Older dog with new puppy

Question
QUESTION: We brought home a new puppy yesterday, she is 6 weeks old (which is younger than we'd have liked, but the person we got her from had extenuating circumstances). We have had an 8 year old boxer mix (spayed) since she was a puppy, and she did have a packmate up until 2 years ago when we had to re-home her due to that dog having issues with our newborn son.

We introduced the puppy to our older dog yesterday and it went well, no growling, lots of sniffing. At one point yesterday, the older dog tried to be territorial with myself, but that was quickly corrected and has not been a problem since, and we feed them seperately, so that has not been an issue. However, when the puppy goes up to the older dog, the older dog will growl most of the time, and has snapped once, at the puppy for being close; her tail hasn't been rigid, her hair hasn't stood up, and she hasn't bitten the puppy, but the puppy did yelp when she snapped. There have been a couple of times that the older dog tried to play with the puppy, with the older dog jumping around the puppy and wagging her tail, barking and being excited (but just a couple times). But, if the puppy tries to initiate contact, the older dog growls. I just don't know if this is normal behavior, and what I should be doing when the older dog growls at the new puppy, and if they will work out their issues with time and guidance. Right now, I stand back and talk calmly to the older dog and tell her to be nice.

We don't allow the puppy to roam over to the older dog unless the older dog is aware of her presence. We crate the puppy at night and keep her behind a closed door when we are gone, so safety isn't an issue while we are away. It is unnerving and stressful to be around such a small puppy that is being growled at by the older, bigger dog. Please let me know if we are headed in the right direction and if there are any tips for how to handle this or if I should be concerned about her growling? Thank you very much.

ANSWER: Mandie, you are correct.  6 weeks is a bit too young to leave the litter.  You should try and find appropriately-aged playmates for your dog.  If you can find who took other pups from the litter, arrange for play dates.  

Good job feeding them separately.  Each dog should have their own private dining area.  

Your older dog is communicating with the puppy through growling - DON'T ATTEMPT TO CURB THAT!  If you punish the growling and your older dog stops growling, all she left to do is snap and/or bite.  When the puppy approaches the adult dog, you can praise her, give her a treat and talk happily to her.  Try not to tense up.  Make good things happen for her when the pup comes around.

Since the adult dog has attempted to play with the puppy, I think things will work out fine.  Supervise all interactions.  Give the older dog quality time alone with you while the puppy practices being in her crate.  

Find a puppy class in your area that allows social time and play between the dogs.  Here's where to find good training in your area:

http://www.karenpryoracademy.com/find-a-trainer
http://positively.com/dog-training/trainersearch/
http://www.ccpdt.org/
http://www.apdt.com/petowners/ts/default.aspx
http://iaabc.org/consultants

Let me know if you have questions or need clarification on anything I've written.  Good luck!  When you're ready for some help with puppy biting, ask back!!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you, I think it should be fine, I just wanted to make sure. Unfortunately, her litter mates are 3 hours away since we had to drive out of town to pick her up (the person who had the litter was going out of town for 2 weeks and had to place the puppies as she didn't have someone to watch over them all. I will try to ask around to see if anyone I know has a young pup, and enroll her in classes as soon as she's old enough. I hope we didn't make things that much harder on her, I hope to find a puppy pal for her, but not certain that I can in the next week, and kind of nervous now that we've made a lasting problem by having her a few weeks early. Thank you for your guidance.

Answer
If you're near Tucson or Phoenix, check around with the trainers there and see if they can offer some suggestions.  (I know there are good trainers in both cities, having lived in Tucson for 8 years.)  Perhaps they have clients that might also be looking for playmates or they might have a class opening up soon.  Once your pup has the first set of shots, she should be good to go to a puppy class.