So we got a 6 week old lab/pit mix from the animal shelter. Obviously way too young to be taken from his mom but he was there and we took him in. We have a 3 year old girl who is our soul dog. The first week I bawled my eyes out almost every night and seriously considered taking him back because we felt like we messed up our big girl’s life. We were so unprepared for everything that comes with a tiny puppy that young. (We got our older dog when she was 3 months old)
He growled, he barked, he bit, he charged. He terrorized our older girl constantly. He peed everywhere. He pooped everywhere. The first month with him was an absolute nightmare. Absolutely no retention of training besides some basic commands (sit, stay, come)
Fast forward to him now being 3 months old. All the hard work we put in over the past 6 weeks has paid off. We finally had our first “no accident inside” day. Our older dog was a pushover so we worked hard to create boundaries: separate play time, monitored play time together, intervention when he was too rough. They now choose to play with toys together without him barking and growling.
I guess I’m posting this for those that have older dogs and little puppies and are stressed about a healthy relationship. If you put the effort and training and attention in, it will work out. I know he has the adolescent stage ahead, but we finally got over the serious puppy blues slump and I promise: it really really does get better.
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