually touched pup (nose to backside) pup whimpered as if he had been attacked and coward away to my bedroom! I was very disappointed and felt my senior was too. I didn't see any signs of aggression from senior (no growling, no lip curling, no snapping etc) and senior isn't all that huge or scary looking compared to pup. So what could be the problem?

Karen L · Answer

The problem is probably just that it's a very young puppy in a new situation, meeting an adult dog that isn't its mother. I'd keep on with the introduction stuff you've been doing, just making sure that senior never actually hurts the pup. Pup has to find out that while senior may look scary, nothing bad actually happens.

I am reminded of the time I introduced my two calm friendly older dogs to my friend's newish German Shepherd, who was about 4 months old at the time. There were other dogs in the house but they were small. My dogs were about the same height as the Shepherd. We put them all in a good-sized fenced yard. The shepherd came face to face with my dogs who sniffed her for a few seconds and then proceeded to ignore her, then she ran off and backed herself into a corner and just sat there screaming as if she was being beaten. My dogs barely even looked at her.

By the time they next met, a month or so later, the shepherd wanted to play with my dogs. I think she just got old enough to feel confident. She no longer felt like a helpless little thing.

Belgian Nut · Answer

The problem could be you've got a puppy with a fearful temperament.  And one that's never been correctly socialized by the breeder.  The problem could also be that you're nervous and both dogs are picking up on it.  The problem could also be that you're in too much of a hurry.  We don't know anything about these dogs, so they're nothing more than guesses.

? · Answer

if you had gotten a female she might have been more assertive and controlled when confronted with your older male....females by nature want to be boss or at least not showing fear of males.

on the positive side, your older dog is 15 years and will be slowing down soon, the young dog will recognize this and the situation should improve.

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New puppy scared of my friendly, senior dog?

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