Introducing Lab puppy to 6 yr.old Lab

Question
We'll be bringing home our 8 wk. old puppy in two weeks.  I've heard it's a
good idea to introduce the newbie to the older dog in a neutral setting (park)
rather than having the dogs meet for the first time at home.  Do you agree?  
Do you think we'll have any dominance issues or should we be okay since
there's almost 7 years difference between the 2 dogs.  Thanks so much!
Jamie

Answer
With such an age difference, the puppy is clearly invading the older dog's territory.  I don't know that the neutral territory helps.  Certainly since Aster came to live with us at 10 years old in 2003, she has uniformly despised all 5 of our new puppies both those we introduced here, and the ones at her former partner's home.  Unless the 7 year old has had puppies to play with all along, I doubt it will want to play puppy biting games.  If so, you will need to teach the puppy to leave it alone, just like many other things.  

Accidents and damaged possessions are the fault of whoever was watching the puppy.  When you are watching it, immediately correct it as soon as it goes for anything except its own toys.  In a quiet, but firm voice give it an ''Ah, ah, ah!''.  Gently remove what ever and replace it with one of her toys, or if older, hold eye contact until the puppy drops it.

The older dog will be clearly dominant at first.  As the puppy matures, it will challenge both the older dog and you for pack status.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm