[Mmet]

Good Morning!

So we very happily got our new little male pup! He is so adorable, he is quite sassy! Constantly nipping at our older dog!

Now we have read much about introducing the two dogs together and while our older dog is great with dogs she seems to get super excited and over crowds him? She constantly is nudging him and sort of following him everywhere. Of course the puppy begins to yelp! I am wondering if this is normal behaviour?

She does back off with some loud yelps but still! And then of course when she does back off the little pup starts nipping her or barking at her. Also, she wants to play tug, but she is so strong compared to him. We are just wanting to make sure the behaviour we are witnessing is completely normal or if we should start to separate them more often.

When Penny gets a bit too rough with the puppy I do separate them for a bit.

Warm Regards!

 

[Jchrest]

I’m not sure how typical it is. I know my senior GSD is like this, but she did it with her own litter first, and now does it with Seiran when she’s being a pain in the butt. She reacts towards her like Seiran is one of her own. Crios tends to play rough with Seiran, but every time I stop it, she goes back for more. I usually let them all have supervised play together, and then crate either Crios or Seiran. Lyka’s old, so she has no desire to rough house, she just mothers her.

So for me, everything you’ve said sounds normal. Just make sure all play is supervised, don’t let it get too rough, and if it starts getting to that rough point, cut it off before it starts and separate them until they’ve calmed down. That’s what seems to work best for me.

Other members have more wealth of information than I do, so hopefully others can chime in with some tips too.

 

[LRP]

This is totally normal behavior. Your older dog is just telling your puppy what's up.. this is my house and you are the new kid on the block!! He also may just be excited to have a playmate.

This is why we wanted to get our male his mate earlier in life when they were both younger and could keep up with each other. Our male is only 3 weeks older then our female. An age gap can cause some issues if the older dog doesn't want to play with the puppy or the older dog does want to play and is stronger then the puppy. Just monitor them, keep them crated or separate when you cant watch them and start training the puppy separately asap. You want the puppy to listen to you, not your 2 year old!

Your 2 year old will be an amazing fill in though when the puppy is being a little landshark and will save your skin from a lot of scratch's and bite marks

 

[cvamoca]

I have the opposite problem. We expected to be getting a male Shiloh Shepherd as a second dog, but the breeder is insane, the dogs are puppy-mills and it was the best decision to NOT end up with one.
My doggie daycare friend, happened to have a litter of German Shepherds, 2 dogs I know very well, and in that litter, were 2 long coats. I got the female.


Our older (spayed) girl, my service dog, hasn't had a friend for 5 years, since our old guy passed away. She has never had a playmate, ever other than our old cat, who is also now departed. I worried constantly that she would be aggressive to another female pup--but turns out she's absolutely happy as a clam. Puppy walks all over her, literally. She grumbles if Daisy is physically too bratty, but gives her her supper, sticks, balls, basically everything puppy wants, she takes. Ellie seems happy to give them to her. (She'll push the ball to her like they are playing hockey) And because she's such a stable minded dog, she gets to be the heavy and help teach puppy manners, like our old guy did to her.



Something she also does, is herd the puppy, she'll help me herd my geese, lost turkeys or pigs who belong next door, and if puppy is losing her little mind, she'll collect her the same way. Circle and bark and lure her back to where she belongs.
Love German Shepherds...they are just the best dogs imo.