new puppy and resident dog

Question
Hi Labman,
I recently adopted a 5 month old Beagle puppy.  I have a 3 year
old spade lab-sized mixed breed.  The first two days were quite
peaceful, just a lot of cleaning up of accidents.

Now it's a whole new situation - still a lot of cleaning up but so
much less (it's been 2 weeks).

My dog tries to play with him, bringing over her balls and tug
rope.  She'll stand there and let the puppy tug. But the puppy
gets frustrated and will start to bite her mouth instead.  If he
does get the rope, he'll just run away with it, rather than playing
with my dog.

He will run over and bite her ears, mouth, and legs when my dog
is lying down.  He'll stand underneath her and bite her legs,
moving back and forth underneath her when she tries to get
away.  He'll also bare his teeth and growl.  Now I separate them,
just in case.  My dog's been really gentle, just letting him do
everything but will grow when he humps her.  She'll also try to
discipline him but he'll then run after her to start the whole
thing over.

We are at the point of thinking to rehome him since it doesn't
look like they'll get along.

My question is: is there anything i can do to help the situation or
is there something i've done to make it worse?

We feed them at the same time.  My dog gets her bowl first and
he eats in his crate.  They do play with her toys since he likes
the big toys more, rather than his own rope, for example.  We let
our dog go through the door first, greet her first, etc.  She still
sleeps in our bed while the puppy is crated in our bedroom.

My other question is: i can't seem to crate train him.  the puppy
is only sleeping 2 hours at a time at night.  When he whines, I
take him to the papers.  Lately, he hasn't wanted to pee but runs
to the sofa to try to get up.  I know he would rather sleep there
but I need to crate train him.  

In the morning, I give him a kong with treats and peanut butter
so I can take my dog for a walk.  the puppy doesn't walk very far
and i can't carry him and walk my dog at the same time (he's
getting too heavy).  but he will be barking by the time i get back
(15 min) and there is still stuff in his kong so it's not keeping
him occupied.

i need to crate train him so i can go out and so he won't chew
the furniture.  i have been housebound for 2 weeks now and
need a solution.  i thought that he would be ok by now but i
can't even go out for 15 min.

Thanks.


Answer
Those are some tough problems.  Young puppies are very focussed on biting play.  I have often said an Lab's favorite chew toy is another Lab.  The other dog is at the age where many dogs, more so females, lose interest in biting games.  It sounds like the puppy is trying to initiate a game of chase.  One dog grabs something and runs away with it, and the other dog chases it down and fights it for it.  I am surprised your other dog isn't responding.  I would keep an eye on them, settling them down when things get out of hand.  As the puppy gets a little older, they should do better.


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/  At 5 months, you will still need to keep sessions short if you are working at home out of a book.  If you take the puppy to a special puppy obedience class, the class will be structured to young dogs' attention span.

Once you are established as top dog, and the puppy knows down and stay, you can order it to down when it wakes up at night.  

I solve the barking when left in the crate, by letting it bark until it give up.  Usually they do before long.  I don't think it has ever disturbed my neighbors.  If you are in an apartment, it could be different.