We have a 14 week old retriever puppy just starting to get into the biting everything phase. She especially loves hands and wrists.
We have an 8 year old westie who begrudgingly accepts the new puppy. As in they'll settle and sleep next to eachother and will share toys but thats as far as it goes. Which is fine by us, hopefully it'll become a friendship once the puppy settles as she gets older.
The issue I am trying to work out is every time the older dog sees the new puppy bite one of us she rushes over and gets in-between the new puppy and us, that usually causes the puppy to back away and if she doesn't the older will growl and that'll do the job. It has never gotten as far as the older baring teeth or actually biting.
It's great in the way it instantly puts and end to us getting bitten and the puppy doesn't seem too put out or fearful of the older dog. I do wonder if this is something we need to address though.
Is this helping to teach the puppy not to bite people, or is it the older dog getting over protective and causing potential issues down the line with the puppy and our/the older dog's relationship?
submitted by /u/Cookyy2k
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