mutts

Question
Dawn,
      My wife and I just got a 5 1/2 week old german shepard/black labrador mix puppy.What can we expect as far as behavor& compatabilty with our long haired chahuha(little mexican dog) As well as my 15 year old daughter and 10 year old daughter. Thank you for any information you could provide.
ED  

Answer
Hi Ed,  a GSD/Lab mix will probably be a fairly hyper dog, and I do recommend starting obedience training very young so that you have control of the dog as soon as possible.  I also highly recommend that your daughters get involved in the training because dogs see kids as other dogs (basically equals) and will not listen to them, so they need to work the dog also, so the dog understands that he has to listen to them too.  That is not easy, but it is very important for the kids to be able to deal with the dog as it goes through the next two years of stages.  As far as the Chihuahua, he should be the top dog and should rule over the puppy since he was the first dog in the home.  He will probably snap at the puppy when the puppy gets on his nerves, which is ok because that is how the puppy learns to give into him and let him be boss.  Hope this helps, and if you have anymore questions, just let me know.

Dawn