old dog and new puppy

Question
I have a very old black lab (15 in April).  He mostly sleeps the day away now but is in generally good health (slight hip problems, but all his blood work checked out okay).  My girlfriend wants to rescue a Bullmastiff puppy.  I was wondering how this could affect my older dog?  He's generally okay around other dogs but has a tendency to snap at smaller dogs.  Is it really fair to subject an older dog to a new puppy?

Answer
Dear Domini,

The main issue here is to make sure the Bullmastiff doesn't grow up learning that snapping is how you greet another dog, and the best way to make sure that doesn't happen is to commit yourselves to getting that pup out on a daily basis playing with other dogs -- or at minimum 2-3x/week.  

If you live in an urban area this will not be hard; just get the dog out for daily walks and let him play with other dogs in the local dog park.  Better yet, bring him to a reputable dog daycare where he can play supervised with happy healthy dogs.  Get him into a good positive reinforcement class where they stress socialization as part of the dog's overall behavioral development (see http://www.apdt.com for good trainers in your area, but always get several references before hiring anyone).  Socialize this pup to un-snappers and he should be fine.

If you don't have access to the above socialization methods, you'll have to really make an effort to find other puppy/adolescent dog owners in your area with whom you can have regularly scheduled playdates.  This is very, very important, even if you didn't have a slightly ornery geriatric, so make this effort.  It will pay off dramatically in the future.

Now as far as your old guy goes, just give him his own space and remove the pup whenever he really is just not in the mood.  You may be surprised that once in a while he gets a little happy with the pup-mayhem.  My now 14.5 year old was not a good "dog" dog and she did really well (when she was 8) with a nutty 2 year old German Shepherd we introduced, even though she tried to act like she didn't like the new dog.  

It IS a lot to ask of your 15 year old, but if you can give him his own space and don't mess up his routine, he should be fine and possibly even get a shot of youth from the pup's shenanigans.  

The pup in the meantime will probably learn that some dogs just don't want to play all the time, and that's not a bad lesson for him to learn.

Good luck!
Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysUSA.com