Am I being over protective?

Hey guys,

Things are fabulous with my new puppy (OTEBD) and my GSD.

He adores her. Clambering over his head, playing all day long. He lets her get away with so much.

Every so often when they play with toys, he'll become possessive.
He'll put it on the floor, and she'll try and get it. Very sneakily mind. He'll show his teeth and she keeps pushing and testing to see how far she can go.

Should I allow him to tell her off. I normally just go over, stroke him and then take it away.
I know I start to panic and try to prevent her being told off!!

Am I being over protective trying to stop something that's quite natural?!

If the pup is taking no notice personaly I would take the pup away from the situation

The rules I see with dogs and use in my house is whoever has it 'owns' it
and a dog should never have to fear that something they own is going to get taken off them, that can make them insecure

It sounds like you older girl is being good and teaching the puppy that he shouldnt take stuff off her, but you can step in and enforce the rules and make the GSD's life easier by removing the pup when he is rude

- unless its play growling and she wants him to play and take it

I think he's just reinforcing that he's top dog.
95% of the time he'll let her have it, but sometimes, just sometimes, he'll put his foot down.
The fact she gets away with so much with him, she'll keep pushing him. I can see exactly what she's up too.

I'm not sure whether to take it away and just stroke him like it's no big issue.
Let him tell her off, bcos she has to learn her place. Or as u suggested, remove her, but then she'd only go running back up to him, unless I place her outside?!

Hmmm!!

If it were me , unless I thought that pup was at risk of being hurt, I would leave them to it , they tend to learn their bounderies quickly xxx But that is just me xxxx

Yes I think so. He wouldn't hurt her, but I think she may get a bit of a shock when he does tell her off, and she probably needs it too if I'm honest, she does give him some stick! Poor boy!

Going only from what you describe, I'd leave them to it but with supervision

Sounds as if they get on well, but she needs to learn to back off a bit and that's an important lesson, if the adult dog is generally well disposed towards the pup it should all be OK.

But don't leave them alone together with rtoys/chews just in case, and don't take away his toys/chews when she goes to him and he lifts his lip, as if you are unlucky, he may associate her with his nice things being taken away and then that could lead to resentment... you'd be unlucky but it could happen, so best avoided

Wys
x

Yes toys are only out when I'm around.

They've just done it again. A toy came out, he curled his lip, she kept pushing and I came over and took the toy away! It just worries me silly every time I see the scenario!

They're playing together now with another toy and no problems!

If it were me, I would make sure I was there to intervene if things got a little carried away, but I would let your older dog teach her the boundaries and tell her off if needs be.

I wish Jess would have told Harley off (she just doesn't tell dogs off properly) as now he rules her and he is only 10 months old

Hee hee...They're not silly puppies and like kids learn quickly how to try and push boundaries and get their own way!

I agree with Wys who has said a couple of times that it's not a good idea for you to take the toys or whatever away from your older dog. Possession is 9/10ths of the law, especially in a dog's world! By taking toys away from your older dog everytime, he may start to think he's being punished for the growling/lip curling. So the next time he may not give a warning growl but just snap!

If toys or chew sticks etc are important to your older dog, then let him keep them. By restricting their availability you will only make them more important to him & therefore more likely that he will up the ante in protecting them.

It would be far better to remove your puppy from the scenario or distract the puppy with another toy & have a game with her.

So far your older dogs seems to have behaved impeccably with the new pup so it would be a shame to let anything spoil the relationship. Just make sure you supervise things when they are together with toys, & allow your older dog to have an occasional growl just to teach th puppy basic manners.