Carefully Researched Jealousy Question

Question
Hello, I would first like to begin by saying that i scoured the web for answers to my question and though i found A LOT most we're vague to my situation precisely, And I've read the rules and most of your previously asked question's to make sure i did'nt ask something that could be already easily answered. This is mostly for clarification and the advice will be greatly appreciated.
Also i want to thank you for being such a caring animal person and offering your knowledge to the unsuspecting masses.
NOW, enough of my rambling, The story is; i have a 6 year old  
female american pitbull/Australian Dingo (?), and shes a very independent dog and never likes too much attention or playtime but she is active and very "bitchy" and "moody" but she has never shown violence to me or any family member, But when shes yelled at she tends to pout. She's sociable to people (even if she does bark a little at first) myself or a family member usually calms her down.
Now i recently found a female rottweiler/labador puppy that i suspect to be only in or around 6 months and the family and i took her to the vet to get shots and spayed, and when i take her home my older pit female seems to be very skittish of her and follows her around sniffing her rear end or walking RIGHT beside her as if steering her. She has never barked, growled, bitten, or mounted the new puppy and they seem to get along alright as the puppy as no problems being around her,and the puppy is VERY submissive and often turns on her back to reveal her stomach to the older female. The older female often tries to sit on my moms lab whenever the puppy get's nearby, but doenst snap or growl at all, just stares. The older female also seems to get "stressed" around her. i've had the puppy for the 3rd day and there seems to be no REAL problems as my mom even said they tried to play. Well, my real question is aside from basic training and making it clear to do things with the older dog first and eventually phase it down. Is there anything specific i should do NOW to avoid any future problems? (worse case scenerio taking the puppy to a shelter) like, when i go to train the puppy should i include the older female?, Agian thanks for your help (If i already thanked you once?) I tried to be as well informed and have a very easy to read and understand AND informed question and agian sorry if its not up to standards.

PS: there is obvious signs the puppy has extremely abusive owners and that they jsut dropped her off on the side of the highway one day, there are knife marks scars, dog bites, and when we found her she was very malnutrioned, but we got a special food from the vet. I know the common advice would be to hire a dog behavoriliest but they tend to be a little out of my price range and i was wonder if you had any resource or  
low-priced solutions.


Thanks
Nelo De'Avingada  

Answer
Bless you for taking in that poor puppy, Nelo!

The behaviors that your older female is showing are dominance behaviors, even though there is no mounting or aggression. Dominance does not always equal aggression.

You said your older dog "[walks] RIGHT beside her as if steering her." This is dominance, in the form of controlling the puppy's movements. When she does this, is she putting herself between you and the puppy, or between a toy/food bowl/specific room and the puppy? If so, she is claiming those things as hers.

You also said the older dog "tries to sit on my moms lap whenever the puppy gets nearby, but doesn't snap or growl at all, just stares." Again, this is dominance in the form of 'claiming' your mom. I would not allow this behavior. When the older dog comes and tries to sit on your or your mom's lap when the puppy is near, whoever she is sitting on should stand up and push her away by shuffling their feet into her. She should not be pushed away by one foot, as if you were kicking her away, because that can cause her to aggress the puppy. Shuffling is less confrontational, but still gets the point across. Does that make sense?

Keep in mind that it's only been 3 days, and both dogs are trying to figure out who's in charge and what's going on. I would not leave them alone together right now, and possibly not at all, because if a fight were to break out, the puppy could be seriously injured or killed. Your older dog's instincts to fight other dogs could be triggered by the slightest thing, or she may never show aggression towards the puppy. I would not feel comfortable leaving them alone together, though. Please know that I'm in no way biased against pit bulls; I'm involved in rescue and I have a pit bull/chow cross myself. I'm only saying that, because your dog has pit bull in her, she has those instincts that could be turned on at any time. So does my dog, so I do not take her to dog parks or leave her alone with my two shepherds.

When you say the older dog seems 'stressed,' what do you mean exactly?


I'm sure you read some information on "Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)" when you were researching this. I highly recommend it. If you haven't heard about it, doing a search will yield more than enough information for you.

You should train the puppy alone, away from your other dog.